afterschoolnetwork

I attended Friday's session of the National AfterSchool Association conference in Louisville, KY.

I joined the school/community leader focus group in the first session. Representatives from Louisville, National League of Cities (Bela Shah), Coalition for Community Schools & many other school districts across the country discussed the latest trends and ideas in school-community partnerships. Louisville's unified city-county structure has resulted in some wins related to afterschool tracking and evaluation. The Office for Youth Services, which funds some $2.5 million annually, began using KidsTrack to measure impact. Starting with the Salvation Army & Boys & Girls Club, the program now is mandated for every funded agency. Cincinnati's community learning center movement was mentioned several times as a model for widespread community development through schools.

A fantastic panel discussion on Public Policy and Advocacy featured the following representatives:

• California's SchoolAge Coalition - using workforce development strategies to fund professional development, recruitment, training, etc. for afterschool personnel; CA identified 14 different categories for youth professionals (therefore difficult to show need/demand for workforce improvements & economic impact of the field -- both valuable data items for securing resources and attention)
• YMCA of the USA - Activate America, obesity prevention
• Afterschool Alliance - using data, Lights On Events, candidate surveys before elections, and coalitions to shine the spotlight on afterschool
• SchoolAge Notes/NAA public policy - update on 2006 budget.

The Exhibit area was fantastic & full of resources. Who knew speed-stacking cups would be a phenomenon?

The J.C.Penney Afterschool Fund was recognized at the Luncheon. Slideshow was filled with bouncy music, cute kids, and inspirational quotes. Unfortunately, the keynote speaker was not.

Author Linda Perlstein's book, Not Much Just Chillin', and the accompanying workshop on serving middle school kids are fascinating. The website's not bad either. Lots of food for thought--- still percolating, especially in the context of the YMCA Dayton Teen Center where we reach over 100 teens and tweens.

Finished the day at the Speed Stacking workshop... fascinating.

Afterschool can effectively complement school by providing enriching and exciting learning environments that engage youth. The Atlanta Public Schools provide extended day programs in 41 elementary schools and feature partnerships with cultural institutions and other community partners.

Speaker: Dr. Beverly Hall, Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools

- Providers are required to annually achieve 3 NSACA standards & document how they supplement of school achievement plan.
- Principals must submit proposals to District reporting provider compliance with the standards & school achievement plan

Audit established baseline:
- 1800 students in Extended Day programs
- 5 school-run
- 42 independent contractors (8 USDOE, 18 local cultural institutions, zoo, arts, science museum, etc.)
- Average partnership length 5 years
- Average weekly fee under $30
- Tutorials (in addition, min. 1 -2 hours; free academic support)
- High school - college access, tutoring, sports


Measure student engagement --- not just more school during extended day... --- via annual surveys at each program site (NSACA standards)

Transportation --- Title I funds, collaboration with CBOs; District Gen'l Fund insufficient.

Overview: How can cities leverage their power, leadership, and resources to advance the policy of the network? Many cities are investing significantly in local afterschool programs and mayors and council members are becoming champions for afterschool. Some cities are thinking broadly to create citywide systems for afterschool?

Quality Afterschool Connection - Denver established a program quality initiative, established standards, created professional development plan

Assets for Colorado Youth - free trainings offered; 300 teachers/principals --> mandatory training; once there, win them over!

Denver has unified city-county system, including office of community education in Denver Public Schools. Mayor of Denver visits one school each week!

National League of Cities has toolkits, APAN, & other resources available related to afterschool, including model ordinances!

I attended the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce dinner last night & gained a new word for all the ideas that I've been posting: Snowflakes! Background: John Pepper, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, was honored as a Great Living Cincinnatian. In the intro video (think "This Is Your Life" in 5 minutes or less), several of his colleagues mentioned that John produces volumes of ideas, often on small pieces of paper or Post-It Notes. They are so frequent that someone decided to call them "snowflakes." I think I'll adopt that!!

