Weekly News Roundup - Oct. 20, 2010

Nearly 60,000 Dallas kids Unsupervised After School (Dallas Morning News ISD Blog, Texas)
The Afterschool Alliance and JCPenney Afterschool today released new data from the America After 3PM: From Big Cities to Small Towns report as part of Lights On Afterschool. It includes city-level data on four cities: Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York City.  It found that 27 percent of schoolchildren in Chicago and Los Angeles, and 28 percent of New York City schoolchildren, participate in afterschool programs - nearly twice the 15 percent national participation rate. But just 14 percent of students in Dallas attend afterschool programs. To learn more, click here.

Rally for After-School Programs (Cincinnati Enquirer, Ohio)
More than 35 afterschool programs in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky will participate in Lights on Afterschool tomorrow. Their planned events include open houses, drawing contests, concerts, and writing petitions to policy makers. More than 7,500 sites across the country are participating in Lights on Afterschool. To learn more or find an event near you, click here.
 
Vice President Makes Surprise Appearance at Redwood City School (San Jose Mercury News, California)
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) visited an afterschool program at Taft School in Redwood City on Tuesday, and brought a surprise guest with her: Vice President Joe Biden.  The pair visited the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula’s “Center for a New Generation” because they wanted to see an afterschool program funded by the federal 21st Century Community Learning Center initiative.
 
Dinner Bell Follows Class Bell at Some D.C. Schools (Washington Post, Washington, D.C.)
D.C. public schools have expanded their free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch program to include an early dinner. Officials hope the program will draw more students to afterschool programs, where they can receive academic help, in addition to fighting childhood hunger and reducing obesity.