In communities from coast to coast, after school programs are making a huge difference, keeping children safe, inspiring them to learn, and helping their working parents. Understanding that schools alone won’t address all of our children’s needs, after school programs complement and supplement the school day, often coordinating closely with teachers and principals to help students succeed. Support for quality after school programs is needed more than ever, yet the Department of Education is embracing policies that could devastate after school funding and …

Reading School District [of Pennsylvania] has been awarded a $500,000 federal grant to help establish after-school educational programs.
Reading was one of 17 school districts across the state to receive the 21st Century Community Learning Center Challenge grant, which will be used to establish community-learning centers that would provide educational services to students in struggling school districts.
“This is an innovative plan that will reinforce the lessons our students are learning in the classroom in a safe environment,” said Schwank, a Democrat whose district is in Berks County.
“We have so many …

One Bed-Stuy man is responsible for putting over 500 Brooklyn teens out on the streets, but not in the way you might be thinking.
Barnabas Shakur, 31, has been a resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood for over 20 years, and has witnessed firsthand its slow but steady progression from a gang-heavy ghetto to an increasingly safe, family-friendly community. In fact, he was an integral part of that process.
Thanks to the volunteer-based nonprofit organization Shakur founded in 2001, Project Re-Generation, Brooklyn teens are trading in guns …

Austin Public Schools [of Minnesota] is fortunate to again be able to offer After School Academy programming for students at the elementary and middle school levels. The goal of the program is to provide additional opportunities for academic support and enrichment after school. The program is sponsored in part by the Integration Collaborative in an effort to promote high academic achievement and create opportunities for students of all backgrounds to get to know each other and learn more about the diverse cultures that …

Transitional Living Services of Northern New York received a $75,000 grant from the Dyson Foundation, Millbrook, over the next three years to supplement funding for the Advantage After School Program at Harrisville Central School.
The program provides youth development opportunities for children in grades four to eight for three hours a day after school.
The Advantage After School program is supported through a partnership with the school district, Lewis County Sheriff’s Department and Planned Parenthood of the North Country New York.
The funds will be used …

BOONE COUNTY, MO. — Organizers of a program for some Boone County girls in the third through fifth grades won a contest worth $10,000.
A Pepsi Refresh Challenge Grant was awarded to the Heart of Missouri Girls on the Run.
The organization is an afterschool program for girls.  The girls get ready for middle school by learning how to deal with bullying and peer pressure while at the same time enjoying the sport of running.  At the end of 10 weeks, the girls compete in a 5K run.
Midway …

Interior designer Sandra Givelber said her 6-year-old daughter usually puts up a fight when she picks her up from the SoulShine after-school program in Atlanta’s Kirkwood community.
“She never wants to leave,” the Virginia-Highland interior designer said.
But Givelber and 40 other parents who have enrolled their children at SoulShine were forced to find alternate accommodations Monday after the Kirkwood facility was shut down by a state regulating agency for not being licensed.
SoulShine’s director, Shannon Smith, said she has been working to obtain that license, adding …

In Pennsylvania, Hamburg School District athletic director Aaron Menapace watched as students munched on junk food while sitting in hallways and doing homework after school.
So, he came up with a plan to inject healthy eating into that scene.
Menapace worked with the district’s food service department to offer healthy sandwiches, snacks and drinks for students staying for after-school activities. He also opened the library and a computer room for students to gather and do homework while supervised.
The meals offer students, especially athletes who have late practice …

The Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative, a free high school journalism after-school program run by the Norwood News, is now accepting applications for the Spring 2012 semester.
Founded in 2008, the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative is open to any high school student who lives or goes to school in the Bronx. Spring classes will start at the end of February and are held every Wednesday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. at Hostos Community College, on the Grand Concourse.
The course runs for 12 weeks, and teaches the ins …

It’s the time of year again when many of us resolve (again) to be better versions of ourselves: thinner, stronger, quieter, kinder, less impulsive, less wasteful, more reliable, more generous and, in a hundred other ways, better people.
I’ve always thought that the most important resolutions are the ones that look beyond one’s own waistline, and instead bear on our commitments to family, community and country.
So the resolution I recommend to those who might happen to be in the market for self-improvement this year is …