Today is Lights On Afterschool!

In Arkansas, students are completing an obstacle course with members of their local fire department. In California, they are learning to weave baskets and performing songs and skits. In Delaware, they are exploring careers from landscaping to banking; in Georgia, identifying native plants during a hike; and in Illinois, collaborating with professional artists on paper mache sculptures. In Florida, students are competing in dodgeball against their parents and cooking a meal for their families. In Maryland, students are creating cards for local nursing homes and painting rocks with messages about kindness.

All of these activities, as well as student showcases, art displays, science projects, open houses, walks and runs, visits from lawmakers, and much more, are taking place as part of Lights On Afterschool, the only national rally for afterschool programs. Some 8,000 events involving a million people are being held today, October 26, and throughout the month. 

The New York City skyline will shine for afterschool tonight when the Empire State Building is lit in yellow and blue for Lights On Afterschool. Thanks to Clear Channel Outdoor, afterschool messages are being displayed on digital billboards, bus shelters, and poster spaces in 25 markets nationwide, including two jumbo billboards in New York City’s Time Square. Other landmarks being lit up for afterschool this week include: the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Governor’s Executive Residence in Raleigh, North Carolina; the Lincoln Financial Field Eagles Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the South Street Station in Boston, Massachusetts; the Aloha Tower in Honolulu, Hawaii; and the Frederick Douglass Bridge in Washington, D.C.; and many others.

STEM-related Lights On Afterschool events are being sponsored by NASA, which has invited programs and youth to join a special virtual event with Thermal Blanket Technician Paula Cain; the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), which is providing free James Webb Space Telescope Learning Lunchbox STEM kits to youth at 45 programs; 4-H, which is providing Power Protectors challenge kits; and STEM Superheroes, which is donating Everyday Superheroes: Women in Energy Careers books and sending experts to talk to students about careers in STEM energy fields.

This year, Lights On Afterschool is taking place as the country celebrates 25 years since the launch of 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC), the chief federal funding stream for afterschool and summer learning programs. 21st CCLC has grown from a small discretionary grant program serving approximately 40,000 students to an initiative reaching nearly 1 million students. Still, though, in the United States today, for every child in an afterschool program, four more are waiting to get in.