Two new bills in Congress aim to support young people through afterschool programs

While funding battles and impeachment debates continue to dominate the headlines from Capitol Hill, two new bipartisan bills were introduced in Congress in recent weeks that, if passed, could help support local afterschool programs and the young people they serve.

Senators Cortez-Masto (D-Nevada) and Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced the Advancing Frequent and Tailored Education to Rebuild Safe Communities and Help Orchestrate Opportunities and Learning (AFTER SCHOOL) Act on March 20. The AFTER SCHOOL Act would establish a new, $100 million, non-competitive grant program through the Department of Justice to help schools establish, maintain, and strengthen afterschool programs. Eligibility would be restricted to local education agencies (LEAs) in counties with a juvenile offense rate higher than 10 percent, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

In introducing the legislation, Senator Blackburn acknowledged the role afterschool programs can play in supporting young people, stating “this bipartisan legislation will help strengthen after school programs in local communities that have been proven to help reduce juvenile crime rates and encourage positive youth development.” 

After the school day ends, 1 in 5 young people across America are alone and unsupervised. These hours—from 2 to 6 p.m.—are the peak time for juvenile crime according to a 2019 report by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national organization of law enforcement leaders. Afterschool programs turn that time of risk into opportunity. They keep young people safe and help them realize their full potential. Nationwide, 9 in 10 adults say afterschool programs are important to their community, yet 25 million students who want to attend programs do not have access to programs near them.

Under the legislation, school districts who apply and are approved would be able to use such funds to expand an existing afterschool program, develop or carry out a new afterschool programs, or partner with an eligible community-based organization to carry out the afterschool program. The bill would provide $100 million in funding for the Attorney General to award grants to eligible school districts.

In the House, Representatives Kuster (D-N.H.) and Molinaro (R-N.Y.) introduced the Teen Dating Violence Prevention Act in early April. The legislation would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a grant program to provide schools and youth-serving organizations, including afterschool programs, with funding to develop tools and resources aimed at recognizing and preventing teen dating violence. The competitive grant program would provide schools and youth-serving organizations with evidence-based educational resources and training for program staff on preventing teen dating violence and forming healthy relationships. These resources and trainings could include:

• Providing physical or digital materials designed to improve awareness on how to recognize, prevent, and safely report teen dating violence
   
• Providing professional development training for youth serving professionals, teachers, school leaders, school officials, and support personnel on how to recognize signs of abuse resulting from teen dating violence, identify different types of such abuse, intervene in cases of such abuse, and provide referrals to support services for victims of such abuse
   
• Offer workshops at schools or youth-serving organizations for students, parents, and teachers that provide information about preventing teen dating violence and forming healthy relationships

Both pieces of legislation would be important in supporting and growing the number of youth served by afterschool programs, and the Afterschool Alliance supports the goals of each bill.