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ASAP/After School Activities Partnerships

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ASAP/After School Activities Partnerships

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Keeping Philly youth safe and engaged after school through Chess, Debate, Drama, and Scrabble ♟️🗣️🎭🔠

Founded in 2002, ASAP is a leader in Philadelphia’s out-of-school time (OST) sector. Supported by strategic partnerships with city agencies, community organizations, and a broad network of stakeholders, ASAP has served more than 105,000 school-aged youth since inception, working with 100+ sites each year. We coordinate four citywide initiatives that engage thousands of Philadelphia youth (grades K-12) each year in fun, enriching activities and experiences that develop critical academic, social, and emotional skills through structured programming and informal play:

ASAP Chess: Develops students’ problem-solving and strategical skills through weekly club meetings, workshops with expert players, and citywide competitions. In addition to coordinating individual clubs, ASAP runs the Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League. ASAP Chess is truly an incubator for the local chess community—as of Spring 2025, 18% of registered US Chess Federation players in Pennsylvania are youth in ASAP Chess! ASAP Debate: Builds critical reading, research, and public speaking skills through weekly club meetings,
analysis of topical issues, and citywide competitions. In addition to coordinating clubs, ASAP runs the Philadelphia Scholastic Debate League. Highlights from this past year include an ASAP Debate pair placing third, and three pairs placing in the semi-finals, in Public Forum Debate at the 2025 Pennsylvania High School Speech League championships. ASAP Drama: Nurtures young people’s powers of expression, teamwork skills and cultural knowledge
through weekly club meetings, group performances, and attendance at professional productions. ASAP Drama recruits Teaching Artists who mentor students and club leaders, while working as professional performing artists or theatre makers. ASAP Scrabble: Strengthens the essential building blocks of reading through weekly club play, literacy-building workshops, and citywide competitions. In addition to coordinating clubs, ASAP runs the Philadelphia Scholastic Scrabble League.

09/09/2026

For Riley Huang, one of this summer’s Philly Girls Play Chess camp instructors, chess began as a hobby they enjoyed alone, or with their dad. Then they found their high school’s ASAP Chess club.

“It was great to have a community to play with!” Riley says. “I was excited for afterschool, just to play chess. I was even more stoked when I was able to attend tournaments.” Motivated to give other students the community they’d lacked, Riley became a paid mentor to an elementary chess club via ASAP’s peer mentorship program.

“That gave me teaching experience and gave me confidence to teach kids,” they say.

When they became a private chess tutor after college, Riley ultimately decided to become an ASAP chess leader to give their students the same sense of community they enjoyed growing up. And as an instructor at this year’s Philly Girls Play Chess camp, they saw the camaraderie and encouragement among the girls as especially valuable.

“It’s very safe for them to learn without fear of losing, fear of messing up. I wish I had something like this when I was growing up.” Riley adds, “It’s great to see more girls in this game.”

Today, Riley owns multiple businesses before the age of 30—and they credit some of their go-getter attitude to their time as an ASAP Chess player and mentor 💖

“I don’t fear to go for opportunities. I do talk to more people, I chit chat. If I see an opportunity, I won’t hesitate, and go for it. Just like any of the businesses that I started. Nobody guided me. I just found out someone else was doing it, and then I did my own research.”

Eight years into their time with ASAP, Riley plans to coach with ASAP Chess for the foreseeable future. “I think ASAP Chess is great. I love the ASAP people; I love that they’re still doing this.”

♟️

Interested in starting an ASAP Chess club at your school, community center, or library? Reach out at [email protected] to get started ✨️

08/24/2026

ASAP is thrilled to welcome our new Executive Director, Sierra Michel!

Sierra has served communities as a nonprofit leader, turnaround consultant, growth strategist, and founder of VIE Partners International. Throughout her career, she has helped nonprofits and social enterprises build stronger organizations, from strategy and leadership to the systems and structures that make impact sustainable.

From literacy and family advocacy to poverty alleviation and the arts, Sierra has long been drawn to work that creates greater opportunity, both in Greater Philadelphia and around the world. Now, she brings that experience to ASAP at an exciting moment in the organization's history.

As ASAP approaches its 25th anniversary, Sierra is leading the development of ASAP 2030, a long-term vision for the organization's next chapter.

“I am so glad to be here at ASAP at such a pivotal moment. Young people need more than a place to go after school. They need places where they can discover what they're capable of.A chessboard, a stage, a debate, a word game. These may look like activities on the surface, but underneath, young people are learning to think strategically, take risks, and recover when something doesn't work. They're learning to speak up, listen to others, and realize that their voice matters.”

Read the rest of Sierra's letter here: https://phillyasap.org/a-message-from-our-new-executive-director-sierra-michel/

Please join us in welcoming Sierra to ASAP!

08/15/2026

ASAP kids stayed cool this summer 😎 at our chess, speech, and enrichment camps!

