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afterschool alliance state-by-state fact sheet

Click on your state below to see information on how children in your state spend their after-school hours; gain state policy and funding knowledge; learn the afterschool champions and voices; and receive contact information for people in your state with whom it would be beneficial to connect in OST efforts. You can see what networks already exist in your state to better determine how to tap into existing efforts and/or initiate your own!

 

city–wide initiatives

Expanded Learning, Expanded Opportunity: How Four Communities Are Working to Improve Education for their Students (2015)
This report from America’s Promise Alliance profiles four communities in different stages of strengthening and effectively using Out-of-School Time networks to benefit high school youth. It looks at expanded learning opportunities in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Rochester, New York; all of which have convened GradNation summits. It highlights successes, challenges, and innovation these communities have faced; it also draws conclusions that have implications for OST programs of all types across the country. One of the most significant findings it shares is the proven importance of OST programs' engagement in cross-sector collaboration throughout the community in order to establish a network and community of support for OST programs.

Building Local Systems to Improve Afterschool (2013)
Actually a conference report, this resource covers a nation-wide afterschool conference held in February 2013. It describes in detail what program providers, system leaders, mayors, researchers, and other attendees think about topics such as measuring afterschool performance and strengthening program quality. The main thread is how community systems can be strengthened to support effective afterschool programming.

Building Management Information Systems to Coordinate Citywide Afterschool Programs: A Toolkit for Cities (2012)
This resource from The Wallace Foundation offers highly useful insight into establishing a Management Information System (MIS) in a community as a means of analyzing afterschool services. The data that is collected through a MIS allows programs to make smart decisions and coordinate services throughout the community. If a program is looking to potentially create a MIS, this resource would help narrow down the possibilities and the potential uses of it since it also offers a comparison of the features of six leading vendor’s systems.

Municipal Leadership for Afterschool: Citywide Approaches Spreading Across the Country (2011)
This report from the National League of Cities and The Wallace Foundation discusses city-level OST systems-building efforts. It explores innovative approaches some cities are taking and explains the importance of these types of efforts. To do so, it profiles 27 cities and shares findings on those cities' experiences.

Hours of Opportunity Volume 1: Lessons from the Five Cities on Building Systems to Improve After-School, Summer School, and Other Out-of-School-Time Programs (2010)
This report from the Wallace Foundation provides an analysis of five cities (Boston, Chicago, Providence, New York City, and Washington D.C.) and their system-building efforts in their communities as a means of enhancing Out-of-School Time. It describes the methods of analysis the cities used, the cities' early planning processes, the use of information systems, and the progress each site made toward enhanced quality, access, and sustainability. The end of the report includes lessons other cities can take away from these case studies.

Hours of Opportunity Volume 3: Profiles of Five Cities Improving After-School Programs Through a Systems Approach (2010)
This report provides case study examples of each of the five cities mentioned above. It describes the context within which the OST programs operate in the city, including the state of OST prior to the Wallace initiative, the efforts during the initiative, and the challenges and enablers to OST work in each city.

AfterZones: Creating a Citywide System to Support and Sustain High-Quality After-School Programs (2009)
This report explains a study conducted by the Providence Afterschool Alliance on the level of effectiveness of their system-building strategy. It discusses the extent to which middle school youth were able to access and benefit from high-quality OST programs, and it examines the specific features and strategies programs used to retain middle school youth in programs and sustain high-quality AfterZones.

Investments in Building Citywide Out-of-School-Time Systems: A Six-City Study (2009)
This report serves as a companion to a previous resource developed by Private/Public Ventures and The Finance Project: The Cost of Quality Out-of-School Time Programs (included in the quality section of this toolkit). It shares detailed information regarding both the average full cost and the average out-of-pocket expenditures of a broad range of OST programs. Also, it builds on these resources by establishing a systems-building framework for OST and explicitly discussing the system-level investments and strategies the case study cities used. The authors use their research to support suggestions that cities invest in a strong OST infrastructure by: providing community leadership and vision, improving program quality, expanding access to and participation in quality programs, and financing and sustaining quality programs.

Strengthening Partnerships and Building Public Will for Out-of-School Time Programs (2009)
This guide describes specific actions that municipal leaders can take in their communities and presents brief city profiles to illustrate how they have been used around the country. These strategies, when implemented effectively, build upon and reinforce each other in ways that can sustain momentum and lead to the development of a comprehensive Out-of-School Time system.

Afterschool Grows Up - How Four Large American Cities Approach Size and Scale in Afterschool Programs (2008)
This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report provides in-depth profiles of four emerging city-systems for Out-of-School Time: The Afterschool Corporation (New York City); LA's Best (Los Angeles); Afterschool Matters (Chicago); and San Diego 6 to 6 (San Diego). It presents their work as part of a growing effort to provide Out-of-School Time opportunities at scale, rather than the piecemeal, fragmented approaches that still dominate the OST landscape. The report examines each city-system's approach to Out-of-School Time funding, staffing, evaluation, champions/leadership, and authority/control.

A Place to Grow and Learn: A Citywide Approach to Building and Sustaining Out-of-School Time Learning Opportunities (2008)
From the Wallace Foundation, this report details a city-wide approach to Out-of-School Time by explaining the foundation for the approach and the six interrelated "action elements" that they believe to be crucial to the program's success.

Developing Effective Coalitions: An Eight Step Guide (2005)
The Eight Steps to Effective Coalition Building is a framework developed by Larry Cohen and others for engaging individuals, organizations and governmental partners in addressing community concerns. The document offers concrete steps towards building effective partnerships and provides tips for successful collaborations and partnerships.

 

School–Community Partnerships

Ten Ways to Build School-Community Partnerships (2012)
This video highlights ten ways for community organizations and schools to build strong partnerships that will support high-quality expanded learning initiatives. Partners of Every Hour Counts share their experience and perspective in this 5-minute video.

Connecting School and Afterschool: 15 Ways to Improve Partnerships
This resource, sponsored by United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, offers activity cards with coordinated step-by-step action plans around connecting schools with afterschool programs to better serve children and families.

 

Business–community partnerships

Business-to-Community Toolkit
This Toolkit from the Afterschool Alliance showcases community outreach strategies and policies that businesses can implement to increase support for OST. It shares examples of ways businesses can get involved in their communities' OST environments and ways they can advocate for OST through reaching out to policymakers and media, joining a larger OST movement, or participating in public awareness events. Business leaders can use this Toolkit to get suggestions of best ways to find programs that would benefit from their involvement and to receive tips on getting employees involved as volunteers.

 

business–business partnerships

Business-to-Business Toolkit
This toolkit from the Afterschool Alliance shows business leaders how they can get involved with OST efforts and how they can convey ideas to other business leaders. It includes a Call to Action, statement of principles, and a fact sheet that makes the case for OST. One section explains why businesses should care about OST, especially how it is a good investment that impacts businesses' bottom lines by preparing the future workforce and supporting familiies. The Toolkit gives specific ideas of ways businesses can work together to support OST, and it also includes a PowerPoint that can be used to educate colleagues about quality afterschool programs.

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Do you use a quality Out-of-School Time resource? Share it with other United Ways!

Email quality Out-of-School Time research reports, publications, best practices, case studies, blog articles, etc. to submissions@unitedway.org. We will contact you if we are featuring the resource you suggest in the OST Toolkit.