Think Together celebrates ‘Lights On Afterschool’ in Costa Mesa
The story of Think Together, a leading nonprofit provider of after-school expanded learning and school improvement programs, begins in Costa Mesa.
Founder and chief executive Randy Barth, then a Newport Beach-based stockbroker, read a story in 1994 about three mothers in the Shalimar neighborhood who had organized to take it back from the gangs.
Barth and his friend Jerome Karcher, who were in leadership positions at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church and St. Joachim Catholic Church, respectively, met with the women following a gang-related shooting.
“One of the things they said was, ‘We need a safe, quiet place for our kids to study in the neighborhood,’” Barth recalled. “At that time, there were no publicly funded after-school programs. The kids in that neighborhood were bused to school and bused back into the neighborhood and dropped off, and there was nothing for them to do … the park, the library, anything for kids to do after school was a different gang territory. The kids were literally trapped in that neighborhood.”
That meeting led to the formation of the Shalimar Learning Center, which is owned and operated by Think Together.
What started as a church-based effort became an official nonprofit in 1997. Think Together was buoyed by the passage in 2002 of Proposition 49, which eventually gave the organization an influx of funding. But Barth said Think Together, based in Santa Ana, has really thrived in areas like Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.
Think Together has come back home this year, in a sense, beginning an after-school partnership with the Newport-Mesa Unifed School District.
Kaiser and Sonora elementary schools have joined campuses statewide on the Think Together train. Last week, they celebrated the organization’s annual “Lights On Afterschool” event on campus, featuring games, snacks and activities for Think Together children and their families.
Think Together also held a virtual celebration featuring U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
Sonora Principal Mia Dodge said about 70 of her students are now in the Think Together program, a sizable percentage of the school’s enrollment of 370.
At Sonora, the Think Together program runs concurrently with the city of Costa Mesa’s Recreation on Campus for Kids (R.O.C.K.S.) program. Dodge meets regularly with Think Together site coordinator Justin Eggen.
“Coming through the pandemic, just that piece of connectedness is something that was really lacking for a lot of kids,” Dodge said. “It’s nice for them to just have that extension of their school day and still be connected to adults, in a place that’s very familiar and comfortable to them.”
Students painted pumpkins with their family members at Friday’s “Lights On Afterschool” celebration at Sonora.
Eric Kapitanski and his wife Crysta were there in support of their son Layton, a Sonora kindergarten student.
Eric Kapitanski said Layton was originally enrolled at another school in the district, but transferred to Sonora to take advantage of the Think Together program.
“We were literally desperate to find some kind of after-school care and they totally took care of us, which is really nice,” he said.
Think Together is largely funded by After School Education and Safety (ASES) and 21st Century Community Learning Centers program grants, director of communications Elena Bosch said, with the support of corporate and individual donors.
Madai Moran has all three of her children who attend Sonora — fifth-grader Hugo, third-grader Alan and kindergartener Lindsay — participating in the program. Moran said it is invaluable for her, as she typically works a 12-hour shift, from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m., for a medical supply company.
“Once I knew about it, I got my kids in,” she said. “I think it’s a great program because it not only helps the kids having an extra activity after school, but it helps them get involved with the other kids and socialize. They learn to be creative, they learn to be more open-minded with other kids. My kids get home and they’re so excited about it.”
These sorts of stories still make Barth excited, decades later. He said that Think Together has about 10% of all after-school programs in the state of California, and a staff of nearly 4,000 employees. It is about five times the size of the next-biggest organization in the same field, he said.
“I came up as a Newport Beach stockbroker, and my clients were wealthy and it was a wealthy church,” Barth said. “There was kind of the perception that those people didn’t care. They did, they actually just didn’t know how to help. Think Together was a vehicle to bridge the resource community and the underserved community, and really enrich them both.
“I believe that man was designed to serve, and I think we’re at our happiest and at our most fulfilled when we’re serving and helping others,” he continued, “not just when we’re accumulating stuff.”
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