Anyway, here are some more "snowflakes":

- Add representation to network from cities, United Way, PTA, school boards, existing coalitions, dept. of ed, job & fam. services, funders, etc.
- Establish Conversations for Kids -- community connection luncheons, regional recruitment
- Braid "Arts, Academics & Athletics" - Develop synergistic partnership around shared issues

Overview: Youth-led Youth Panel (ages 10-17), Youth mixed with adults at dinner

Youth Focus Group Questions:
- What do you do afterschool?
- How do you usually hear about afterschool activities?
- What prompts you to get involved?
- Discuss cost of afterschool programs.
- What types of programs interest you but are not available? (National Rocketry Club, "meaningful, hands on work projects", college access/help filling out applications, field trips -- "Get OUT!")
- What would you be doing if you weren't in an afterschool program?
- If you could create any afterschool program, what would it be like?

Overview: DeKalb County community learning center site visit (www.ftrc.org)

Ideas:

- Work with police department to determine local impact of afterschool opportunity & juv. crime stats; DeKalb: 911 calls typically high afterschool are now falling
- Explore relationship between afterschool & foreclosure rates
- Cardiac Teen Program - Nationwide, 4/100 teens possess a certain hereditary heart condition; local testing done after a tragic teen death found 50/300 in DeKalb County had this condition --> awareness, testing, prevention
- Require 15 hrs of service in exchange for free community programs in the arts, technology --> just passed millionth hour of service
- Coca Cola offers parents 24 hours (3 days off) for parents to participate in school activities.
- Metro Voices, Metro Choices Atlanta community visioning process included youth voices

Overview: Data is critical for making the case for increased resources for afterschool. Understanding why, when & how to use data is as important as having the right data to share.

Paint the picture: Who is served? What income(s)? Family make-up? Costs? Benefits? What difference does it make?

Know your audience: What do they believe? How can you match their beliefs via tailored afterschool messages? Resources: see MN focus group study, think 6 degrees of separation from afterschool, i.e., What's the connection between AVIAN FLU and AFTERSCHOOL? keep kids healthy, teach good habits/hand-washing, etc.

Ideas:

- Local Afterschool for All effort (with APAN, NLC, etc.)
- Partner with professionals in gov't relations/advocacy to see who might be friendly to an afterschool policy/legislation, etc.
- Partner with event planners to leverage ideas!
- Recruit interns!!
- Policy & Advocacy Tasks: Facilitate meetings; Blog progress; Summarize policies online; Develop Strategies, Prepare Briefings; Establish appointments; Plan events, like Lights On Afterschool
- Add questions to existing surveys conducted in the community
- Study economic impact of afterschool (WA, CA) similar to ECE community brain research work (MN High School Redesign, Success BY 6)
- Use short survey bites to follow-up on key issues
- Obtain quotes regarding afterschool from varied local audiences, individuals, opinion leaders in business, gov't, non-profit, philanthropy, faith-based, police, school board, etc.
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Overview: Understand how to use & engage business partners as active members of the coalition at both the network and local level.

Ideas:

- Prepare kits (biz to biz; biz to community; comm. to biz)
- Read State of Corporate Citizenship in the US by Center for Corp. Cit. @ Boston College, funded by Hitachi & LISC
- Host Summit - invite editors of newspaper, business courier, workforce issue groups
- Ask companies to survey their employees (before summit).
- Publicize what companies have done (survey, results, changes)
- Corporate Voices for Working Families - use their resources
- Solicit letters of support from people businesses care about (track record); i.e. Pres. of Chamber of Commerce, pol. party leaders, Gov. & attach letter quote in body of email invitation
- Invite speakers who don't just provide lip service, but those who have a corp. plan
- Lots of time for Q&A (what's impt to them; dialogue among themselves, peer email network among people attending summit)
- Include employer-sponsored childcare providers, like Bright Horizons
- What do you want them to do? Balance telling & offering meaningful alternatives to cash, i.e. mapping, time off for employees to volunteer, tutors - e'ee's, spokespeople - legislative efforts; IT
- Commitment cards with suggestion opportunities
- Add more biz people on board (school bd members, regional networks/regional planning teams)
- Email invites followed by printed invites (peer to peer; CEO to CEO) followed by phone calls (come, suggest alt.)
- Press release to business reporter (survey of working parents)
- NC: 1/3 biz, 1/3 public sector; 1/3 nonprofit ---> synergy
- engage county commissioners, school superintendents

