Guest Blog: Finding sustainability for afterschool programs

Christina Schock, AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer, Nevada Afterschool Network

Afterschool Alliance AmeriCorps VISTAs are making a difference across our country. They’re working on projects involved with helping programs write sustainability plans and getting afterschool meals. VISTAs have been placed all across the country including Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, California, Ohio, New Mexico and many more.  Along the way, while working directly with programs and networks, we have learned how to overcome many of the issues they face in today’s political and economic reality.  Having worked with a gamut of different programs including rural, urban, elementary education programs, secondary education programs, resource rich programs and non-resource rich programs, we are looking to share those experiences and pass them along to programs outside of our reach. 

We are introducing a new webinar series to pass along the tools, resources, experiences and lessons learned along the way.  Each webinar will address an issue all programs face when looking at long term sustainability, such as grant writing, finding/retaining volunteers, building partnerships, diverse funding, marketing, core messaging, fundraising and events. Guest speakers and experts from the field will also be available to offer their advice and answer questions. Participants can register to participate in upcoming webinars or view/download past webinars for free at www.NevadaAfterschoolNetwork.org. We recommend passing along the webinars to programs that might benefit from them. This series is free thanks to the Afterschool Alliance, Nevada Afterschool Network and the many VISTAs working in the field.  For more information and to register for an upcoming webinar you can visit the Nevada Afterschool Network's website.