Club Compass
Club Compass is a free community-based program that takes place after school. Club Compass focuses on social-emotional skill development, life skills, enrichment, and reading. Club Compass serves elementary students in Springfield Public Schools – District 186.
Every week Club Compass participants get to:
- Develop social-emotional and leadership skills
- Spend time with positive, caring adults
- Participate in interactive life-skills and enrichment activities
- Share a delicious meal alongside volunteers
- Receive non-perishable food to take home for the weekend
Springfield, Illinois – District 186 Partner Schools
- Black Hawk
- Dubois
- Graham
- Harvard Park
- McClernand
114 youth were served in 2025-26, with 98% maintaining or improving in at least one of their social-emotional learning (SEL) skills.
SEL Lessons
Lessons are taught weekly using the “Leader in Me” social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. Visit “Our Focus Areas” page to learn more about SEL.
Community Partners
Community Partners at Club Compass share their skills, hobbies, and passions as Life Skills & Enrichment providers, creating meaningful experiences that help kids learn, grow, and explore new interests.
Dinner Providers step up each week to share a hearty meal with the kids, staff, volunteers, and families.
Sign up below to join the Compass community!
Backpack Feeding Program
Our Backpack Feeding Program helps make sure kids have nourishing food available over the weekend, so they can return each week feeling energized and ready to participate. Every Friday, each child takes home a bag of shelf-stable food to help ease food insecurity.
How can you help?
Volunteer!
Club Compass is our school-year program for kids in Springfield Public Schools – District 186, grades K-5. We have both weekly and once-in-a-while opportunities available. Can you spare a few hours each week to support local children?
Volunteer opportunities include:
- Classroom Leader
- Club Compass Kid Mentor
- Kitchen Helper
- Dinner Provider – sign up below
- Life-Skills Partner – sign up below
Club Compass Life Skills / Enrichment
📚 Read a story
🎶 Make music
🎨 Create crafts
⚽ Get moving
🔬 Lead a STEAM project
Enrichment sessions start at 4:40pm at our Club Compass locations. Whether you join us once or come back often, you’ll inspire and have fun with amazing kids! 💡💛
Sign up now for 2026-27:
Club Compass Family-Style Dinner
A warm, hearty dinner is a generous and rewarding way to give to our Club families. Click below to find out more information on how you can help!
Sign up for our 2026-27 Club Compass dinner provider slots:
Delivery Drivers Needed!
We are looking for drivers to help us deliver the Backpack Feeding bags to our School Year Program sites each week. Here’s how it works: you would pick up the bags (already made up) from Douglas Avenue United Methodist Church in the afternoon and then deliver them to 1 or 2 of the churches that we have programs happening on that day. You could sign up on a weekly basis or take a shift here and there as your schedule allows.
2026-27 School year sign-up coming soon!
