1999 Mott Foundation/JCPenney Poll

Key Messages & Findings 1999 Mott Foundation/JCPenney Afterschool Survey

Across time, demographic groups, party lines and geographic regions, support for afterschool programs remains overwhelmingly strong.

Nine out of ten Americans—parents and nonparents alike—want afterschool programs for our youth.

92% of adults agree there should be some type of organized activity or place for children and teens to go after school.

91% of adults say it is important to them personally to ensure access to afterschool programs for children in their communities.

And they want it available to all kids, every day.

90% of adults favor providing afterschool programs to all children from 3:00-6:00 p.m. five days a week.

Americans believe afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and improve academic success.

Adults surveyed reported that afterschool programs can address important concerns by helping working families, keeping kids safe, improving children’s socialization, building their social skills and teaching conflict resolution.

Americans believe the most important roles afterschool programs can play are:

• keeping kids safe (93%)
• providing tutoring and homework help (88%)
• providing structured, adult supervision (87%)
• teaching youth respect for people different from themselves (87%)
• teaching ways of resolving conflict with other young people (86%)
• helping young people set goals (85%)

Americans agree that there are not enough afterschool programs.

85% of voters say that it is difficult to find programs in their communities.

65% say that there are not enough afterschool programs available.

And Americans are ready to pay for such programs.

69% are willing to direct additional taxpayer funds—$1,000 worth—to afterschool programs.

Willingness to pay for afterschool rates higher than other education issues and remains high over time.

These findings are based on a nationwide poll among 1,100 adults, 18 years of age or older, who are registered to vote, and includes an oversample of 100 parents of school age children. The survey was conducted by the professional interviewers of Lake Snell Perry & Associates, Inc. and the Tarrance Group between July 27-29, 1999. The margin of error for this survey was +/-3.1 percent.