Jeff Cole is the associate vice president of school-community partnerships for the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation and Network Lead for the Nebraska Community Learning Center Network.

As a first time participant in the Afterschool for All Challenge, I really didn’t know what to expect as we were filing into the Russell Senate Office Building.  Having nominated Kristin Williams, Director of Community Initiatives at Omaha’s Sherwood Foundation, as Nebraska’s Afterschool Champion (a MUCH deserved recognition for all her work promoting afterschool programs in high poverty schools in Omaha and across the state), I knew state level advocates would be recognized for their work.  I didn’t realize that a bipartisan group of senators and representatives would be joined by other national advocates and young people from nearby programs at the “Breakfast of Champions” to make such a strong case for why afterschool programs are so important for our nation’s future before heading to meetings on Capitol Hill. 

I was especially hearted by Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) comments in support of S. 326, which strengthens the crucial federal 21^st CCLC grant program, highlighting how important afterschool programs are for residents of her largely rural state.  I was honored to have the opportunity to chat with and share my enthusiasm for rural afterschool programs with Sen. Murkowski as she was leaving the ornate and historic Kennedy Caucus Room.

I carried this enthusiasm for the importance of rural afterschool programs over into the meetings that I had with 4 of Nebraska’s 5 Congressional delegations after the “Breakfast of Champions.”  Retiring Sen. Mike Johanns met with our group and reflected on his understanding of the importance of afterschool programs that he gained while serving as Nebraska’s governor.

On Feb. 7, 2013, hundreds of you across the country stepped up to the challenge and reached out to your elected officials to let them know that you support afterschool for all:

• More than 120 Congressional offices
• Across 36 states
• More than 100 district meetings & site visits
• Hundreds of phone calls and emails to Congress
• Digital Learning Day celebrations in 23 states

Arkansas: The Arkansas Out of School Network worked with allied organization Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families to take the Afterschool for All Challenge to the state capitol in Little Rock on February 7. Child advocates from across the state met at the Arkansas State Capitol to participate in the legislative process, meet with local legislators, attend legislative committee meetings, and observe lawmakers voting on bills that affect the lives of children and their families.

In conjunction with Kids Count Day, Arkansas Senate Bill 249 was introduced to provide $5 million to fund the pilot phase of the Positive Youth Development Act.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe stopped by Kids Count Day to lead pre-k children in singing Itsy Bitsy Spider. Watch:

Pittsburgh: Director Mila Yochum of Allegheny Partners for Out of School Time (APOST) had several local advocates join her at a series of meetings at the local offices of Rep. Mike Doyle and Sens. Pat Toomey and Pat Casey.

More than 200 state afterschool leaders and experts backed up your outreach with face-to-face meetings on Capitol Hill with senators and representatives to echo your message that afterschool works to keep kids safe, inspire learning and help working families.  

Next week on Feb. 7, the Afterschool for All Challenge is an opportunity to raise your voice right in your own community to support the quality afterschool and summer learning programs that inspire young people to learn, support working families and keep children safe.  Over the last 11 years several thousand parents, educators, young people and afterschool champions have come to Washington, D.C., and Capitol Hill to make the case that afterschool, before school and summer learning programs are critical to the success of young people and a lifeline for parents.

This year we are changing it up and not asking advocates to travel to Washington, D.C., for the Afterschool for All Challenge.  Because budgets are tight and times are uncertain at afterschool programs we are instead calling on friends of afterschool programs to call, meet in home district offices and email Congress on Afterschool for All Challenge day: Feb. 7, 2013.  Here in Washington, we will be backing up your outreach at home through face-to-face meetings with Congress, as we team up with over 40 state teams who will be in Washington for the conference of the National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks.

The results of the last 11 years of afterschool advocacy are clear: federal support for afterschool and summer learning through the 21^st CCLC has grown—from being able to help 40,000 students access support in 1998 to helping more than 1 million young people last year. We know afterschool works and champions of afterschool are excellent at making the case:

• The Promising Afterschool Programs Study found that regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits. (University of California, Irvine, 2007)
• A meta analysis of 68 afterschool studies concluded that high quality afterschool programs can lead to improved attendance, behavior and coursework. Students participating in a high quality afterschool program went to school more, behaved better, received better grades and did better on tests compared to non-participating students. (Durlak, Weissberg & Pachan, 2010)
• The Promising Afterschool Programs Study found that students reported improved social and behavioral outcomes: elementary students reported reductions in aggressive behavior toward other students and skipping school; middle school students reported reduced use of drugs and alcohol, compared to their routinely unsupervised peers. (Policy Studies Associates, Inc., 2007)

This year, we're not asking you to travel to Washington, D.C., for the Afterschool for All Challenge.  We polled you, and heard you loud and clear: budgets are tight and times are uncertain at afterschool programs.  But it's as important as ever to let Congress knowabout the need for more afterschool resources for our kids, families and communities. 

Congress needs to hear from you.  You are the local experts on afterschool, so we're asking you to call, meet and email Congress on Afterschool for All Challenge day: Feb. 7, 2013.  Here in Washington, we'll be backing up your outreach at home through face-to-face meetings with Congress, as we team up with the National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks.

On Feb. 7, take the Afterschool for All Challenge at home—we have all the tools you'll need in our Take Action Toolkit! Three easy ways to participate:

1. Meet with your Congressional district offices or set up a site visit at your program.
2. Call or email Congress and ask them to support funding for the afterschool programs working families rely on.
3. Encourage your contacts to take action.

So what are you waiting for?Add your name now to accept the Challenge.  When you do, you'll receive personalized tips and information about your Members of Congress

To help you get started, join us throughout the month of January for a webinar series to walk you through how to successfully reach out to your Members of Congress during the Afterschool for All Challenge.  Register now!

Youth are always encouraged to speak up out about what’s important to them.  That’s why during this year’s Afterschool for All Challenge in Washington, D.C. we asked young adults to share their afterschool experiences with Members of Congress by sharing personal stories of how afterschool has helped to make some of their dreams a reality.  “I Am a Youth Advocate for Afterschool,” a handout created by Afterschool Alliance staff members Trevor Sparks and Shaun Gray, turned out to be an incredible tool for delivering the message to Congressional members of how effective afterschool programs are in rural and low-income communities. During the Afterschool for All Challenge, while the adults were away, the children played—and learned what happens on Capitol Hill and how social media sites such as Twitter can be an effective tool when advocating for afterschool.

A spunky 12-year-old named Cabrilla from Duluth, MN, writes a message to Congress on her handout: “To my Congressmen and women I say to RAISE FUNDING because afterschool RULES and lots of kids DEPEND [sic] on afterschool programs...” 

Patricia tweets “#Congress. Help keep kids safe. Support afterschool programs across the nation.”  I hope Congress is reading.

We asked and you delivered!  At this year’s Afterschool for All Challenge we issued our followers a new "challenge" to help us bring the conference to life and make all of our afterschool advocates heard online.  We asked you to help us create a total of 500 event photos and 500 tweets using our official event hashtags #a4aChallenge and #AfterschoolWorks.  And you made it look easy!  The two-day conference generated more than 600 tweets and almost 600 photos from conference-goers and advocates across the country—wow! 

We especially loved the photos we received (like the ones below) from programs who were sporting their afterschool green in support of afterschool for all!

We’ve created a permanent gallery with some of the best Challenge photos, and you can still see a feed with the latest afterschool tweets on our Challenge homepage. 

Do you have any photos from the Afterschool for All Challenge?  There’s still time to send them to us and have them displayed on our website!  Email photos to afterschoolalliance.challenge@picasaweb.com. 

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!