The nation’s largest citywide afterschool system is on the chopping block.  If Mayor Bloomberg’s budget is approved, 25,000 children will lose their spots in the afterschool programs that are keeping kids safe, inspiring them to learn, and helping working families.  The entire system will be cut to half its size.  Just a few years ago, NY was named one of the Top Ten States for Afterschool (in fact it rated in the top three) due in no small part to NYC’s extraordinary investment and leadership on afterschool.  In 2009 the city supported programs serving 85,000 kids.  The funding level proposed for 2012 will serve just 27,000.

As afterschool programs around the city received word that they would not have funds for 2012-2013, parents, schools and community groups began to realize that entire neighborhoods will be devastated by the cuts.   Williamsburg, Brooklyn, provides a pretty good—or tragic, actually—view into what is happening all across the city.  Funding for almost all of the programs serving kids at area elementary and middle schools has been eliminated.   Parents are shocked, worried and upset.  On average these schools have a poverty rate well above 70%, with some as high as 90%, and serve a significant number of immigrant families and English language learners.   Among those cut is I.S. 318’s afterschool program, home to the nation’s most winning middle school chess team (their amazing story is chronicled in the new documentary Brooklyn Castle).  In April, Mayor Bloomberg brought the team to City Hall to personally congratulate the students for winning the national high school chess championship.  They are the first middle school to ever do so.  Two weeks later, the program was told their funding had been eliminated. 

Thankfully, NYC advocates, programs, parents and youth are making their voices heard.  Child care and afterschool organizations have banned together to wage a joint campaign against the cuts, organizing rallies, press coverage and letters to the editor.   Local sites are organizing their own events and letter writing campaigns, and sharing photos, stories and videos about the importance of their programs.  On Facebook, students, staff and alums are posting responses to “YES! I was in a NYC afterschool program and I love it because…” 

The outcry against cutting afterschool programs has been phenomenal.  But whether it will be enough to save the programs so many rely on remains to be seen. 

Add your voice to the campaign to save NYC afterschool programs.

We’ve been busy with our advocacy work for afterschool STEM recently. For the first time, we organized a set of STEM-specific Hill visits during the Afterschool for All Challenge. A small group of colleagues from the Afterschool Technical Assistance Collaborative, Coalition for Science AfterSchool, Education Development Center, Project Exploration, Project LIFTOFF as well as a couple of Einstein Fellows joined me and Ramya to meet with Members of Congress that are interested in STEM education but not as familiar with afterschool. This focus on STEM education allowed us to visit Congressional offices during the Challenge that wouldn’t otherwise hear our message about afterschool. As always, our goal continues to be to present afterschool as an excellent strategy and partner in STEM education. The momentum and support systems for STEM learning in afterschool are growing at an impressive rate and not many people in the mainstream of the STEM education community are aware of this.

Last Wednesday an amazing thing happened.

More than 300 parents, young people, educators, administrators and community leaders took a day out of their schedules to walk the halls of Congress in support of the engaged learning that happens every afternoon in afterschool and summer learning programs. From inside the offices of 200 Members of Congress you could hear the passionate discussions taking place as senators, representatives and their staff listened to the first-person accounts of afterschool programs changing the lives of young people.

In one meeting, a member of the Texas Congressional delegation heard from several Houston students about how their afterschool program brought them from the cusp of dropping out of high school to A and B students, while helping them come out of their shells and find their voices. In another meeting a mother of a 12-year-old talked about the lifeline that afterschool programs have become in supporting her child academically, while also inspiring him to take up the trumpet.

Also on the Hill last Wednesday were acclaimed actor Kevin Sorbo along with high school chess player, youth advocate and star of the documentary film Brooklyn Castle Pobo Efekoro. Pobo and Kevin each spoke passionately about the difference that afterschool programs make in the lives of young people: strengthening their bodies, minds and character.     

A central theme of the meetings was the importance of maintaining or increasing funding for the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers (21^st CCLC) initiative and the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), both of which provide vital support for students and parents—keeping young people safe and providing them engaging learning experiences. Advocates also touted the bipartisan Afterschool for America’s Children Act (S. 1370/H.R. 3821) which would further strengthen the 21^st CCLC initiative as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization process. 

This week there are a lot fewer young people on Capitol Hill, but their voices still need to be heard. Take action now by emailing your Members of Congress in support of the life-changing experiences that happen daily in our nation’s afterschool programs.

Afterschool Alliance intern Vicky Gutridge shows her support for afterschool at the Challenge.

The past two weeks spent here at the Afterschool Alliance have been wonderful to say the least. I have learned so much—whether it be how to fix a paper jam on the office printer, or help teach youth what advocacy is. I began my Senior Project on April 30, which I’ve heard countless times was “the perfect time for me to start because it was the week before the Challenge!”

My first week spent mostly preparing for the Afterschool for All Challenge: running to Kinkos, creating fact sheets and stuffing folders. The Challenge was last Tuesday, and I worked with Shaun and Trevor in the Youth Session. We started off the day learning about advocacy, and what an advocate is. Turns out anyone can be an advocate! Then, after lunch, we met Pobo. He’s only 15 but he’s one of the most impressive people I’ve ever met. In preparation for the Capitol Hill meetings, I assisted the youth in making custom leave-behinds for each Congressional office they went to. My main role during this portion was helping create tweets for the youth to send. Before starting at the Afterschool Alliance I never realized how large a role social media played in the political world. It was awesome to see the tweets the youth wrote on the screen, as well as tweets I had written for Sarah prior to the Challenge.

Before I knew it the day was over. While the Challenge was a very hectic time, I think it was a great experience that allowed me the opportunity to gain insight as to where I may see myself in the future.

