Summer Learning – How Do We Ensure All Kids Have Access? Out-of-School Time Monthly Field Convening

September 20, 2024, 12:00 pm ET

Summer Learning - How Do We Ensure All Kids Have Access?

• Laurie Brown, PhD, Senior Director of Research and Education, American Camp Association
• Aaron Dworkin, CEO, National Summer Learning Association
• Stephanie Marken, Senior Partner, Gallup

Learn more about the speakers below.

About the Series

Join the EdFunders Out-of-School Time Impact Group for an ongoing conversation with funders, practitioners and other field leaders centered on learning about and with the out-of-school time sector, focusing on essential issues in OST now and in the future. Each video call will dive into a specific content area, challenge, and/or opportunity for the field and feature experts in the sector and philanthropy.

Register once for the ongoing series and join as your schedule allows. Already registered? We’ll send you a reminder of your meeting access beforehand.

Calls are scheduled from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET on the third Friday of each month.

See video and resources from past calls in the event archive.

About the Speakers

Laurie Browne, Ph.D
Senior Director, Research & Education
American Camp Association

Laurie Browne, Ph.D. serves camps and their communities through her work as the Senior Director of Research and Education at the American Camp Association. In that role, Dr. Browne supports a team of researchers and grant managers who gather insights from the field and translate them into practice. She is passionate about the transformative role evaluation can play in a camp organization and enjoys working with camp professionals as they work develop a culture of continuous improvement at their camp. Prior to joining ACA, Dr. Browne was on faculty at California State University, Chico and prior to that she was a day camp director in Salt Lake City, Utah. She earned her doctorate in parks, recreation, and tourism from the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, where she still lives with her family.

Aaron Philip Dworkin
CEO
National Summer Learning Association

Aaron is a national leader in the education, out-of-school time (OST) and youth development fields. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), which works to ensure all young people in America, but especially the most vulnerable, can access and afford a high-quality summer learning experience every year. Aaron oversees NSLA’s support to their network of 15,000 program partners and leaders in the areas of Program Quality, Partnerships, Policy, Public Awareness and Leadership Development. Prior to NSLA, he served as President of the After-School All-Stars National Network, a non-profit organization providing free afterschool and summer programs to 90,000 low-income students in more than 450 Title I schools in 20 major cities across the U.S. Previously, he founded and directed Hoops & Leaders, an award-winning, grassroots youth mentoring and leadership program for low-income boys in New York City. He is a member of the American Camp Association National Board and a graduate of Tufts University, Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and the Coro Fellowship and Leadership Greater Washington. He resides in Washington DC with his wife Lauren and two children.

Omar Malik
Director of Camping
Camp Fire Central Puget Sound

Omar joined Camp Fire in 2024 after spending the previous 10 years in the Bay Area working for the Boys & Girls Club of San Francisco’s residential summer camp, Camp Mendocino. Omar’s passion for camping stems from his desire to make camps, nature, and outdoor education accessible for all youth, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or circumstance. Omar lives at Camp Sealth with his wife Gretta, daughter Nadia and their 18 year old chihuahua, Kiki.

Stephanie Marken
Senior Partner
Gallup

Stephanie Marken is a senior partner at Gallup leading its U.S. custom research division, which includes research programs Gallup performs on behalf of foundations, agencies, corporations and higher education institutions. She is responsible for the strategic direction of Gallup’s research in education, workforce development, climate, technology and the social sciences, which includes complex, multimode qualitative and quantitative research projects.

Stephanie previously served as chief methodologist for Gallup. She was responsible for the sample design, data collection approach and methodology for Gallup’s public release studies in education and workforce development areas.

Before joining Gallup, Stephanie was a researcher in the education division at Westat, a research firm specializing in complex social science studies for the federal government, state agencies and foundations. While at Westat, Stephanie worked on large-scale, complex, multimode education studies for the U.S. Department of Education, including the National Household Education Survey, Postsecondary Education Quick Information System, Fast Response Survey System, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, and other quantitative and qualitative research projects for education foundations and organizations.

Stephanie received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Elon University and her master’s degree in survey research from the University of Connecticut.