Harris County Department of Education’s Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment for Kids (CASE for Kids) is soliciting request for proposals from afterschool vendors to provide programs and services to students in elementary through high school for out-of-school time programs and services in greater Harris County. Service providers offer classes ranging from fine arts, STEM, STEAM, numeracy, literacy, career exploration and sports.

Information and applications are available through CASE for Kids. Deadline to register is Sept. 12, 2017: http://www.afterschoolzone.org/default.aspx?name=Approved_Vendors

Afterschool vendor Artist Boat represents one of the innovative programs being introduced to youth in greater Harris County this year. As a CASE for Kids afterschool vendor, Artist Boat served students through a summer watershed project with kayaking, science experiments, murals and coastal waterway field trips. The unique career exploration experience for middle school students in Clear Creek ISD combined science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). The summer enrichment activities through Artist Boat nonprofit is one of the varied services provided by out-of-school time vendors.

“This program demonstrates the life-changing experiences students can have through their afterschool program,” said Lisa Thompson-Caruthers, director of CASE for Kids. “Students actually see how actions in the Galveston Bay watershed impact the health of the bay through a project that combines science both inside and outside of the classroom.”

The summer program included students from Clear Creek Intermediate School 21^st Century Learning Centers, a federally funded afterschool program provided through the Texas Afterschool Centers on Education and HCDE’s CASE for Kids.

Photo: Students take a kayak tour of a watershed through Artist Boat, an afterschool vendor which provides services through Harris County Department of Education.