AFTERSCHOOL OBSERVER
JULY 2018
CONVENE
POLICY & PRACTICE REGIONAL CONVENINGS

This month, the NC Center for Afterschool Programs will host four Regional Convenings in various locations across the state. Each of the convenings will be held at Community Colleges that offer School-Age Career Certificates or Degree Programs. Specific dates, host community colleges and STEM Enrichment Experts are as follows: 

July 10: Edgecombe Community College [Tarboro, NC]
Dropping Seeds in Motion 

July 12: Durham Technical Community College [Durham, NC]
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center 

July 17: Blue Ridge Community College [Flat Rock, NC]
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute [PARI]

July 18: Central Piedmont Community College [Charlotte, NC]
365 Weird & Wonderful Science Experiments [Elizabeth Snoke Harris]




Policy & Practice Regional Convenings will provide an opportunity for attendees to engage in meaningful dialogue pertaining to the 2018 Roadmap of Need. The annual Roadmap of Need uses data on economic development, education, health and youth behavior & safety to take a whole child needs assessment of what youth living in each of North Carolina's 100 counties must have in order to thrive in school and in life. In addition to dialogue centered on the recently released Roadmap, attendees will be afforded an opportunity to explore a range of STEM-specific strategies through enrichment activities   presented by partnering organizations and STEM experts.  Lunch will be provided at each convening and attendees can register FREE of charge. 

The agenda for each of the Regional Convenings will be as follows: 
8:30 am: Registration/Coffee
9 am: Welcome/Roadmap of Need Dialogue
11 am: Lunch
11:30 am: STEM Enrichment  
12:30 pm: Adjournment 

Space is limited, so secure your spot by registering today! 
The deadline to register is July 8th. 
ADVOCACY 
FEDERAL AFTERSCHOOL FUNDING PROTECTED IN FY2019 HOUSE EDUCATION SPENDING BILL
The House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee met to mark up the FY2019 education-funding bill on the morning of June 15. The FY2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) Appropriations Act sets funding levels for all federal education, human services, and health and labor programs-including the  21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, which provides federal funds leveraged by local school-community partnerships to provide quality afterschool and summer learning programs.

The Committee voted to approve the House LHHS FY2019 spending bill by a party line vote. The bill maintains the full current $1.212 billion funding level for  21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) afterschool and summer learning programs. The Subcommittee rejected the  Trump Administration's FY2019 budget proposal that would have eliminated Community Learning Centers.  Parents, program providers, students, and advocates all reached out this year to members of Congress in support of afterschool programs by participating in more than 200 meetings with Congressional offices and sending more than 31,100 emails and calls. Additionally, 600 organizations signed a letter in support of Community Learning Centers and  more than 140 representatives and senators called for increased Community Learning Centers funding. This impressive outreach is a sign that the field of afterschool supporters is broad, dedicated, and passionate about the cause of afterschool - we must keep up the good work!

Budget Breakdown in Detail
The overall House LHHS FY 2019 spending bill funds the Department of Education at nearly $71 billion, which is $43 million above the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. Federal programs that support afterschool and summer learning were included in the bill, largely following the trend of continued bipartisan support for programs that inspire young people, keep children safe, and give parents peace of mind:
  • Title I Grants to Local Education Agencies: $15.76 billion, level with FY2018 funding. Title I provides basic and flexible funding to low-income school districts to improve student outcomes. Schools are able to spend Title I funds on afterschool and summer learning programs.
  • Title II-A Funds for Teacher Professional Development: $2.057 billion level with FY2018.
  • Title IV Full Service Community Schools: $17.5 million, level with FY2018. This funding through the Department of Education helps support community school development and expansion at the local level.
  • Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants: $1.2 billion (increased by $100 million) is proposed for school districts established under ESSA to support activities that provide students with a well-rounded education, ensure safe and supportive learning environments, and use technology to improve instruction. Allowable uses for the grant include support for afterschool STEM. 
  • TRIO and GEAR UP: $1.06 billion and $360 million respectively. These programs help first-generation college students prepare for, enter, and complete college, and are increased by $50 million for TRIO and $10 million for GEAR UP over FY2018.
  • Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG): $5.226 billion, level with the historic increase provided in FY2018. In addition to supporting child care for children ages birth through five, the CCDBG funds afterschool programs for just under one million school age children.
  • Career, Technical and Adult Education: The bill provides $1.9 billion for career, technical and adult education programs, an increase of  nearly $115 million over fiscal year 2018, to ensure that all students have the opportunity to continue to develop their skills after high school and enter into good?paying jobs.
  • Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program: Eliminates all $108 million for this evidence-based program based in the Department of Health and Human Services that supports in part afterschool pregnancy prevention programs.
  • Corporation for National and Community Service: The bill includes $1.06 billion for CNCS, the same as last year's enacted level. CNCS supports AmeriCorps and VISTA that are a key asset for hundreds of afterschool programs.
  • Community Services Block Grant: The bill provides a $35 million increase for this program for a total of $780 million for Community Service programs. 
The bill also includes $3.85 billion to address substance use, including opioid and heroin abuse, which is $36 million above the fiscal year 2018 enacted level and $1.75 billion above the president's budget request. This amount includes $1 billion for State opioid response grants, along with funding for programs authorized in the 21 st Century Cures Act and the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.

