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For Immediate Release
October XXX, 2007
Contact:[your program/rally contact]
[daytime phone number] (day)
[evening phone number] (eve.)
[Your program name] Lights On Afterschool Rally Features Mayor, Business Leaders
[Your city] Children, Parents, Community Leaders Join National Rally for Afterschool
[your city] – Several hundred children, parents, business and community leaders joined today at a Lights On Afterschool rally – one of 7,500 such events across the nation. These events emphasize the importance of keeping the lights on and the doors open for afterschool programs. Speakers warned that tight budgets are endangering afterschool programs here in [your city] and around the country, forcing many to cut back or even close their doors.
[your city] Lights On Afterschool participants saw students conduct scientific experiments and perform, while Mayor [your mayor], school officials, business leaders, parents and students discussed the importance of afterschool programs.
The nationwide events marked the eighth annual Lights On Afterschool, sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance. 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. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Chair of Lights On Afterschool again this year.
[Enter specifics for your celebration, add appropriate quote, etc.]
“Lights On Afterschool celebrates the remarkable work being done by students who attend our afterschool programs,” Mayor [name] told the crowd. “It is a powerful reminder that afterschool programs keep children safe and help them learn, while relieving working parents of worries about how their children spend their afternoons. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough afterschool programs and too many kids are home alone in the afternoons, or out on the streets where they can be exposed to crime or engage in dangerous behaviors. We must open more programs and refuse to let tight budgets endanger the programs we have by forcing them to cut back on hours or services, or close their doors. I am personally committed to doing all I can to ensure that, in the very near future, every [your city] child who needs an afterschool program has one. Afterschool is key to children's success.”
Activities at the [your city] rally included: student art and science displays; instrumental, singing and dance performances; and remarks by Mayor [your mayor], School Board Chair [your school board chair], local business leaders, 6th-grader [add appropriate student grade, name], educators and other community leaders.
[Add specific quotes, names]
“We are all so proud of our afterschool students,” said program director [your program director]. “There's no reason that learning should stop at 3 pm, particularly if the alternative is unsupervised time in front of a television set, or any of the dangerous or unhealthy behaviors that can ensnare children in the afternoons. Like so many other afterschool programs around the nation, ours is supported by funding from the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, which is beginning its tenth anniversary year. Over the past decade, it has provided funding to allow millions of children to attend afterschool. However it is today woefully underfunded, so all who care about afterschool need to show their support for full funding for the 21st Century initiative.”
[Add your program specifics]
The [your city] Afterschool Program opened in 1999 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 of the school system, YMCA, Museum of Arts and Sciences and three local colleges.
Lights On Afterschool is a nationwide event to recognize the critical importance of quality afterschool programs in the lives of children, their families and communities. It is a project of the Afterschool Alliance – a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensuring that all children have access to quality afterschool programs. More information on the Alliance and Lights On Afterschool is available at www.afterschoolalliance.org.
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