Michigan After School Partnership

FEDERAL

Urgent Action Needed to Save 21st CCLC Funding
The President's proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget effectively cuts funding for 21st CCLC by $13 million by combining it with other programs. Congress is currently reviewing the Administration's proposal, so it is critical to call your Representative today to register your concern.  Click here to find the phone number for your Member of Congress.  Let the office know that you are a constituent calling to register your concern about the President's budget proposal for 21st CCLC after-school programs.  Include stories about the impact of 21st CCLC on your community.  Explain that:

• We need more support for after-school programs, not the diversion of existing after-school funding to other programs and purposes.
• 21st CCLCs are valuable, effective after-school programs that are improving student outcomes, keeping kids safe and helping working families.
• Every state needs after-school programs. Creating a national competition for 21st CCLC funds will create winners and losers, and leave at-risk students in many states behind.
• Please support and grow this program by increasing funding for it. We can support innovation and still maintain the formula funding, which guarantees that every state receives a portion of funding.

Download an informational sheet on the budget concerns and a talking points sheet to provide you with more information.

Improving the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Act of 2010
Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and John Ensign (R-NV) introduced legislation to provide more children with safe, healthy, and academically-focused after-school programs. The Improving 21st Century Community Learning Centers Act of 2010 will improve and expand access to after-school programs for children across the country.

Summary of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Act of 2010:

• Reauthorize this important program and renew our commitment to high-quality after-school programs.
• Provide states with tools designed to sustain high-quality after-school programs by allowing programs to continue to receive federal funding based on their performance. The legislation also gives states the ability to work with programs across the state to further improve the quality of these after-school programs.
• Increase opportunities for children and young people to be more physically active. As childhood-obesity reaches epidemic proportions in our society, allowing for such opportunities is critical to ensuring our children's overall health.
• Encourage children to be involved in community service and youth development activities.
  

Contact your Members of Congress and encourage them to co-sponsor this important legislation.

STATE

Your help is needed to maintain critical funding in Michigan to support after-school programs. You can help by contacting your local legislator and telling them how important after-school funding in the state budget will be to children, youth and families in your community.

Find Your State Representative.
Find Your State Senator.

Specific Budget Action Items

School Aid - Support $50,000 for the Michigan After-School Partnership (Sec. 39a)

Department of Health and Human Services (SB 248) - Support $3 million in TANF after-school funding (Sec. 657) and $25,000 for the Michigan After-School Partnership (Sec. 676)

Department of Energy, Labor, and Economic Growth (SB 243) - Support $25,000 for the Michigan After-School Partnership (Sec. 704)

Talking Points for your conversations:

• We need to support America’s struggling working families. Families are relying even more on after-school supports as they work to keep their jobs, take on more hours, or struggle to afford basic necessities for their children. Parents with after-school care are more productive at work, less stressed about the welfare of their children, and consequently, miss fewer days of work. For low income children, programs are often a reliable source of nutritious snacks or a hot meal.
• After-school programs provide much-needed jobs for adults and young adults. In Michigan today, after-school programs serve 191,000 children providing jobs for an estimated 19,000 adults. There is demand for after-school programs to serve another 15 million children nationally—a potential of more than 1 million jobs for individuals with a wide variety of background and experience, from young adults to baby boomers.
• After-school programs provide the added value of investing in our future workforce. Children in after-school programs do better in school, are more likely to graduate and are exploring pathways to new careers. Through hands-on learning, they are developing the critical thinking, leadership and problem solving skills that employers say are vital. Investing in after-school programs now is a down payment on tomorrow's workforce, and a successful economy. As US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has said, we need to “educate our way to a better economy.”
• Almost one in three Michigan children of working families are unsupervised in the afternoons. 31 percent of children in Michigan working families are “latchkey children” with no adult supervision in the afternoon. This puts them at greater risk for juvenile delinquency, drug use and unwanted pregnancy.

Resources:
Michigan Data from the America After 3 PM Household Survey on Afterschool
New Survey Data: Michigan Latchkey Kids from Working Families Vastly Outnumber Those in Afterschool Programs