To read the full article, click here. 

INFORM
NATIONAL AFTERSCHOOL ASSOCIATION WEBINAR

Wednesday, July 25, 2018
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm 

Technology is a constantly changing field. In this session, we'll explore ways to connect emerging and changing technology to your team's daily goals and their work with students. We'll help you create professional development for digital learning that allows staff to learn new material, practice skills and reflect on experiences. You'll leave this session with an understanding of key digital learning competencies, a plan for capitalizing on existing staff expertise and experiences to build professional development and strategies to incorporate digital learning into your hiring processes. 

Key Take-Aways:
  • Review digital learning competencies to understand what your team needs to know to effectively use technology in programming
  • Capitalize on your team's expertise to build professional development into regular staff meetings
  • Incorporate digital learning competencies into your hiring processes
ADVOCACY
NC OUT-OF-SCHOOL TIME MAPPING DATABASE 

The NC Center for Afterschool Programs [NC CAP] developed a statewide, searchable database for out-of-school time programs (OST) programs that serve K-12 youth before school, after school, summers, weekends and during school breaks. Programs can take place in schools, school-age child care centers, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, universities, libraries, museums, camps, and other locations can register their programs in the statewide mapping database. You can utilize this database to search for information on program locations, activities, number and grades of youth served.  This database helps families, schools, communities and elected officials locate programs for their youth.  It also aids in identifying community assets and gaps in out-of-school time programming.

Registering your program in the statewide database is easy and takes less than two minutes. Register your program today! 
ADVOCACY
NATIONAL SUMMER LEARNING DAY
National Summer Learning Day is a national advocacy day scheduled for July 12, 2018. Led by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), the day is a national advocacy day aimed at elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe and healthy every summer, ensuring they return to school in the fall ready to succeed in the year. Resources are provided by   NSLA    for families, students, communities and elected officials on the website. North Carolina summer program providers are invited to register their programs online to ensure that families in communities statewide can locate available programs during the summer months.  Your participation sends a powerful message across the nation that summers matter and offers an opportunity to showcase how summers can make a life-changing difference in the lives of young people.
SUPPORT
NC SUMMER LEARNING TOOLKIT
Are You A Summer Learning Ambassador? 
A New Toolkit Helps Summer Program Providers Reach Parents 

Children work hard during the school year and they learn a lot. But if we are not careful, they can lose what they learn over the summer. When that happens, they start the next school year behind, and it's hard to catch up.
 
We all want to help children keep learning over the summer, so they return to school ready to continue growing. NCECF worked with Book Harvest in Durham to hear from their Parent Advisory Team and learned from parents across North Carolina to determine what messages would be most helpful and the channels they want to receive the messages.
 
Since summer program providers have the best opportunity to engage parents about how summer can be both a vacation from school and an opportunity for learning and enrichment, NCECF created a toolkit just for them! The toolkit is for schools, camps, churches, libraries and others working with children over summer break.
 
The Summer Learning Toolkit starts with a simple plan to engage parents throughout the summer including:
  • Communication tools to ensure program staff understand the importance of summer learning so that they can communicate effectively with parents.
  • Information and resources to relay to parents (in English and Spanish) each week of summer. That's texts, Facebook posts, and newsletter blogs and phone scripts.
  • A tip sheet for parents about summer learning (in English and Spanish)
  • Special Summer Learning Day stickers badge for everyone!
You'll find the NC Summer Learning Toolkit here !
 
Don't Forget to Celebrate Summer Learning Day on July 12, 2018
Post Your Summer Learning Day events on the National Summer Learning Day map!
INFORM
SUMMER FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM (SFSP)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers free summer meals to kids across North Carolina. The program is similar to the School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, except meals are free to all kids that come to a registered summer meals site.

Here are four ways to find a nearby free summer meals site in North Carolina for children:
  1. Text "FoodNC" to 877-877
  2. Text "Summer Meals" to 97779
  3. Call toll-free 1.866.3Hungry (1.866.348.6479) or 1.877.8Hambre(1.877.842.6273)
  4. Visit the USDA's Summer Meal Site Finder at fns.usda.gov/SummerFoodRocks

FREE: Meals are free to children and teens ages 18 and younger who come to a summer meals site.

SAVE MONEY: Free summer meals will help families save money and stretch their already tight food budgets.