Overview: The theory of MI was developed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University. He noted that IQ tests measure primarily verbal, logical-mathematical, and some spatial intelligence. Believing that there are many other kinds of intelligences of human capabilities (thinking of them as different computers that come on at different times), he proposed that they also visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences. More recently, he added naturalist intelligence to this list and suggested there may be other possibilities, including spiritual and existential.

Ideas related to afterschool quality -
- Personalized MI curriculum, interdisciplinary
- Individuation aka individualization
- Ask questions, such as "How do you learn?" "What do you want to learn?" "How can you show us what you understand in ways that are comfortable to you?"--> proof is that kids like learning more when they influence HOW and WHAT they learn (Know your educational goals & how you know when you are making progress)
- Different windows for different intelligences, ie., hands on, group work, self-reflection, arts activity, act out physically/kinesthetically
- Each MI has its own trajectory (music & math rise & peak early; ling. & logic rise grad. over time)
- Cascading Leadership (older youth mentoring younger enhances connectedness)
- Emphasize self-selection, choice among diverse program menu
- Contact local education professors, experts in MI to advise
- Build MI matrix - academic stds, assets, & MI how to achieve

CASE STUDY: Young Scholars (NC) targeted struggling students, low income via MI effort.

- Peace Garden; Pond Project; Media/commercial - tech/math; Bowling alley - angles; Found Art Auction; Musical Heritage - from spirituals to rap; Summer Science Camp
- Pearl Buck's The Big Wave: post-tsunami customs & culture lessons via MI
- visual/spatial - construction model, drawings, dances, masks
- musical - Japanese koto, soundscapes (calm to tempest)
- linguistic - retold story, haiku, ltrs to adopted grandparents
- math/logic - timeline of events; bonsai trays - estimate how much trays would shrink after kiln firing
- interpersonal - interviews about trip; evaluations
- intrapersonal - pretend on mtn; self-reflection; desc. qualities successful after wave
- kin. - performed court dance
- naturalistic - pick out bonsai plants & where to put them -"Feel what the tree wanted you to do" lesson from bonsai master

"I only go to school so I can go to Young Scholars."

Doing, Reflecting, Connecting

//pzweb.harvard.edu - Project Zero

Mott will post teleconference in streaming video.

Overview: Support the development of policies to secure & sustain resources for new & existing afterschool programs.

Ideas:
- Resolution for Afterschool (who supports, define afterschool)
- Invite potential corp. & fdn funders/leadership to regional roundtables
- Present at traditional Legislator's events (orientations for new members, etc.)
- CT: 3 pilot programs/state; approp. $5M (money then disappeared, trying to get back)
- MT: map of the state - where programs are; data by community (the more local, the more interested the legislator); see if their office can request the data
- Develop "demand" data - state dept. of ed., KidsCount, working parents ratio, what resonates?
- NCLB perspective (IL)
- Emotion -- more stories needed, personal connections
- NH: funding guide, internal map --> resource coordination, gaps
- interagency
- Upload Finance Project hand-outs to library at http://my.cincyafterschool.org

Overview: Identify & strategize solutions to challenges networks face with regard to governance, i.e., partners with divergent viewpoints, network restructuring, geographic balance, buy-in.

