Mariposa Kids

Over the last 50 years, the average amount of time children have for free play has continued to decline, as has opportunities for outdoor play time. Mariposa Kids works to reverse this trend through free play based out-of-school time programming for children in San Francisco. Mariposa Kids centers its work around three tenets: Safe Space – Free Play – Community. We believe these three factors working together can improve childhood outcomes while also allowing parents to maintain workforce participation by providing safe places for their children in the hours after school.

The Kids’ Co-Op, Inc. DBA Mariposa Kids’ mission is to support and inspire children's natural curiosity and independence through free play during their out-of-school time, envisioning vibrant communities that support the social emotional growth of all children through friendship and play. Our out-of-school programming includes our After-School Program, Summer Camps, and Holiday Camps serving children ages 5-11 (grades TK-5). Our After-School Program is the largest of these programs both budgetarily and in our annual calendar, as it runs on each school day of the San Francisco Unified School District academic calendar. Our camps serve 50 children weekly/daily, with our summer camps running for eight weeks over summer and our holiday camps run on ten annual school holidays.

Guided by our values of Fun, Community, Belonging, Well-Being, and Learning, we strive to ensure success for the children we serve, our dedicated volunteers, and staff. Operating for over a decade, our After-School Program in San Francisco serves 65 children annually, transporting them on foot from local SFUSD public schools, to our off-site clubhouses located in the James Rolph Jr. Park & Playground and a commercial storefront in Bernal Heights. Children come from families with broad socio-economic backgrounds as self-reported:

• 20% of children come from families who earn Low to Acutely Low Income as outlined by the CA Department of Housing and Community Development - Division of Housing Policy Development for San Francisco County
• 4% Black/African American, 7% AAPI, 53% Caucasian/White, 25% Multi-Racial, 11% Hispanic/Latinx
• 19% of families reported someone being LGTBQ+ in the home with 11% reporting "Don't Know"

Embedded within our After-School Program are a collection of sub-programs that work together to enhance the positive impact each child experiences daily by participating in our program. These programs include:

• Health & Nutrition Program: To nurture the well-being of children, we strive to provide nutritious snack options and lessons about food, meal preparation, and nutrition.
• Junior Rec Leader Program: Five 4th/5th graders are appointed as Junior Rec Leaders to assist in program implementation, activity facilitation, and peer-to-peer guidance to other children. Building on its success, the program expanded in 2024 to include the Junior Rec Leader Mentor Program. This extension engages students ages 12-17 that are Mariposa Kids alumni or in local high school service learning/internship programs.
• Financial Assistance Program: On average, we provide approximately 22-25% of our annual budget to families as financial assistance across programs for families to participate in our programs. This equates to an average of 12 children receiving fully subsidized access to our After-School Program each year.
• Leaders of the Future: To help support the pipeline of professionals entering the fields of education, child development, and nonprofits, we prioritize the hiring of individuals pursuing a degree or recently graduated with a degree in these related fields of study, and provide financial support for educational pursuits to employees beginning after a year of successful service with us.

Access to after-school programming and summer camps continues to be a challenge for families, and funding to our program helps Mariposa Kids:

• Provide affordable and/or fully subsidized programming to families in San Francisco,
• Maintain safe and quality staff to student ratios through the employment of trained and dedicated Recreation Leaders;
• Provide program supplies in our safe and clean clubhouses that allow for plentiful options for children to choose from for play, exploration, and learning.

Our organization is well positioned to take on issues around access to unstructured play and outdoor time through our community partnerships and play based programming. Through our programs, we believe children will experience improved quality of life as adults through fulfilling and meaningful relationships and improved academics. The combination of unstructured play and increased outdoor time will also lead to healthy decision making and lifestyle choices as adults, resulting in improved physical and mental well-being throughout life.