July 2023

Iowa Afterschool Alliance News

Early bird registration is now open for our annual Impact Afterschool Conference! This year the conference will be held at the Holiday Inn and Suites Des Moines-Northwest in Des Moines on September 28 & 29, 2023. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this event. Register now and secure your spot. Early bird discount is available through August 4th, so be sure to take advantage of this special offer!

Contribute to a Statewide Survey about out-of-school time opportunities and organizations! Take the IAA State of Afterschool Survey Today!

Hundreds of organizations work with young people every day in many settings where youth play, learn, and grow outside of the school day. On athletic fields, in afterschool programs, in libraries, in faith-based institutions, youth-serving organizations are making a difference every day. The IAA State of Afterschool Survey seeks to know and understand more about the experiences of organizations who support youth outside of the traditional school day. The data from the survey will help inform policy, practice, and further research to better support organizations that are providing these opportunities for Iowa youth.

We want to make sure that the data reflects your story! If we know more, we can do more to support youth to thrive. Take the survey today and inform the effort to explore, define, and elevate the youth and your essential work with youth! 

Take the survey and be entered to win cash prizes and gifts!

Share the survey within your networks and engage with us on social media by using #IAAStateofAfterschool or share our posts on Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Contact Heidi Brown at hbrown@iowaafterschoolalliance.org for any additional questions, or to learn more about the research the Iowa Afterschool Alliance is conducting.

Funded by National Afterschool Alliance, STEM Coalition and Mott Foundation. 

STEM Opportunities

For more opportunities from Million Girls Moonshot,

please visit the STEM for Iowa website.

Are you on the Mizzen by Mott app? Check out the STEM Activities for K-5th in Small Groups playlist, a mix of engineering + science activities! Click here to download the app today.

Looking for fun #STEMActivities for families? NASA has an educator guide for easy-to-implement activities. Click here to learn more.

Know someone interested in working with an afterschool program? STEM AmeriCorps applications are now open! STEM AmeriCorps members will help build capacity in afterschool programs by developing and facilitating engaging, high-quality activities that promote increased social, emotional, math, science, and reading proficiency. Members are placed in afterschool programs across the state and serve from September through June. STEM AmeriCorps members receive $11,700 in stipends for living expenses over the school year. They also receive a $3,447.50 education award that can be utilized toward qualifying loans or current educational expenses. This is upon completion of their service term. Please contact Elva Griffin at egriffin@sppg.com with questions or for more information.

Calling all youth-serving programs! Iowa MENTOR is seeking data on mentoring programs across the state. You need not to be a certified partner or a program that matches mentors/mentees one to one to participate in this survey. Your program information provides important insights and data to assist us in our mission to promote, support and build quality mentoring relationships by elevating the capacity of program, systems and policies. The Iowa MENTOR annual survey is available here.

We’re excited to share an opportunity to be featured on the U.S. Department of Education’s website! If your afterschool or summer program has received pandemic relief funds, you can be featured on the Engage Every Student funding map. Have funds helped to expand or enhance programming, or support staff and/or students? What impacts have you seen as a result? What may happen when funds expire? Let us know! Click here to share your story.

Today, Youth Afterschool Ambassadors and out-of-school time advocates are meeting with members of Congress and asking them to increase afterschool investments. Please join us in calling on Congress to support afterschool and summer learning programs through the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program!

Let your members of Congress know why they should support 21st CCLC, the only federal funding stream dedicated to afterschool, before-school, and summer learning programs. For every child in a program, 4 more are waiting to get in. Low-income, Black, and Latinx families are most likely to miss out.

Show these brave youth that you support their message!

Inclusion Spotlight

Astrophysicist Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil studies the most peculiar objects in the Universe. Her research has led to a discovery of an extremely rare galaxy, which is now commonly referred to as Burçin’s Galaxy. Her work has provided the first description of a double-ringed elliptical galaxy, introducing new challenges for our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona. She uses the world’s largest telescopes to study the smallest galaxies as a novel test of the Cold Dark Matter paradigm. She has been honored as a 2018 Ted Fellow and 2020 Senior Ted Fellow, and featured in National Geographic as a “woman of impact”. Her findings have been featured by CNN, Science Daily, Astronomy Magazine, Independent and MPR News, among many others. Damon Brown wrote in his regular Inc. Magazine online column: “Many organizations are dedicated to filling the STEM pipeline with more girls and women. Others are supporting the cause by being an example. TED Fellow Burçin is representing by being one of the most notable astrophysicists today. Learn more about Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil here!

Wallace Foundation Resources

Millions of urban children and teens lack access to afterschool programs that provide rich opportunities for growth, learning and fun. One possible solution is to coordinate the work of programs, government agencies, private funders and others involved in afterschool programs—that is, build an afterschool system that is greater than the sum of its parts. Key components of afterschool systems include efforts to improve program quality and collection of data to inform decision-making.

​​Browse reports and other resources the Wallace Foundation provides for insights into making high-quality afterschool programming more readily available to urban young people.

Out of School Time Professional Development Center

The Out of School Time Professional Development Center provides Out of School Time training to OST professionals. The classes provide in-depth curriculum and certificates. If you or your staff are interested in signing up for courses visit the Out-of-School Time website. Check out the entire course catalog here. 

Great Content on Y4Y!

You 4 Youth is a free online professional development site that is designed to support 21CCLC program staff but is a valuable tool for any afterschool professional looking to build their skills! Recently, Y4Y has rolled out a whole module on literacy. Click here to register.

Iowa Child Care Training Registry

Find professional development for school-age programming on the State of Iowa Child Care Training Registry on topics ranging from health and safety to developmentally appropriate programming. Find out more online.

National Afterschool Association PD Resources

NAA provides afterschool professionals with resources to stay up-to-date on the latest topics in afterschool and summer learning. Find out more on their website here. 

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