Roadmap to Afterschool for All
Resource type: Research Report
The After School Alliance |
The U.S. federal government must assume more of the costs of afterschool care to reduce the burden on low-income families, according to this report by the Harvard School of Public Health. The study provides a roadmap to ensure that all low-income students benefit from afterschool programmes. The Afterschool Alliance is a grantee of The Atlantic Philanthropies.
Examining Current Investments and Mapping Future Needs
With the Harvard School of Public Health and support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Afterschool Alliance initiated the Roadmap to Afterschool for All – a scientific study that for the first time assesses the current investment in afterschool programs from the public sector, parents, foundations and businesses, and estimates the additional investment needed from each sector to provide quality afterschool programs for all children.
The research shows that parents are paying the lion’s share of afterschool costs, even among programs serving high poverty children, and that funding of all types is insufficient. We need greater investment from all sectors to help ensure that all children and especially the neediest children are able to access quality, affordable afterschool programs – programs that keep kids safe, inspire learning and help working families. Currently the federal government contributes only 11% of the cost of afterschool, while 29% of the children in afterschool meet the federal government’s definition of low-income and in need of federal assistance.
The Roadmap to Afterschool for All charts a course where families will continue to carry a large share of afterschool costs, but the federal government will do much more help the neediest families. State and local governments, as well as private funders, including philanthropies and business and religious organizations, can help meet the needs of families living near poverty levels, and families that can afford to pay for afterschool care will continue to do so.