Top ten highlights from Lights On Afterschool 2023

Yesterday, the 24th annual Lights On Afterschool was celebrated by afterschool programs and supporters nationwide. With 8,000 different events held in collaboration with hundreds of partners and a million attendees, it’s hard to select just a few special moments to share today.

Here’s our best effort – our top ten highlights from Lights On Afterschool 2023!

1. Programs celebrated the silver anniversary of 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC), the chief federal funding stream for afterschool and summer learning programs. In 25 years, 21st CCLC has grown from a small discretionary grant program serving approximately 40,000 students to an initiative reaching nearly 1 million students. Still, though, in the United States today, for every child in an afterschool program, four more are waiting to get in.
    
2. Seventh grader Lydia Ireland from San Antonio, Texas integrated chess, art, science, music, ballet, football and more in her winning design for the 2023 Lights On Afterschool poster. Lydia’s drawing, selected via public voting on social media, was featured on 50,000 posters that decorated the walls of schools, community centers, libraries and gathering places from coast to coast.
    
3. We lit up social media for afterschool: the #LightsOnAfterschool tag was used more than 1,600 times and Lights On Afterschool posts reached 7.7 million users! Check out some highlights on X.
    
4. Your voices were heard in the halls of Congress. Afterschool advocates made more than 100 contacts to Congress — and the U.S. Senate passed a unanimous declaration of Lights On Afterschool Day! (If you haven’t been able to reach out yet, there’s still time to send a message of support.)
    
5. Landmarks lit up for afterschool, including the Empire State Building in New York City, the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the Governor’s Executive Residence in Raleigh, the Lincoln Financial Field Eagles Stadium in Philadelphia, the South Street Station in Boston, the Aloha Tower in Honolulu, the Frederick Douglass Bridge in Washington, D.C., the Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan, and many others.
    
6. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona joined the Hawai’i Afterschool Alliance’s event, sharing a special video message. “In October we mark Lights On Afterschool, where we celebrate out-of-school time programs that light a passion for lifelong learning and shine the spotlight on ways afterschool programs can support students and families — not only academically. But as we know, our students need mental, physical, and emotional support through community and through connection.”
    
7. NASA invited afterschool youth to a special Lights On Afterschool Q&A with Thermal Blanket Technician Paula Cain. Students learned how Cain went from fashion design to crafting space blankets, and were able to ask questions from how long it takes to craft a space blanket to what it’s like to use an industrial sewing machine.
    
8. We released the first-ever report on school districts’ use of federal pandemic relief funds to support afterschool and summer programming. The study found that, of 6,300+ spending plans reviewed, eight in ten school districts are investing pandemic relief funds in afterschool and summer learning. Those investments, however, are a small slice of the funding available, and focus primarily on tutoring and academic-only programming. Just one in five school districts are investing relief funds in afterschool programs that provide both academics and enrichment.
    
9. Thanks to Clear Channel Outdoor, more than 2,000 billboards ran all month across the nation, featuring afterschool youth with the message, “Where I Feel Connected. This is Afterschool.” A special animation ran in New York City’s Times Square.
    
10. What we love most about Lights On Afterschool is seeing youth and programs in action. Every year, this day reminds us why our mission is so important. 

Students and youth leaders gather at Life Pieces To Masterpieces in Washington, D.C.