Virtual Hill Briefing recap: Helping Students Recover and Accelerating Success

On July 20, the House Afterschool Caucus in partnership with the Afterschool Alliance hosted a Capitol Hill Briefing Helping Students Recover and Accelerating Success for congressional staff and afterschool stakeholders. With a proven track record for increasing resilience, supporting positive youth development, and teaching life skills, afterschool and summer enrichment are critical to the recovery of youth and their communities. The briefing was moderated by the Afterschool Alliance’s newest board member Letty Mederos, and was joined by panelists from the National Summer Learning Association, Arkansas Out of School Network, and Camp Fire Heartland from Missouri. The briefing was held in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of America, Girls Inc., National League of Cities, National Summer Learning Association, and the National Recreation and Park Association.

House Afterschool Caucus Co-Chair Congressman Don Young (R- Alaska) began the conversation by recounting how his experience as a former school teacher opened his eyes to the importance of preparing youth for the road ahead, and ensuring that youth have all the tools they need to succeed in school and in life. He then highlighted that summer programs are especially critical in filling in the needs of youth but also families because summer is a time where young people are not accessing the meals that they receive throughout the traditional school day. With the introduction of the Summer Meals Act, Congressman Young hopes to combat this deficit. Congressman Young made a call to action for all afterschool advocates, “Kids are the future of America..let’s keep this job going and make sure we are taking care of all our young people.”

House Afterschool Caucus Co-Chair David Cicilline (D-R.I.) spoke about the unmet demand of afterschool and summer programs at a time where youth need them the most. During his time as mayor of Providence, RI, he established the Providence Afterschool Alliance. This network provides high-quality afterschool for more than 2,000 families in the community. His work has continued at the federal level, he assured, where he advocates for funding for afterschool through 21st CCLC programs. 

The Congressman stated: “21st Century Community Learning Centers provide the only dedicated funding stream for afterschool. The funding Community Learning Centers provide programs are some of the most effective ways to keep children safe in the late afternoon and early evening, and they help keep kids on the right path in school.” Congressman Cicilline continued to list the benefits of afterschool. He affirmed that students perform better in school, have better rates of school attendance, and higher rates of graduation than those who did not have access to OST programs. “We can not afford to let up on our strong support for afterschool,” he concluded. 

Nikki Yamashiro, our Vice President of Research, outlined what summer looked like for families throughout the pandemic, and where unmet demand was highest. The three takeaways from the America After 3PM survey were 1) Demand for summer programs is evident, 2) Parents see key benefits, and 3) There is a need for more programs. Nikki noted that although participation in summer programs was at an all time high, unmet demand was far greater.  For every child in a summer program, one more is waiting to get in. Those missing out were youth from families with low-income, due to cost and additional participation barriers. Nikki elevated the need for these programs as we move towards recovery, and many parents agreed. Parents gave summer programs top marks in supporting youth recovery, promoting positive outcomes, and providing a safe space for exploration and play. However, Nikki touched on the challenges that program providers face in their bounce-back from the pandemic; cost remains the greatest barrier for programs to re-open, retain staff, and implement additional safety protocols.

Aaron Dworkin of the National Summer Learning Association dove into the role of summer learning as one of the key strategies to respond to the effects of Covid and prepare students for the upcoming year. Aaron outlined that this summer especially is a summer of improvement, innovation, integration, and impact as we find ways to help youth rebound from a year indoors. With many steps to be taken, Aaron assured that recovery is a multi-year effort that requires time and support, and that programs need to prioritize connection over content as we slowly build our youth up. 

Aaron passed the conversation to Laveta L. Wills-Hale, Network Director of the Arkansas Out of School Network (AOSN) who showed the audience what afterschool looked like in Arkansas and how the state was using ARP funds to support afterschool. The effects of COVID were dire, and Laveta shared that over 400,000 young people were displaced from school and routine in her state. As one example of states using ARP funds, Laveta laid out how the funds were reaching her students in afterschool and summer programs, although many of these funds were leaving rural and low-income communities underserved. 

“We want to continue to ensure that we connect our families to the resources that they need to ensure that young people are healthy and thriving, but we also want to connect families to the resources that will make them whole and more secure in their communities.” 

When a recovery plan did not come out fast enough, Erin Balleine, Executive Director of Camp Fire Heartland in Kansas City, Missouri, wrote her own to address the academic, social, and emotional needs of youth as the state responded to COVID-19. She described her experience in forming partnerships with local organizations to best serve youth safely and efficiently, and ended up providing programming for the entire school year during quarantine. “We learned very quickly that we were going to be the final safety net for most of the kids that we worked with,” Erin noted. Erin implemented a social and emotional learning curriculum to help offset the internal impact of youth during COVID. She found that the students that participated in these courses made considerable strides in their learning and their engagement. With the next school year approaching, Erin called on funders and state leaders to help programs make the case for afterschool, “we are ready to hit the ground running.”

The briefing concluded with a short Q & A as panelists addressed questions on how to overcome challenges in accessing ARP funds and where to find funding in their state. The full briefing is available on Youtube. To access the Briefing resources, head to our webinar library.