Conference Highlights City Afterschool Efforts in Push for Increased Federal Funding

City officials joined participants in urging members of Congress to fund the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) initiative, the chief federal funding stream for local afterschool programs. CCLC was funded at $981 million in 2007, which represents a $20 million decrease in real terms since 2002.

A panel of municipal leaders from Albuquerque, N.M., Baltimore, Florence, S.C., and New York City underscored the importance of funding for afterschool and discussed the ways in which city-led initiatives to deploy municipal resources have made an impact in strengthening their local afterschool programs.

Albuquerque

In response to growing concern about the city’s dropout rate, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez has established a council to examine afterschool standards and curricula and to ensure that programs are of sufficient quality to contribute to students’ academic success. The city currently invests $2.5 million in afterschool, and the school district has also begun looking at ways to boost afterschool funding.

“Everyone has a role to play in the continuum and cities are part of the spectrum,” said Everette Hill, executive director of the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community, an Albuquerque-based statewide intermediary organization working to improve conditions and opportunities for youth. 

Baltimore

Baltimore’s citywide afterschool strategy began 10 years ago when 7,000 residents attended a citizen summit that identified out-of-school time programs for youth as a priority. To create new programs and train staff, the Baltimore Safe and Sound Campaign worked with the City Council to raise additional revenue.

With a budget surplus in 2005, the city was able to invest $6 million in afterschool programs. This month, the city will host another large citizen summit to focus on other ways to support afterschool.

Florence, S.C.

Without the resources of larger cities, the City of Florence has relied on strong, broad-based partnerships to expand access to afterschool programs. In response to violent incidents involving youth, Mayor Frank Willis joined the police chief and school superintendent in convening representatives of the local chamber of commerce, major hospitals, parks and recreation department, faith community, juvenile justice system and youth development organizations. 

The Mayor’s Coalition to Prevent Juvenile Crime grew out of this collaboration, and began by collecting data on neighborhood indicators to gain an understanding of where resources were most lacking. The coalition has helped create new youth employment opportunities, parenting courses, computer labs and afterschool programs that are accessible through schools and low-income housing units. Recently, the city received $500,000 in state funding for job training, mentoring and placement for 200 youth.

New York City

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leading the largest municipal initiative in the country to strengthen afterschool programming. With the merging of several city departments’ resources into a stronger Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), the city now uses 515 school sites for afterschool programs.

New York has undergone two years of planning and moved toward a data-driven process of directing resources toward areas of greatest need.  By 2008, the city’s investment of $121 million in afterschool will serve 80,000 children and youth in 550 locations. The city has also made progress in standardizing programming hours for elementary school students as well as the number of hours program providers must serve high school students annually. A new online tracking system for participation holds programs accountable for the funding they receive from the city. 

Details: To learn more about NLC’s efforts to help cities expand afterschool opportunities, visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Bela Shah at (202) 626-3057 or shah@nlc.org.