When Alyssa Scholes brought drones to an elementary school field a decade ago, she gave her students an experience many of their families couldn’t afford at home.
The children at her Catalyst Family after-school program had been buzzing about the emerging technology, so Scholes turned their curiosity into a hands-on learning opportunity. Ten years later, one student still talks about that afternoon.
“One of the parents works for an elementary school. She’s a PE teacher,” said Scholes, Catalyst’s regional director for the Bay Area. “And I saw her 10 years later, and she said her son still talks about that day that we were out in the field flying drones.”
That style of adaptable enrichment defines Catalyst Family, a Morgan Hill-based nonprofit that operates 32 locations statewide and serves 11,000 children through its preschool and after-school programs, including more than 100 in its home base of Morgan Hill.
The organization offers childcare, before- and after-school programs, summer camps, caregiver support, court waiting room services and parent education. The organization is funded through a combination of state grants, donations and individual payments, though many families qualify for free or reduced prices through state funding or scholarships.
“We believe in providing responsive services for communities, families and children,” said Eva Schulte, chief operating officer. “That’s our overarching mission.”
Catalyst Kids, the division of the parent organization focused on providing services to elementary-school age children, partners with the Morgan Hill Unified School District to operate programs at local campuses. The nonprofit also recently launched an inclusion program at El Toro Elementary to support children with disabilities, now in its second year.
Operating onsite at school campuses eliminates transportation concerns for working parents like Schulte, whose son attended the Nordstrom Elementary program while she and her husband worked in Sunnyvale.
“He would just walk across the campus and go right into Catalyst,” Schulte said. “We needed that safe space for him, but we also wanted a learning environment for him.”
A typical afternoon at Catalyst begins with healthy snacks, followed by homework assistance from staff who help children navigate their school assignments. Students can then participate in various learning activities and challenges before moving to interest-based clubs.
The clubs represent Catalyst’s philosophy of meeting children where their passions lie, Scholes said. The activities are driven by the interests of the students and are different every semester. Past offerings have included cooking, slime-making, and even a Minecraft-inspired club that replaced screen time with hands-on building using Legos, clay and cardboard.
“It’s really about taking what they’re interested in and turning it into a learning experience and fun,” Scholes said. “It’s all about the fun.”
One student’s trajectory in particular illustrates the program’s impact. When several of the kids were unable to participate in cheerleading through their school, Scholes, a cheer coach, created a cheerleading club to fulfill the missed need. One unexpected participant, Liam Potolsky, was a young boy with excess energy to burn, and the cheer club gave him an outlet that evolved into a lasting passion.
“He is now in college and he’s a four-time world champion cheerleader,” Scholes said. “And it started with our clubs at Catalyst.”
Beyond Catalyst Kids, the nonprofit operates several divisions: Catalyst Expanded for after-school programs through middle and high school; Catalyst Community, which provides services for child care providers; and Catalyst Camps, which offers traditional summer activities like archery and swimming.
The organization also offers a court waiting room program, including one at Morgan Hill Family Court where children stay in care while families attend proceedings.
“If a family is going in for a proceeding, the child doesn’t need to go into the actual courtroom with them,” Schulte explained. “They stay with us and are in care with us while the family navigates that process.”
Catalyst primarily serves children from infancy through elementary school, with some programs extending to middle and high school. In Morgan Hill, services focus on elementary-age children.
“We’re always looking to expand and looking how we can meet the needs of the community,” Scholes said.
