Sen. [Senator]
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Rep. [Representative]
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Date
Dear Rep. [Representative] or Dear Sen. [Senator],
President Bush’s budget calls for a drastic cut in funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLCs) programs, as well as transforming the federal after-school initiative into a voucher program. I hope you’ll reject both proposals and instead fully fund 21st CCLCs in this year’s appropriations bill. Our children and families depend on it.
After-school programs are extremely important here in [your state, city or town]. [Insert a sentence or two about your program, describing its benefit to your community.]
Millions of families rely on these programs to keep children safe, inspire them to learn, and relieve parents of worries about what their children are doing during out-of-school hours. The cut proposed by the President for fiscal year 2009, combined with restructuring 21st CCLC, by the Administration’s own numbers, would result in 635,000 to 1.1 million children losing access to quality programs. In Michigan, it would reduce the number of children served by 8,223. We need to do better for our citizens.
Evaluations of 21st CCLC and other after-school programs show they are successful in decreasing juvenile crime and that students who participate in afterschool programs improve their grades, attend school more regularly, are more likely to stay in school and attain higher levels of achievement in college. As a nation, we expect schools, communities, and families to work together to keep our children safe before, during and after school hours. Please fully fund the 21st CCLC program.
Sincerely,
[name]
[program/affiliation]
[address]