Afterschool Alliance

"Things Can Get Pretty Ugly When You're Bored" New PSAs Encourage Afterschool Program Participation, Direct Kids to New Website Featuring Materials from Afterschool Youth

Janelle and Aundria Van Dyke, two of the students who created the winning PSA entry from Erie, PA for the Don’t Be An American Idle national PSA contest sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance. Janelle and Aundria are pictured with Afterschool Alliance Interim Executive Director Jen Rinehart.

Bored kids can engage in some weird behavior. They talk to their socks, dance with their cats, squish their faces against windowpanes - or worse. But children attending afterschool programs have better, more constructive, educational and fun things to do. That is the message in a new series of Afterschool Alliance public service announcements (PSAs) targeting youth, especially those ages 9 and up.

The Afterschool Alliance joined with The Advertising Council and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to launch the new youth campaign, which features television spots, print ads and web banners.

The PSAs use humor to encourage kids to find out more about afterschool programs at www.afterschoolscene.com, a new website that showcases the kinds of activities afterschool offers, and features articles and projects created by afterschool students.

As a nonprofit without resources to buy advertising, the Alliance relies upon donated media time from tv stations, websites and publications to run these ads. Your voice is critical to the success of this campaign. We urge you to contact your media and encourage them to run these ads. Getting these PSAs run is a simple way to help promote afterschool programs and let kids know they have more options after school. If you are an afterschool program interested in tagging these spots with your logo and are willing to ask media to run them in your community, send us an email at info@afterschoolalliance.org.