Lights On Afterschool is two weeks away, and we are hearing about a lot of awesome celebrations taking place around the country.  From a youth air fair & open house at Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum in California to a “Luminarias for Literacy” walk over the Rio Grande River hosted by Rio Grande Educational Collaborative in New Mexico, this year’s Lights On Afterschool is gearing up to be the best ever. 

Another unique celebration for Lights On Afterschool are movie screenings and discussion panels surrounding the new afterschool inspired documentary, Brooklyn Castle, about an inner-city public school in Brooklyn and its afterschool chess team. The school is home to the most winning junior high school chess team in the country, but while working to excel at the chess board, the students and teachers face cutbacks that threaten the very afterschool program that is credited with their school’s “culture of success.” The team has been featured in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal; yet budget cuts still loom at IS 318’s chess program and at afterschool sites around the country.

These movie screenings and discussion panels are currently being held in California, D.C., and New York City during the week before and week of Lights On Afterschool.  Watch the trailer for Brooklyn Castle below to learn why this film was honored as the Audience Award Winner at the 2012 South by Southwest Film Festival as well as winning Best New Director at the Brooklyn Film Festival.  Brooklyn Castle is set to release in theaters nationwide on October 19. 

Want to provide a chance for your afterschool group to learn about important current issues while utilizing technology and thinking creatively?

If so, you’ll want to take advantage of the video contest Population Connection is hosting for high school students. Students are challenged to create a 30-45 second video Public Service Announcement (PSA) that illustrates the connection between world population at seven billion and one of the following three topics: food security, the global status of women and girls, or wildlife habitat. Students can work by themselves or in a group, and there are cash prizes of up to $1,000 for the winners in each of the three topics.  Participating teachers are also eligible to receive free curriculum resources.

At long last, the 2012 Lights On Afterschool poster is here!  This amazing artwork was drawn by 14-year-old Felix Sanchez of Communities In Schools-ACE in Pasadena, Texas (that's two years in a row of Texas winners!).  Stay tuned for more about this budding afterschool artist.

When you register for Lights On Afterschool, we'll send you 10 free posters with Felix's design.  So what are you waiting for? Register now!

Youth are always encouraged to speak up out about what’s important to them.  That’s why during this year’s Afterschool for All Challenge in Washington, D.C. we asked young adults to share their afterschool experiences with Members of Congress by sharing personal stories of how afterschool has helped to make some of their dreams a reality.  “I Am a Youth Advocate for Afterschool,” a handout created by Afterschool Alliance staff members Trevor Sparks and Shaun Gray, turned out to be an incredible tool for delivering the message to Congressional members of how effective afterschool programs are in rural and low-income communities. During the Afterschool for All Challenge, while the adults were away, the children played—and learned what happens on Capitol Hill and how social media sites such as Twitter can be an effective tool when advocating for afterschool.

A spunky 12-year-old named Cabrilla from Duluth, MN, writes a message to Congress on her handout: “To my Congressmen and women I say to RAISE FUNDING because afterschool RULES and lots of kids DEPEND [sic] on afterschool programs...” 

Patricia tweets “#Congress. Help keep kids safe. Support afterschool programs across the nation.”  I hope Congress is reading.

 Last week during a Congressional Briefing sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin, the Prevention Institute released a new paper titled “Addressing the Intersection: Preventing Violence and Promoting Healthy Eating and Active Living.” Until now, little research has been conducted on the impact of community violence on healthy eating and activity. Community members don’t walk to the grocery store if it means the risk of getting robbed on the way. They’d rather run to the corner store in order to purchase what food is available. Youth fail to play outside because of the gang members that hang out at their local park, so youth are encouraged to stay indoors where it’s safe. Businesses don’t want to open their shops in a community if they know the crime rate is high, so they take the grocery store to a community where they know their shoppers will be safe.

In our world today it's hard to believe that families have to worry about food insecurity.

What's also hard to believe is that 17 million American children - 9.6 million children under 6 years old - have to worry about where their next meal will come from. The Sesame Street Workshop is partnering with United Healthcare and the Merck Company Foundation to do something about it. Launched this week, Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget, is designed to help families with children ages 2 to 8 that have uncertain or limited access to affordable and healthy food.

With help from Elmo and his Super Food friends like broccoli and cheese, Sesame Street Workshop is rolling out tools and resources to help families pick healthy meals while on a budget. The Capitol Area Food Bank opened its doors for the launching of the Sesame Street resource packet and invited the community into its facilities to hear how families living on a tight food budget can make healthy food choices. Celebrity chef Art Smith and Elmo were on hand to demonstrate how to prepare "snack happy granola" and a zesty fruit bowl. Dozens of smiling 5 and 6 year olds entered the building just as the adults were wrapping up their speeches concerning food insecurity.

Gary Knell, President of Sesame Street Workshop, Russell Petrella, President and CEO of United Healthcare and Richard Clark, Chairman and CEO of The Merck Company Foundation jointly promised to begin distribution of 100,000 resource packets and DVDs this week. Afterschool program providers will find that the packet and DVD are helpful in their work with young people as well as a resource that can be shared with the families they serve.