While the legislation does include a small increase in funding for youth programs, long term funding for the programs authorized by the bill could remain a challenge due to sequester caps. In spite of that, WIOA will likely provide dedicated resources for states and local communities to address the work and education needs among young people in need, allowing for comprehensive employment, education, and youth development strategies.  In order to become law, WIOA must next pass the House of Representatives before the Congressional session ends at the end of the calendar year and be signed into law by the president. 

The USDA Summer Food Service Program provides low-income children under age 18 who would normally receive free or reduced price school lunch with quality, nutritious food during the summer.  Several programs run in tandem with educational enrichment programs to keep children engaged and safe during the summer months. Currently, there are 44 national organizations that have endorsed the Summer Meals Act, including the Afterschool Alliance, YMCA of the USA, the United States Conference of Mayors, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, National Recreation and Park Association, American Camp Association, National Summer Learning Association, After-School All-Stars, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and Food Research Action Center (FRAC). FRAC has a one page summary on the bill as well.

In the House of Representatives, Reps. Don Young (R-Alaska) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) introduced a companion version of the bill, HR 5012.

As the nation struggles to improve high school achievement and prepare the next generation for college and the 21st century workforce, it's clear that strong supports and engaging learning for youth in the middle grades are critical. Unfortunately, communities across the country have been forced to make difficult choices with limited funding for afterschool programs, leaving older youth with fewer options. A growing body of research makes clear that programs for transitioning middle school students must be designed to attract, engage and meet the varied needs of older, more autonomous youth.

The middle school expansion in NYC builds on the initial Out of School Time launch in 2005, which included a significant investment in elementary school. New York City will continue that longstanding support, with a projected enrollment in 2015 of 37,480 elementary school students in 289 different programs across all five boroughs.

The Aspen Task Force report calls for a shift from the traditional focus on one learning institution, the school, to a focus on the learner and all the places where there are opportunities to learn—like afterschool programs, museums, libraries and the home. To be successful, students must have access to learning networks that are interoperable—or have the ability to share information—and that allow them to earn credit for what they have learned regardless of where they learned it. These credits should also be recognized by schools and institutions of higher education. Most importantly, schools, technology leaders, and policy makers need to ensure sensitive student information is secure and protected and there are trusted environments in which the data can be shared and used to improve instruction.  The task force provides a framework and examples to help communities come together to be creative and collaborate about building environments where safety, learning and innovation become synonymous.

Written to be implementable, practical and accessible, this report includes six recommendations along with specific action steps that the government, parents, educators, district leaders, students, foundations, nonprofits and businesses can take to ensure that the learners of today are equipped to thrive in the 21st century. Afterschool educators and youth development professionals will likely find the recommendations consistent with much of the work in which they are already engaged. The recommendations are:

1. Redesign learning environments to empower students to learn any time, any place, both in school and beyond.
2. Provide educators with skill-building to support and guide learners in a networked learning environment.
3. Build an infrastructure that will connect all students in all of the places they learn.
4. Make sure all learning networks are interoperable—or have the ability to share information and data.
5. Adopt policies to ensure children are taught basic skills—or digital literacies—for living and learning in the digital age.
6. Create trusted learning environments for children to keep them safe.

For more details on the recommendations and 26 specific action steps, go to the full report online: www.aspentaskforce.org.The task force recommends that federal, state, and local governments all take steps to fund pilots, experimentation and eventually full implementation of the steps called for in the report. Many of these recommendations can be embedded in the existing funding streams that already support schools, libraries and nonprofits. At the release event committments were announced to start implementation of the recommendations including a new digital media and learning trust challenge. 

According to the task force, in coming weeks and months leading foundations will independently announce specific commitments to help ensure young people can succeed.  The following foundations will together seek to invest at least $200 million: The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The California Endowment, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Open Society Foundations, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Kapor Center for Social Impact, and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

• Cross-Cutting Recommendations
  • Launch a public-private campaign to actively recruit mentors for youth and improve the quality of mentoring programs.  
  • Make the status and progress of boys and young men of color and other populations more visible by improving data collection and transparency.     
• A Healthy Start and Ready for School
  • Eliminate suspensions and expulsions in preschool and other early learning settings.  
• Reading at Grade Level by the End of Third Grade
  • Close the word gap by launching a public and private initiative to increase joint and independent reading time outside of school and build a reading culture in more homes.   
• Graduating From High School
  • Increase focus on transforming the schools and districts producing the majority of the country's dropouts.
• Completing Post-Secondary Education or Training
  • Increase college completion by expanding students’ access to and successful completion of rigorous courses, such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and dual enrollment options in high school.
• Entering the Workforce
  • Increase awareness about youth summer employment and use of pre-apprenticeships as good entry-level jobs.   
• Reducing Violence and Providing a Second Chance
  • Institutionalize community-oriented policing practices in the field and employ methods to address racial and ethnic bias within the juvenile and criminal justice systems. 

