The Dater Foundation - Serving Cincinnati

Stepping Stones

5650 Given Road
Cincinnati, OH 45243

Saturday Clubs for Children & Young Adults with Disabilities

Grant Application:

Saturday Clubs meet on Saturdays during the school year to provide extracurricular activities for about 145 young people who have difficulty succeeding in typical after-school activities due to their disabilities. Clubs have on-site nurses, one staff member for every three participants, and a strong volunteer component. A limited number of one-on-one aides work with participants who need constant support and supervision because of their physical, medical or behavioral needs.

Goals/Objectives:

The overall goal of Saturday Clubs is to provide young people with disabilities a social and recreational experience outside of school that builds confidence, physical fitness, and social-interaction skills. Secondarily, the program offers caregivers a much-needed respite from the rigors of providing constant care.
* 100% of parents/caregivers of new Saturday Club members will participate in an orientation/pre-camp interview
* 90% of children/young adults will participate in two or more activities per session
* 85% of children/young adults will attend multiple sessions, being exposed to opportunities to increase social interaction and independence skills
* 60% of participants who exhibit disruptive behaviors will show a decrease in these behaviors after attending 6 sessions

Grant Evaluation Report:

This generous grant from the Dater Foundation ensured that Stepping Stones had the resources required to operate Saturday Clubs for Kids and Young Adults, an accessible recreation program for children, teens, and young adults with disabilities. The 2022 program year continued to experience the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as we worked to recover staffing losses and assess the program changes we made in 2020 to continue services safely. We were able to resume our bi-weekly program schedule as opposed to the weekly scheduled we had adopted in 2020 and 2021. We decided to continue serving older young adults with disabilities ages 22 to 30 for Saturday Clubs for Young Adults, understanding the continued need for increased access to social activities especially for this demographic. This made all the difference for the individuals that we served in 2022 as well as the parents and guardians of Saturday Club participants.

This program’s success hinges on the competence, empathy, and passion of the individuals who staff the program. We were extremely pleased to welcome volunteers back to this program in the fall of 2021. This aspect of them program provides participants with increased individual support during the activities we offer.

Results:

Saturday Clubs achieved each of the program's stated goals. Overall, Stepping Stones was able to serve 127 children and young adults with disabilities throughout the program year. Our average attendance per session was 26 for Saturday Kids Clubs and 38 for Saturday Young Adult Clubs. Through 28 total sessions, the program created 910 experiences.
We also achieved the following objectives:
- 100% of parents/caregivers of new Saturday Club members participated in orientation/pre-program interviews
- 90% of children and young adults participated in 5 or 6 different activities per session. This is an increased number of activities from our initially stated goal of 90% participation in two or more activities.
- 85% of children and young adults attended multiple sessions and gained exposure to opportunities to increase social interaction and independence skills.
- 60% of participants who exhibited disruptive behaviors showed a decrease in those behaviors after attending 6 sessions. Due to adjustments in the program’s criteria of service, we experienced far fewer disruptive behaviors on the whole and were able to achieve our projected outcome in this area.

Website: http://www.steppingstonesohio.org
Amount: $30,000
Date: March 2022