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 …

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 …

ASHEVILLE — In one room of the Delta House Life Development center, a group of students is learning what vitamin C does for the body.
Inside another room, students are practicing a song with retired music teacher Angie Benton.
And downstairs, more students are learning to play different kinds of drums.
Each afternoon during the school year, Monday through Thursdays, the center fills up with middle and elementary school students taking part in LEAAP.
LEAAP, or Learning through Extended Academics and Arts Program, combines academic work and enrichment activities, …

Recently, the city after-school community celebrated the work being done in after-school programs here in the NYC area and around the country, joining in the national Lights On After-school celebration.
But we all know there is more to do before every child who needs an after-school program has access to one. Our city Department of Youth & Community Development recently released a request for proposals for all of its Out-of-School Time programs. These programs are a source of support for children and families, and the major source of funding for after-school …

The Regional Inter-Faith Association has begun a faith-based program to enrich the lives of grade-school students called Club 412.
“(Club) 412 is based on the Scripture from 1 Timothy 4:12,” said Jenni Thorn, community outreach director at RIFA. “It reads, ‘Don’t let others look down on you because you are young. Be an example for others.’”
Thorn said the after-school club was born out of RIFA’s summer club. About five children ages 5 to 11 are members. Club meetings are held at the former Lambuth Memorial Day School at 160 Campbell St.
Membership is free, …