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(on your letterhead)
MEDIA ALERT
October XXX, 2007
Contact:
[your program/rally contact]
[daytime phone number] (day)
[evening phone number] (eve.)
[Your program name] to Hold Lights On Afterschool! Rally October 18
7,500 Rallies Nationwide Aim to Make Afterschool Programs Available to All
The [your program name] Afterschool Program will sponsor a Lights On Afterschool rally on Thursday, October 18 at 3 pm. The rally in support of afterschool programs will be one of more than 7,500 such events around the nation that day – the eighth annual Lights On Afterschool celebration, organized by the Afterschool Alliance. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is Chair of Lights On Afterschool again this year. Speakers in [your city/town] will call for expanding afterschool opportunities so that every child who needs a program has access to one, and discuss the harm that results from budget cuts and freezes.
Participants in the Lights On Afterschool rally include Mayor [your mayor], School Board Chair [your school board chair], as well as local business leaders, educators and other officials. The event will highlight three of the significant contributions that afterschool programs make to [your city/town/district]: keeping kids safe and healthy, inspiring them to learn, and relieving working parents of worries about their children's activities during the afternoon hours. Hundreds of parents, supporters and community members are expected to attend.
- What: [your program or city name] Lights On Afterschool Rally
- When: 3 pm, October 18, 2007
- Where: [location, address]
- Who: Mayor [your mayor’s name], School Board Chair [your school board chair], local business leaders, parents and supporters of afterschool
For more information or to arrange interviews with speakers, contact [your program/rally contact] at [daytime phone number].
[Amend the following section to the specifics of your program]
The [your program name] opened in [year opened] with a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant from the U.S. Department of Education. It now serves 250 children, providing homework assistance, mentoring, tutoring, and classes and clubs in sports, recreation, mathematics, chess, and dozens of other subjects. The program is a collaboration between the school system, YMCA, Museum of Arts and Sciences and three local colleges.
The 2007 Lights On Afterschool launches the 10th anniversary of the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, which has made afterschool programs available to hundreds of thousands of children across the nation over the last decade. Still, funding has not kept up with demand and millions of children are alone and supervised each afternoon after the school days ends.
The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children have access to quality afterschool programs. More information on Lights On Afterschool! is available at www.afterschoolalliance.org.
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