A community based director from Washington DC believes a report by the Afterschool Alliance regarding working families and the need for more afterschool as well as community based programs may give renewed interest to the importance of community involvement, education and outreach.

“Afterschool and community-based programs have a role in the community, much like churches and recreational centers,” Ruth Jones, Deputy Director of Communities in Schools, said. “A stimulus is needed for establishing these programs to become more widely used and with a renewed focus on education enrichment, workforce development and family support outside of the school day.”

At the Ferebee-Hope Elementary School site, Jones and her team work closely with the principal to connect much needed community resources to help students stay in school, develop necessary skills and prepare for life. Jones helps communities assess the needs of their youth and then designs a plan for meeting those needs by using existing resources. In some schools, services are made available to all students and their families.
Earlier this year, First Lady Michelle Obama visited Jones’ school. “It was truly an honor to have First Lady Michelle Obama visit our school. There is no greater priority in this country than ensuring that our children have access to a high-quality education. We must also guarantee that they have full access to the necessary community resources in order to have a winning future. Our program has shown that community outreach, over time, will improve student success, with considerably attention to out-of-school time compared to not having outreach for at risk youth,” Jones said.

American families are different today than they were 50 years ago. In 1950, 56 percent of families fit the "traditional" image of one parent at home, caring for children full-time, while the other parent held a job. Today, less than one-fourth of our nation’s families fit that image because many more women hold paying jobs.

In order to learn how families fill this gap and how children spend their hours after school, the Afterschool Alliance and J.C. Penney Co., Inc. conducted a national household survey on afterschool. The findings were first released in May 2004. The America After 3 PM survey provides the most comprehensive and accurate picture to date of what our nation’s youth are doing each day after school. America After 3 PM revealed that more than 14 million K-12 youth spend some portion of the afterschool hours taking care of themselves, while only 6.5 million K-12 youth participate in afterschool or community-based programs. This report focuses on how children in working families spend their after school hours and examines the demand for afterschool programs from the perspective of working parents.

Finding safe, affordable afterschool and community-based programs is a major challenge for America’s working parents. As a nation, we simply have not provided the stimulus that working parents need to ensure that their children are safe and supervised in the afternoons.

Afterschool and community-based programs are a popular solution; an overwhelming percentage of parents of children in afterschool programs are satisfied with these programs. But too many children today have no afterschool programs. Instead, they are in self-care or being cared for by a sibling who may be too young to provide reliable care.

Until we make afterschool programs available to every family that needs them, we will continue to see too many of our children fall victim to crime, gangs, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and other problems that can affect them for a lifetime. Just as importantly, we miss out on valuable educational opportunities to help children connect with caring adults/mentors, develop skills and healthy habits, and benefit from the academic supports that quality afterschool programs provide. If we can afford to provide a stimulus to car companies that produce vehicles we cannot afford, then unquestionably, we can provide a stimulus to support our children‘s education.

Learning for green will become a life long occupation and require heavy lifting. But you know what, we can make it if we try!