Task Force Envisions Multi-Faceted Action Strategy
 
For Release:        December 8, 2006
Contact:              Rachel Wellborn, Communications and Project Manager    
                          404-527-8831, rwellborn@afterschoolga.org

  
            ATLANTA – Nearly a quarter of Georgia’s school-aged children – more than 350,000 – are unsupervised during afterschool hours and vacation periods. A new report by the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council finds that although excellent afterschool and summer programs exist across the state, too few programs exist.
 
The recently published report, entitled The Current State of Afterschool in Georgia: Building a Strong Foundation, calls for increased attention and action to afterschool issues and outlines a strategy to create a collaborative effort, coordinated funding, and consistent standards for all Georgia afterschool and summer programs.
 
The Current State of Afterschool in Georgia, the first comprehensive exploration of Georgia’s afterschool landscape, is the result of extensive analysis by a task force of 40 youth development and educational leaders across the state including Voices for Georgia’s Children, Georgia PTA, the Georgia Department of Education, and the Georgia Department of Human Resources, to name a few.
 
“We know that the hours between 3 and 6 p.m., as well as summers and school vacations, can be times that children spend with family or engage in enriching pursuits beyond the regular school day,” says Jill Riemer, executive director of GAIC. “Unfortunately, they can also be times of loneliness, boredom, and danger, when young persons can be tempted toward high-risk and unsafe activities while unsupervised at home, online, or in the streets.”
 
Most afterschool programs in Georgia serve only younger children. As a result, the task force found, too many adolescents and older youth are typically left to their own devices when the school day ends. Of the 250 Georgia 21^st Century Learning Centers – the largest federally funded afterschool grant program – 95 percent serve primarily elementary and middle-school students. The GAIC report calls on the afterschool field to build on existing community-based programs, in rural and urban areas, to address the needs of Georgia’s older youth.
 
“Afterschool programs can pool resources and bring coordinated attention to the state’s critical social issues – such as the high school dropout rate, low college enrollment, and the alarming number of teen births,” says Ernestine Ramsey, the Georgia Afterschool Ambassador with the Afterschool Alliance. “Afterschool is an ideal setting to address these problems through targeted programs that meet the needs of children and youth in ways that work for kids, their families, and the Georgia community.”
 
According to the GAIC report, Georgia parents cite easy accessibility along with affordability and safety in afterschool and summer programs as their highest priorities. In order to develop quality programs that address these needs, the report says, Georgia will require the support of leaders in the public and private sectors throughout the state.
 
“This has to be a partnership strategy,” says Gaye Smith, executive director of Family Connection Partnership and GAIC task force member. “A single agency, school system, town, or county has inadequate resources to address the need for critically important afterschool services. Meeting those needs demands a cooperative, comprehensive approach.”
 
GAIC intends for the report to serve as a launching point for policymakers, legislators, business executives, educators, afterschool providers, parents, and students to improve out-of-school time throughout the state. The task force identified a number of excellent models of afterschool programs in Georgia – as well as quality standards and comprehensive funding mechanisms from other states – that focus on afterschool strategies which Georgia could implement.
 
However, the report cautions that without predictable and consistent support from all funding sources, as well as mandated and enforceable standards of care and supervision, afterschool programs will not succeed. According to the report, “Creating a sustainable, high-quality afterschool collaborative is not simply a matter of building a shared vision and uniform standards for quality. It also requires developing an adequate resource base and sufficient funding.”
 
In coming weeks, the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council will disseminate this report through county forums across the state to discuss the findings and further develop and strengthen state-local collaboration. In conjunction with the Family Connection Partnership, GAIC will identify targeted counties or regions for creating community conversations and action plans using the report as a framework. Counties and organizations interested in establishing or augmenting afterschool programs are encouraged to use GAIC as a resource.
 
“This report makes it clear that Georgia can step up to the job of providing afterschool activities for our state’s children that are not only adequate, but outstanding,” says GAIC’s Riemer. “The challenge now is to follow through on the action plan we have been given.”
 
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Copies of The Current State of Afterschool in Georgia: Building a Strong Foundation, are available from GAIC on request at info@afterschoolga.org. The document also can be downloaded from the GAIC website at www.afterschoolga.org.
 
Direct link to report: http://afterschoolga.org/OurWork/TheGeorgiaAfterschoolReport.aspx.