Weekly Media Roundup: September 24, 2025

The Nightmare of Finding After-School Care in America, TIME Magazine

The end of COVID relief funding, worker shortages, and state budget cuts have led many after-school programs to limit enrollment or close altogether, leaving families struggling to find affordable, accessible programs. In 2020, the Afterschool Alliance estimated that there were 7.8 million kids enrolled in afterschool programs, and 25 million parents who wanted to enroll their children in a program but didn’t have access. Labor economist Kathryn Anne Edwards has cited the lack of access to afterschool as a reason for women’s declining participation in the workforce. “Supply has not kept up with demand,” Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant told TIME Magazine, noting the need for more investments.

Mobile Classroom Helping HOLA Lakeway Expand After-School Program, WATE-TV (Tennessee)

HOLA Lakeway, a multicultural resource center in Morristown, Tennessee, kicked off their annual HOLA4Kids program last week, which aims to help children feel confident in the classroom by building academic and mental health skills. The program meets three nights a week, providing enriching programming for children whose parents work late or are enrolled in HOLA’s English classes. HOLA4Kids recently received a donation of a bus, which will allow them to reach beyond their immediate community and bring books to children across Hamblen County. Of their new “mobile classroom,” HOLA Lakeway executive director Betsy Hurst said, “If they cannot come here to us, we go to them.”

Searching And Applying for After-School Programs In DC Is Now at Your Fingertips, WTOP (District of Columbia)

MOST-D.C., a new website created by District of Columbia, aims to help parents in Washington, D.C. find after-school, weekend, and summer programs for their children. The website is intended to be a one-stop shop offering all the information necessary for families to find the perfect program for their kids. “Families can log into the portal and search for programs by ward, by location, by school, by program type, to determine what are the best programs to meet the needs of the students,” says Shontia Lowe, the executive director of the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Education’s Office for Out of School Time. The website is currently available in English and Spanish and has information on over 1000 summer and after-school programs.

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Visits Red Cross Elementary School¸ WBKO-TV  (Kentucky)

Last week, Barren County schools in Bowling Green, Kentucky celebrated All in for AG Education week, giving students the opportunity to see where their food comes from and learn about all of the ways agriculture touches their lives. The school district’s afterschool program includes a “dirt-to-dish” initiative, in which afterschool students grow produce that is used in school lunches. Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Shell, an alumnus of the Gerrard County FFA chapter, visited Red Cross Elementary school to meet with students and teachers. Shell was optimistic about the future of agriculture after meeting the students, telling WKBO-TV “we don’t know the issues that we’re going to face in the next 40 years in agriculture, but we know we’re going to have to have problem solvers.”