NUTRITIOUS: Food served at summer meal sites follows USDA nutrition guidelines and are paid for by the USDA.

SAFE: Summer meal sites are safe places for kids and teens to go, such as schools, churches, and community centers.

FUN: Many sites offer educational and recreational activities that kids of all ages can participate in so they can eat, hang out with friends and take part in activities offered.

NO ID, NO REGISTRATION: Parents don't need to apply to the program to get a free summer meal for their kids. Children simply need to come to a summer meals site in their community, and enjoy a healthy meal without the hassle of having to fill out an application or enroll in a program. No ID or registration needed.

ADVOCACY
SUMMER MEALS ARE VITAL FOR CHILDREN, BUT MEAL PARTICIPATION CONTINUES TO DECREASE
Far too many children lose access to nutritious school meals when the school year ends, according to   Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report, released June 13 by the  Food Research & Action Center. The report finds that only 3 million children received a nutritious summer lunch on an average weekday in July 2017 through the Summer Nutrition Programs compared to the 20 million children who participated in free and reduced-price school lunch during the 2016-2017 school year. Even fewer children - 1.6 million - ate breakfast at a summer meals site in July 2017.

After four years of significant growth (2011-2015), last summer's small drop of 14,000 fewer children participating in summer lunch programs further compounds the larger decrease in 2016 of 153,000, a 4.8 percent drop. Funding for summer learning programs which sponsor and provide summer meals has been stagnant at best at the state and local level while federal funding for programs like the  21st Century Community Learning Centers have recently been proposed for elimination by the Trump Administration.

The FRAC report ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia on participation in the Summer Nutrition Programs. Participation varied significantly by state, with the highest performer serving 47.9 children for every 100 low-income children receiving free and reduced-price school lunch, and the lowest performing state serving just 4.7 children for every 100 receiving free and reduced-price school lunch.

The  Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report  measures participation in the Summer Nutrition Programs both in absolute numbers and by comparing the number of children receiving summer meals to the number of low-income children receiving school lunch during the regular school year. The regular school year is used as a benchmark because such a high proportion of low-income children eat school lunch on regular school days.

To read the full article, click here.  

Excerpt from: 
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
NC CAP wants to highlight your program!

The North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs would like to highlight program successes statewide. Tell us about your program and you might be our Program Spotlight in the next edition of the Afterschool Observer or on Social Media. Click the Program Spotlight below to be redirected to the updated survey link to tell us about your program. 
SUPPORT
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The After School Advantage (ASA) Program is a signature education program and flagship community involvement initiative. The program strives to close the "Digital Divide" for disadvantaged children who get left behind because they do not have the means to access computers in today's increasingly digital society.  Its goal is to address the needs of underprivileged/at-risk children ages five to 18 with a meaningful, yet fun, learning experience during the critical after-school hours in a safe environment. It does this by providing qualifying non-profit community agencies and public schools with digital learning centers. Each digital learning center is unique in its design and specific to an organization's custom needs.

Project Learning Tree offers GreenWorks! grants up to $1,000 to schools and youth organizations for environmental service-learning projects that link classroom learning to the real world. Through the grant, students will implement an action project that they will help to design to green their school or to improve an aspect of their neighborhood's environment. 

The Kars4Kids Grant is dedicated to supporting educational initiatives and youth development programs in North America. Causes of particular interest include Youth Development, Mentorship and Education. 

The Kinder Morgan Foundations Grant benefits youth in communities where the funding source has a business presence. Focus areas include arts education programs and academic programs, including tutoring. The program must benefit youth in grades K-12 only. Non profits, public school sand private schools may apply. 

Lowe's Community Partners grant program helps build better communities by providing monetary assistance to nonprofit organizations and muncipalities looking for support of high-need projects such as: building renovations/upgrades, grounds improvement, technology upgrades as well as safety improvements. 

SC Johnson is proud to support its communities through philanthropic giving.
SC Johnson predominately supports institutions or organizations that serve or directly impact communities where they have major operations. Their efforts assist existing non-profit organizations or programs focused on defined areas of interest. Areas of Focused Giving include: 
Arts, Culture & Humanities 
Community & Economic Development 
Education 
Health & Wellness 
Social Services
Environment & Sustainability   

Wells Fargo makes contributions in areas that we believe are important to the future of our nation's vitality and success. Their first priority is to support programs and organizations whose chief purpose is to benefit low- and moderate-income individuals and families. They look for projects that keep our communities strong, diverse, and vibrant.   They support organizations that promote academic achievement for low- and moderate-income students.
MISSION
To influence policy and serve as a catalyst, convener, and clearinghouse for afterschool programs through advocacy, professional development, and quality improvement. 

VISION
High quality afterschool programs accessible to all North Carolina children and youth helping them to succeed in and out of school. 
NC CAP | 919.781.6833 | Email | Website

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