Ideas:
- PTA, School board involvement
- Lobbying, advocacy alignment
- Learn & Link with ECE leaders
- Seek "quick wins" via Lights On, regional meetings, sub-grants, website marketing
- Indicator and self-assessment tools regarding quality improvements (do 1st set quickly, then keep working to refine); ex: Providence used local standards to matrix with state in 3-4 months
- SC 501 status, exec. dir., bylaws, database of providers, annual conference (include a youth track), involve OFCBSI
- Partner MOU - Kansas
- Annual Celebration of Afterschool
- RI: Sharepoint website, eBlasts, Survey Monkey
- Use Paid professional lobbyists donated from corporate partners (ask for 1 hr/wk for them to talk about afterschool issues)
- data & market info (Hillary/RI) - quick market study about what constituents want in terms of change (youth, gov., etc.)
- Colorado - passed law to okay youth under 18 on boards can vote on org. motions
- Michigan - council on MI foundations
- Youth Greet/Meet & give tours of local sites
- DC trip
- logo, Lights On info on website

Overview: In order to remain strong, coalitions need to continue building support with expected and unexpected allies. This session focused on how to generate partnerships and keep them growing.

Basic Coalition Principles:

1. Choose unifying issues.
2. Develop a realistic coalition budget.
3. Understand and respect institutional self-interest.
4. Agree to Disagree.
5. Play to the Center for tactics. Members must be comfortable with the tactics selected.
6. Recognize that contributions vary.
7. Structure decision-making carefully.
8. Help organizations achieve their self-interest.
9. Achieve significant victories.
10. Urge stable, senior board representation.
11. Clarify decision-making procedures.
12. Distribute credit fairly.

What Organizations are asking themselves when they are asked to join:

1. Who is behind the coalition?
2. What's in our organization's self-interest to join the coalition?
3. How can our members participate?
4. How will participating in the coalition build our organization?
5. Is it real or is it a letterhead coalition?
6. Are we interesting (beyond providers)?

-- also think about who can de-rail your agenda if they are not at the table.

Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership Example:

Issue: Governing Committee needed more, diverse participants.

Solution:
1. Developed and implemented regional networks across the state: gathered input to inform the Afterschool Commission, private funding requests, and MAP's strategic plan
2. Engaged more partners from different sectors; encouraged their leadership
3. Expanded Governing Committee to include regional network leaders
4. Began governance revision process to bring more non-traditional partners to the table

Lessons Learned:
- Get to the balcony (focus energy on real issues, take personality & leadership issues outside)
- Pursue diverse partnerships: providers, public agencies, private partners, and more
- Develop written governance and operating procedures (must be transparent)
- True collaborations are very powerful
- Talk to ATAC early and often

IDEAS:
- catalog of afterschool programs across the state
- bylaws, guiding principles in writing
- dues
- orientation, new member packet
- collective action (MAP $22M ask in state budget)
- culture of dialogue (decisions made around the table, not before or after meetings; do it in real time with all partners engaged)
- be informed by a fully inclusive process (geo, program type)
- rotate locations of meetings
- be clear about mission, vision
- recruit existing coalitions (NECC, etc.)
- promote OAN at conferences, meetings
- create listserv, improve website
- hold regional summits

The Mott conference that brought together 31 statewide afterschool networks lived up to my high expectations. An incredible menu of choices for clinics, workshops, plenary sessions, site visits did not disappoint.

The 2006 National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks Meeting brings together teams from C.S. Mott Foundation-funded statewide afterschool networks that are working to further afterschool policies and practices. Focused on leading and learning together, the national network meeting is an opportunity to learn, reflect, connect, and share ideas and strategies.

Three key goals unite the networks:

1. Create a sustainable structure of statewide, regional, and local partnerships, particularly school-community partnerships, focused on supporting policy development at all levels.
2. Support the development and growth of statewide policies that will secure the resources that are needed to sustain new and existing afterschool programs.
3. Support statewide systems to ensure programs of high quality.

The session summaries that will also note which goal the session is designed to impact.

I hope you find this to be a helpful resource. Even if no one else checks it out, the purpose of the blog for me is to document my thoughts, connections, and resources related to afterschool networks. As I chart the progress of local, state, and national afterschool networks, I hope that the web of support for all youth is strengthened. Your feedback is always welcome - so jump in!