by Bela P. Shah
Speaking to a crowd of 200 state and local leaders from 25 states, Mayor Bill Bogaard of Pasadena, Calif., offered advice and perspectives on commitment to afterschool opportunities and on what communities can do to motivate local elected leaders to act on an afterschool policy agenda.
Bogaard joined state legislators, governors? advisors and school leaders from Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts and South Carolina in a plenary session entitled ?Moving a Policy Agenda.? It was facilitated by Dr. An-Me Chung of the Mott Foundation, a philanthropic leader in the afterschool movement.
This Mott Foundation Statewide Afterschool Networks Conference promoted dialogue about strengthening quality, governance, access and the financing and sustainability of afterschool programs.
Municipal Role
Municipal leaders have an increasing role in supporting out-of-school time programs for youth in cities across America.
The realities of working families in cities and towns cause alarm for municipal leaders who know that 14.3 million school-age children must care for themselves after the school day ends.
This is troubling when rates for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex are highest on school days between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
With these concerns in mind, local elected officials are becoming a critical part of the solution.
They are convening community stakeholders to ensure collaboration among city agencies and non-profit, community-based organizations to create citywide afterschool systems.
Leaders at all levels of government are now participating in conversations with states about how to support policies to strengthen afterschool programs. The session was intended to help state networks understand how to get their policymakers on board and how best to work with them to move an afterschool policy agenda.
Mayoral Advice
?Be ready, be prepared and know your leader,? said Bogaard. ?Listen to the needs of your leader and bring together platforms or programs that meet these needs.?
Bogaard added, ?Be flexible and creative, and listen to the other organizations? that are vying for the official?s ear. ?When groups come together with a single voice it is much more viable for a mayor to act on a particular issue.?
When each panelist was asked what they saw as the Afterschool Network?s role in their state, Bogaard responded, ?Information is power. To answer policy questions successfully, you need information.?
?The strength of the network,? he said, ?is that it increases the ability of people supporting an important cause, like afterschool, to gain information.?
?Twenty percent is about the initiative, 20 percent is how you package it and 60 percent is whom you tell before you announce it,? said Ann Reale, education advisor to Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. ?It?s about the relationships you build along the way.?
Bogaard used the lessons learned from NLC?s report, ?Stronger Schools, Stronger Cities,? to make his point.
He said the five key elements to making policy work is ?vigorous and sustained leadership; accurate data and analysis; a plan that defines goals; public engagement; and coalition building and collaboration with everyone.?
Bipartisan Approaches
In addressing the issue of bipartisanship, Calvin Jackson, deputy superintendent for the South Carolina Department of Education, noted that there must be ?ongoing engagement of legislators, not just during election time,? and urged the audience to ?celebrate and honor the work of both Republicans and Democrats.?
?Look for commonality,? said Byron Garrett, policy advisor to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. ?Differences are easy to find.?
Maintaining Dynamic Partnerships
Concurrent workshops offered conference participants additional information. Lisa Fowler, special assistant to the city manager in Pasadena, Calif., focused on ?Maintaining Dynamic Partnerships.?
Fowler stressed the importance of ways cities can strengthen collaboration between the schools, community-based and faith-based organizations and city agencies to link the strategies and content of afterschool programming with daytime school curriculum.
In Pasadena, there has been increased interaction between teachers and afterschool providers ? now afterschool programs include one hour of math enrichment activities directly tied to the school curriculum.
Details: NLC is part of the Mott Foundation?s Afterschool Technical Assistance Collaborative that serves as a resource to all state networks. Municipal leaders interested in connecting with the Statewide Afterschool Network in their state should contact Bela Shah at shah@nlc.org or 202-626-3057. Two NLC reports on lessons learned are now available for downloading from the publication section of the website at www.nlc.org/iyef, or request a hard copy by leaving a message at iyef@nlc.org or 202-626-3014. One is about ?Stronger Schools, Stronger Cities,? and the other is ?The Afterschool Hours.?