Among the initial report’s recommendations are the following that recognize the importance and value of afterschool and summer learning opportunities, as well as mentoring:

RECOMMENDATION 7.3: Utilize Expanded Learning Time in School and Out-of-School Time (OST) to engage students and accelerate socio-emotional and academic learning and health.

• 7.3.1 Develop new opportunities to expand learning time in schools, including in those schools with concentrations of low-income students;
• 7.3.2 Expand effective OST programs, especially those improving learning outcomes and reducing risks;
• 7.3.3 Launch an initiative to significantly reduce summer learning loss including increased research and evaluation, guides and technical assistance to existing programs and new model development; and
• 7.3.4 Summer and after school employers are positioned to create models to enable, incent and support continued learning by young employees. Federal, state and local agencies should support and partner with these efforts.

RECOMMENDATION 4.4: Launch a public-private campaign to actively recruit high-quality, sustained mentors for all youth and improve the quality of mentoring programs.

• 4.1 To launch this campaign, relevant Federal agencies should support or augment partnerships with national networks capable of recruiting large numbers of mentors (e.g., faith-based communities, fraternal organizations, businesses, nonprofits and other entities promoting mentoring).
• 4.4.2 Public and private entities should, as appropriate, develop and promote common definitions and performance measures of quality mentoring, redesign competitive grants that include mentoring to require alignment with evidence-based practices for mentoring, and spur innovation, advance research, and support the scale of programs that work.
• 4.4.3 The Office of Personnel Management and Federal Mentoring Council should, as appropriate, promote the idea of public employee mentorship (e.g., through a mentoring challenge), while the Department of Transportation, with other agencies as appropriate, should coordinate and augment its various education and mentoring programs to further engage youth and align them with evidence-based  practices.
• 4.4.4 The Corporation for National and Community Service should consider increasing support for building mentoring programs through AmeriCorps.
• 4.4.5 The Department of Education should consider encouraging increased access to sustained mentoring relationships through service learning opportunities for college students.

The White House is still interested in stories from the field about efforts to support young men and boys of color thorugh afterschool and summer learning programs.  Submit your story here. 

The legislation is seen as a compromise between the House’s Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act, which passed in March 2013, and the Workforce Investment Act, which passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in July 2013. Sens. Murray (D-Wash.), Harkin (D-Iowa), Alexander (R-Tenn.), and Isakson (R-Ga.), along with Reps. Kline (R-Minn.), Foxx (R-N.C.), Miller (D-Calif.), and Hinojosa (D-Texas) introduced WIOA on May 21.  

A wide range of youth supporting organizations have indicated support for the bill while also pointing out the need for additional funding for the programs. According to the Center for Law and Social Policy, funding for workforce and adult education programs has declined by 10 percent or more since 2010, even though unemployment levels and the need for services in many communities remain high. The proposed bill authorizes modest increases in funding for workforce development programs between 2015 and 2020.

For more on WIOA, see the National Skills Coalition’s in depth summary.

Karen West, director of Redhound Enrichment and out-of-school-time programs at Corbin Independent Schools in Corbin, Ky., shared the particular challenges she and her colleagues face as they try to provide services to a rural and poverty-stricken area.  She noted that out-of-school-time opportunities and programs are key to fostering success among school-aged children in Corbin and that the 21^st Century Community Learning Center (21^st CCLC) program is crucial to the community.  The funds invested in the program are leveraged by partnerships and other investments from community business and it was noted by her and her fellow participants that the 21^st CCLC program hasn’t seen any funding increases in more than 10 years, meaning many communities and young people who want afterschool programs go unserved. 

While West’s comments were compelling, the star of the briefing came from a Washington, D.C., middle school not far from Capitol Hill. Sixth-grader Josiah Lynch, who goes to Stuart-Hobson Middle School, told his rapt audience about the program that has captured his interest and exposed him to varied learning and enrichment experiences.  He spoke of his plans to graduate high school, go to Stanford University and become a doctor.  He and his parents were applauded by the audience loudly, and Josiah said that he was certain that programs like his would benefit many other young people in Washington, D.C., and across the country.