👑 ♟ 27 campers in grades 1-10 attended our free Philly Girls Play Chess camp! Campers learned chess skills like checkmates, algebraic chess notation, tournament etiquette.

🗣 At our Summer Speech Academy, 29 kiddos learned how to research, write, and confidently deliver an original persuasive speech on the topic of their choice (in one week!). On the last day, campers competed in a speech tournament judged by volunteers.

✏️ For the first time, ASAP partnered with Esperanza Academy Charter School to provide a monthlong camp for their elementary students! Youth received reading and math instruction in the morning, and enrichment in drama, chess, Scrabble, and art in the afternoon.

Thank you to the following partners for making camp possible:

⭐️ S. Albert Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation
⭐️ Cooke & Bieler
⭐️ Mayor's Office of Education
⭐️ Jennifer Shahade, Woman Grandmaster

Get the full recap: https://phillyasap.org/a-message-from-our-new-executive-director-sierra-michel/

06/01/2026

Math. Vocabulary building. Annoying your friends by playing "aa." The game of Scrabble has several benefits for players of all ages 😉

Over the past 20 years, people like you who support Philly youth have ensured that ASAP's Scrabble clubs and league bring belonging, increased confidence, and new friendships for thousands of kids across Philadelphia.

According to our 2025-2026 data so far:

⭐️ 69% of surveyed ASAP Scrabble students scored high in Grit
⭐️ 78% scored high in Self-Efficacy (how much students believe they can succeed in achieving academic outcomes)
⭐️ 74% scored high in Sense of Belonging

Scrabble is more than just a word game. Scrabble clubs and citywide events led by trained caring adults give children a safe environment to grow, challenge themselves, and learn what they're truly capable of.

Donate to give a child the gift of afterschool in 2026-2027: https://phillyasap.org/donate/

Your gift ensures more Philly kids have access to fun, high-quality after school & summer programs that spark a passion, boost career readiness, and provide a safe community. 🤩

05/28/2026

The ASAP Drama showcase at Carnell Elementary last week featured a play by two of Philly’s most promising young writers—fifth grader Zaira and a fellow club member.

“This was my first time writing a play,” Zaira says. Working with the club leaders and site director—all professional performers in Philadelphia—Zaira co-wrote “Middle School Disco,” a play about a girl named Sara who navigates friend groups at a new school.

The experience taught her that she can “can express my feelings and improve myself, and also act it, even when I am the author,” she says.

When asked if she plans to write more plays in the future, Zaira gives a resounding “YES.”

“This club made me feel like I belong anywhere I go, even when I write books, stories, or poems.” 💗

When you support ASAP, you’re helping Philadelphia students:

🎤 Find their voice (Club leader Caitlin: “I’ve been teaching them what’s a melody, how do we sing, what is singing? And I really think that came through with their song from Annie, them being able to sing and project out without being scared of being wrong because they know what they’re doing now.”

🤩 Gain confidence (“My favorite part of drama club this year is we get to act, and we get to play games that make us learn about acting and theatre, and we’re going to perform!”)

😊 Develop their passions (Club leader Caitlin: “If ASAP wasn’t here they wouldn’t have drama club. A lot of these kids throughout the months, they would come to us and be like, ‘Oh, I think this is what I want to do for my life!’ ”)

Help us raise $80,000 this spring to ensure more of our kids have access to fun, high-quality after school & summer programs that spark a passion, boost career readiness, and provide a safe community: https://phillyasap.org/donate/

05/15/2026

When asked what ASAP’s Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League means to them, our chess students didn’t hesitate:

• “It would kill my drive for this club if I didn’t have the league.”

• “I wouldn’t be playing chess.”

• “My ambition would have died.”

A highlight of the ASAP Chess program, the league has eight tournaments annually for youth in grades K-12. By supporting the league, your gift helps hundreds of Philly public and charter students to:

💖 Build community with likeminded peers from across the city (“Through ASAP, I’ve also formed a lot of connections and met a lot of people I get along with. It’s also helped me a lot as these people have also supported me.”)

⚡ Explore their passions and discover what they’re capable of (“Everyone here wants to get better. Everyone here cares deeply about the game, spends a lot of time outside of club hours just playing on their own, researching, watching YouTube videos, reading whole books.”)

🌱 Cultivate a growth mindset (“The huge change from freshman year to now, it’s like a complete 180. We’re confident that we can play top ten individually, for at least three of our players, in the league. And that was a big change compared to freshman year where I’m not confident that we would have gotten top 15.”)

💪 Develop as leaders (“The exposure to the league and a whole different kind of league, that was the year where I was put more as the captain role and was able to more take charge with a little more ambition to this team.”)

When you support ASAP, you’re supporting the positive development, friendships, and JOY of hundreds of our Scholastic league players—and thousands more ASAP students throughout Philadelphia! Help us raise $80,000 this spring to ensure more of our kids have access to fun, high-quality after school & summer programs that spark a passion, boost career readiness, and provide a safe community.

