Summer learning advocates share America After 3PM data, personal stories in Senate briefing

On Wednesday, June 10, the Senate Afterschool Caucus hosted a briefing for Congressional staff, Summer Learning & Afterschool: Supporting Students and Families Year-Round. The briefing spoke to the impact and importance of summer learning programs and detailed the recently released America After 3PM report, “The Summer Struggle for Everyday Families”, based on research funded by The Wallace Foundation. The event was held in partnership with the Afterschool Alliance, the National Summer Learning Association, Aspire Afterschool Learning, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, DC SCORES (affiliate of America SCORES), and the YMCA of the USA.

The briefing opened with Erik Peterson, Senior Vice President of Policy at the Afterschool Alliance, setting the stage. Next, speakers from the offices of Senator Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) commented on the importance of afterschool and summer programs for students and families.

“The world is different than it was when I was 7,” recounted Karen McCarthy of Senator Murkowski’s office, a self-described latchkey kid. The 21^st Century Community Learning Center program (21^st CCLC), she felt, was an important part of caring for school-age children, supporting parents and providing enriching experiences. “Our challenge today,” she told the attendees, “is to think about ways to move the program forward, and to have fun.”

After all, summer is often about learning and developing through fun. Researcher Pam Loeb, from Edge Research, reported parent survey data her company collected in the America After 3 PM summer report. Loeb shared data on how parents choose afterschool and summer programs for their children: over the summer, parents are especially interested in opportunities for their children to experience the outdoors (56%); opportunities to spend more time on physical activity (61%), and fun and educational activities and less time on screens (67%). But not all parents have those choices. Parents of 24.6 million kids want a summer program, but 1 in every 2 (12.6 million kids) don’t have access. Loeb reported that access is especially challenging for low- and middle-income families. Only 13% of lower income families are enrolled in a summer program compared to 45% of higher income families.

Aaron Dworkin, the CEO of the National Summer Learning Association, spoke to summer’s capacity to provide students with the important supports of “opportunity, experience, and community.” Dworkin calculated that over the course of a young person’s development, from the summer before they start kindergarten to the last summer before they complete high school, adds up to more than 5 school years’ worth of learning time. Supporting all youth with quality summer experiences, Dworkin said, requires coordination but “is a solvable issue.”

Next, panelists from afterschool programs took the stage. Stacie Rohn, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle in West Virginia, discussed the critical support the 21^st CCLC program has provided to her program during the 17 years it has received a grant. Rohn mentioned the program’s longevity has allowed it to create deep ties to the community that provides both a foundation for helping students and the community heal through challenging times, and as well as a launch-pad to see students along their developmental pathways. Rohn cited one student who participated in the program from 1^st grade and is now serving at the club as staff after having become a college counselor. Without 21^st CCLC programs, Rohn reported, her program (which has shown a $10.38 per dollar return on investment) would need to close 5 sites impacting 400 students.

Tierra Stewart, Chief Program Officer at DC Scores, opened her remarks with a poem written by a student reflecting on both crime in the student’s community and hope for the future. DC Scores engages students in soccer, poetry, and service learning in the Washington, D.C. area, serving 3,500 young people across 68 public and public charter schools at no cost to schools. Stewart said a key to her program are the 350 coaches that are provided with training specific to supporting students’ need for safety, and emphasized the importance of staff in helping students navigate  youth mental health and anxiety challenges.  

The capstone of the event was a panel of 4 fifth grade students from the ASPIRE Afterschool Learning program in Arlington, Virginia. Esmerelda, Alina, Keily and Lucia told briefing participants some of their favorite parts of the ASPIRE program, from homework help, to building confidence after a challenging day at school, to bookmaking, cooking and soccer.

An audience member asked the student panelist, if they could solve one problem in the world right now, what it might be. Lucia responded, “People would be nicer to other people, with less bullying. And people would be supporting other people with the decisions they want to make in life.” Currently, all four of these girls want to be lawyers as their career choice, with Keily wanting to be both a lawyer and a firefighter.

Chris Mirabella of Senator Smith’s office closed the briefing saying if there is one thing Congress can agree on in a bipartisan way, it’s the need for investments in high quality afterschool and summer programs and, he added, more high-quality lawyers.

Parents are also united on the need for more investment in afterschool and summer. Support is at an all time high, with eighty-nine percent of parents in favor of public funding for summer learning opportunities. And support is strong across political party and community type. Use our interactive data dashboard to explore the data for the nation, your state, and special populations.