So now I’m sitting here with 59.5 of my 60 hours complete on my last official day of Senior Project, and I’m sad to see it end. I’ve had a fantastic time here these past two weeks. I’ve met so many amazing people, and I couldn’t have asked for a better Senior Project. I can’t wait to come back over the summer and intern again. Thanks so much, Afterschool Alliance! 

"Breakfast of Champions" Emcee Kevin Sorbo with youth afterschool advocate and chess player Pobo Efekoro.

It’s hard to pick just one highlight from this year’s Afterschool for All Challenge “Breakfast of Champions.”  We heard from a chess champ, a scholarship winner, an aspiring pastry chef, two dinosaur hunters and five Members of Congress.  To top it off, the event was emceed by Kevin Sorbo, of the hit TV show Hercules and recent films “Soul Surfer” and “What If.”  The excitement and energy among our 350+ guests was unmistakable, as afterschool advocates flowed out of the event and into their meetings with Members, all 200+ of them, pumped up to share news of the afterschool programs keeping kids safe, inspiring learning and helping working families back in their home states.

Members of Congress at the event were honored with a “Breakfast of Champions” Wheaties box.  Sens. Barbara Boxer (CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Reps. David Cicilline (RI), Rosa DeLauro (CT) and Dale Kildee (MI) all made a strong call for growing afterschool resources.  Rep. Kildee was also awarded the C.S. Mott Foundation’s William S. White Achievement Award, in recognition of his decades of work in support of afterschool programs.  

“Pobo” Efekoro, a New York high school student and chess champ, shared his views on the importance of afterschool programs.  Pobo is featured in Brooklyn Castle, a new documentary film about the most winning middle school chess team in the country. The afterschool program is now threatened by public school budget cuts. Pobo was part of the chess team at I.S. 318 for three years and now coaches the team.  The repeated budget cuts suffered by his program led Pobo to become an advocate, and a student government leader, at a young age. 

The co-founders of Project Exploration, paleontologist Paul Sereno and educator Gabrielle Lyon, were honored as the 2012 National Afterschool Champions.  Project Exploration is a highly successful program in Chicago that provides girls and students of color with opportunities to work with scientists who act as teachers, mentor, and role models.  A longitudinal study of Project Exploration found that 95 percent of the students who participated in Project Exploration had graduated or were on track to graduate high school; three in five students who enrolled in four-year colleges were pursuing degrees in STEM or STEM-related fields; and three in five students who graduated college graduated with a degree in a STEM-related field.

The Afterschool Alliance honored 8 Afterschool State Champions for their tireless and extraordinary support for the afterschool programs that keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families.

The 2012 Afterschool State Champions:

• California: Jennifer Peck, Executive Director, Partnership for Children and Youth
• Florida: Claudia Davant, Managing Partner, Adams St. Advocates
• Kansas: Dr. Elaine Johannes, Associate Professor, Kansas State University
• Nevada: Olivia Diaz, Assemblywoman, Nevada State Legislature
• New York: Lena Townsend, Executive Director, Robert Bowne Foundation and Anne Lawrence, Program Officer, Robert Bowne Foundation
• Ohio: Dr. Monica J. Mitchell, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Co-Director of INNOVATIONS, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital & Medical Center
• Pennsylvania: Dr. Kathryn Hynes, Assistant Professor, Penn State University

Thanks to all who helped us celebrate afterschool leaders, and remind Members of Congress that afterschool is key to kids’ success!

Congratulations to our 2012 State Afterschool Champions.

 

It’s always good when leaders come together to improve our children’s education, and that happened yesterday when the Ford Foundation announced its new Time to Succeed Coalition. More than 100 education and civic leaders from diverse backgrounds launched a national coalition to expand and redesign learning time for our kids. We wholeheartedly support this effort to improve student achievement by ensuring that children have more time to learn. 

We were especially pleased yesterday to hear Chris Gabrieli of the National Center on Time & Learning stress the importance of engaging communities in school day expansion. In too many cases, that hasn’t happened in the recent, early experiments that add time to the school day. It is great news for our kids that the Time to Succeed leaders plan to make it a priority now. 

Each year the Afterschool for All Challenge brings together advocates form across the country to address afterschool’s most pressing issues, working with Congress to accrue more support for afterschool and advancing the field through thoughtful discussion. This year, the Challenge focused on a subject near and dear to my heart: research. Breakout sessions throughout the day resonated with the sentiment that research is what influences decision making and propels programs, but the importance of data and evaluation was most heavily touted in this year’s plenary entitled “Afterschool Works: Understanding the Evidence & Transforming Research into Action.” The session featured moderator and afterschool champion Dr. Terry Peterson, who kicked off the plenary by introducing the trailer from this year’s acclaimed documentary Brooklyn Castle, followed by some brief remarks about the importance of afterschool by the film’s producer Katie Dellamaggiore.

Following the trailer, which depicted an inspiring story about a successful afterschool chess program in a Brooklyn middle school, Dr. Peterson introduced some of the most compelling research in the afterschool field:

• A meta-analysis of 68 afterschool program studies conducted by Joseph Durlak and Roger Weissberg found that high quality afterschool programs are improving student’s attendance and behavior and raising academic achievement.
• An evaluation of Chicago’s successful Project Exploration STEM education program (whose founders, Gabe Lyon and Paul Serrano, were honored at the Challenge’s "Breakfast of Champions") found that 95 percent of students in the program graduate high school.
• Los Angeles’ EduCare afterschool programs showed a 90% graduation rate, compared to just a 60% rate for other students.
• Deborah Vandell at UC Irvine found that students in afterschool programs showed gains in work habits and math scores and a reduction in misconduct in class.