Donate today: https://phillyasap.org/donate/

05/13/2026

Enrollment is open for ASAP Summer Speech Academy!

Open to all Philadelphia students in grades 3-12, Speech Academy is a free, week-long camp where students learn how to advocate for the issues that matter to them. Students learn how to research, write, and deliver an original persuasive speech, and compete in a culminating speech tournament.

The camp will run July 20 - 24 from 9 AM to 2 PM at George Washington Carver High School. Breakfast and lunch are included 🧇🍎 SEPTA cards are also available if needed.

Aftercamp (also free!) is optional and will be from 2 - 5 PM. Activities include Drama, art, and Scrabble 🎭🎨🔠

Thank you to Cooke & Bieler for making Summer Speech Academy possible ❤️

To register, visit bit.ly/speechacademy26. For more information, email [email protected] ☀️

05/12/2026

SEPTA provides free fare for Philly public school students—but the passes can only be used during the school year, on school days between 5:30 am and 8 pm, and if the student lives 1.5 miles or more from their school. This limits the ability of 30,000+ students across the city to participate in internships, jobs, and afterschool activities. At ASAP, we spend hundreds of dollars on SEPTA passes each year (and thousands on bussing!) to ensure students can attend our events for free, but not all organizations are able to provide this support.

Recognizing the connection between transportation access and student opportunity, ASAP is proud to support Transit Forward Philly, an organization working with community and City Council members to implement free universal fares for all Philadelphia public school students. As supporter Councilmember Rue Landau has said, universal fares would mean "the ability to take advantage of all that our city has to offer. It means that kids can grow up here in Philadelphia with everything they need to thrive." ❤️

05/11/2026

We are very proud to announce that our very own Bradley Crable, ASAP Director of Chess & Scrabble, was a finalist for the Andy Lerner Award for Excellence in Chess Education this past week in New York City!

Made possible by Andy Lerner and Chess in the Schools, this national award recognizes exceptional work in chess education by chess teachers serving public schools non-commercial youth chess clubs.

Brad (or as some of us call him, Brad Lichess 😊) is the longest-working and most active chess tournament director in Philadelphia, having directed almost 400 tournaments for youth since 2003! Back when he was an ASAP consultant, Brad successfully advocated for our Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League to be US Chess Federation-rated, raising the standard of play and introducing thousands of kids to real-world chess competition 💪 In 2017 Brad co-founded the Philadelphia Chess Society with Jason Bui and Melanie Brennan to bring ASAP Chess students to states, before ASAP was able to do so. Brad has run ASAP Chess since 2022, increasing student participation from 1,122 to 1,915 youth in just two years.

Please join us in congratulating Brad on this momentous achievement! We are so grateful to have such a dedicated community builder and teacher at ASAP 💗

04/27/2026

90% of ASAP Debate high schoolers who joined in middle school scored high in grit/resilience, according to our 2024-2025 year-end survey. And 100% scored high in empathy and perspective-taking 😎

Rose, an ASAP Debate senior who started in sixth grade, credits her start in middle school with becoming a co-captain her sophomore year. As co-captain she helps onboard new students, shape team culture, and ensure her peers are confident and ready to compete. This year, as part of ASAP’s Debate Mentors program, Rose got paid to co-lead newer debate clubs for 8-10 weeks, building leadership and career skills!

“Through my roles as an ASAP Debate Mentor and as a captain of my team, I’ve worked a lot with students, teaching them new skills, working through problems we have, celebrating wins," Rose says. "All of those things have really developed in me an understanding about what it means to be a leader. It’s not just speaking. It’s so much more about being involved in the learning process and making sure everybody understands, everybody’s following along."

At Nebinger Middle School, ASAP Debate eighth graders are already stepping up to mentor and train younger students.

“It’s been really wonderful to see them take on that role and shepherd the sixth and seventh graders to tournaments, walk them through how it works and how to prepare their best case,” Erin Sweeney, Nebinger’s ASAP Debate coach, says.

4 in 5 PA middle schoolers lack access to afterschool programs! That’s why ASAP invests heavily in middle school, like our debate program that starts in fourth grade 💪 Together, we can make sure that every Philadelphia middle schooler has access to a safe afterschool space, a mentor, a healthy friend group, and activities that inspire lifelong passions.

Read more about how middle school debate prepares kids for high school: http://phillyasap.org/preparing-philly-students-for-high-school-with-asap-debate/

🎭 🔠 🗣️

When you make a gift to ASAP, you’re helping almost 3,000 students—including 250+ middle school debaters—reach their potential in high school and beyond. Help us raise $80,000 to ensure students like Rose have access to fun, high-quality after school & summer programs. Donate today: https://phillyasap.org/donate/

Address

One Penn Center/1617 JFK Boulevard , Suite 1855
Philadelphia, PA
19103

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.phillyasap.org/

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