The Pennsylvania Department of Education does not endorse any of the following resources, but are pleased to make them available for your consideration.  

New Resources:
Strengthening Partnerships and Building Public Will for Out-of-School Time Programs
National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families
Published: March 2010
Funder(s): Wallace Foundation
Subject(s): Children and Youth, After-School Programs; Public Affairs
This guide highlights three key strategies that mayors and other city leaders can use to promote partnerships and build public resolve in support of out-of-school time. These strategies include: engaging and involving a broad set of partners to take full advantage of all community resources; keeping out-of-school time on the public agenda; and leading efforts by city, school and community leaders to establish a common set of outcomes and a shared vision for out-of-school time. In addition, the guide describes specific actions that municipal leaders can take in their communities and presents brief city profiles to illustrate how these strategies have been used around the country.
 

Other Resources: 

Afterschool Alliance
The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of afterschool programs and advocating for quality, affordable programs for all children. It is supported by a group of public, private and nonprofit organizations that share the Alliance's vision of ensuring that all children have access to afterschool programs by 2010. 

The After-School Corporation
The After-School Corporation is a nonprofit organization which supports comprehensive after-school programs in New York City, with the goal of enhancing the quality, availability and sustainability of programs in New York and the nation.  

The After-School Institute
The After-School Institute has been helping after-school programs achieve the highest standards of performance since 1999.  They work to strengthen the support system among after-school providers, families, teachers, and community organizations and offer providers the training they need to meet quality standards established by the Baltimore After-School Strategy. 

Center for Schools and Communities
Since 1988, the Center for Schools and Communities has been committed to improving outcomes for children and families through training, technical assistance, program evaluation, research and resource development. The Center's work focuses on prevention and intervention initiatives operated by schools, organizations and agencies serving children, youth and families.  

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation affirms its founder’s vision of a world in which each of us is in partnership with the rest of the human race – where each individual’s quality of life is connected to the well-being of the community, both locally and globally.  We pursue this vision through creative grant making, thoughtful communication and other activities that enhance community in its many forms. The Mott Foundation funds extra learning opportunities programs through its "Pathways Out of Poverty, Improving Community Education" grants.  

Coalition for Community Schools
The Coalition for Community Schools is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-16, youth development, community planning and development, family support, health and human services, government and philanthropy as well as national, state and local community school networks. The Coalition advocates for community schools as the vehicle for strengthening schools, families and communities so that together they can improve student learning.  

Communities In Schools
Communities In Schools is the leading community-based organization helping kids succeed in school and prepare for life. For over 25 years, CIS has championed the connection of needed community resources with schools. By bringing caring adults into the schools to address children's unmet needs, CIS provides the link between educators and the community. The result: Teachers are free to teach, and students -- many in jeopardy of dropping out -- finally have the opportunity to focus on learning.  

Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education
Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education is for teachers, instructors, program developers and others who help students of all ages find their own entrepreneurial opportunities.  

Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation provides grants, training and technical assistance to develop and expand volunteer organizations. In addition, the Corporation explores, develops, and models effective approaches for using volunteers to meet the nation's human needs and conducts and disseminates research that helps develop and cultivate knowledge that will enhance the overall effectiveness of national and community service programs. 

Council of Chief State School Officers
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. Since 1998, the Council of Chief State School Officers has been actively engaged in research and development activities to gain knowledge about high-quality extended learning and development opportunities in order to build state capacity in the implementation and maintenance of such programs. Our efforts have been focused on developing shared understanding about characteristics of high-quality after-school programs and of effective state policies that support such programs and providing technical assistance to state education agencies in their work with statewide after-school networks to ensure improvement in both the quality and quantity of extended learning opportunities within their states.  

The Forum for Youth Investment
A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping communities, the Forum provides youth and adult leaders with the information, technical assistance, training, network support and partnership opportunities needed to increase the quality and quantity of youth investment and youth involvement. 

Foundations, Inc.
Foundations provides professional development, training, technical assistance, assessment tools, and publications to build the quality of educational experiences for low-income children and youth across the country.  With services addressing in-school and out-of-school time, Foundations works with schools, school districts, community organizations, afterschool networks and afterschool programs to help children succeed in school and beyond.  

The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP)
The Harvard Family Research Project’s out-of-school time work strives to promote quality, accessibility, and sustainability of out-of-school time (OST) programs and activities across the nation. Their resources support the work of practitioners, policymakers, and researchers.  

Kids Around Town
KAT is an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning that is designed to motivate youngsters, while integrating into the regular school schedule. Using the KAT Model, students apply their growing academic skills to research and resolve an issue that concerns them in their actual communities. In doing so, KAT promotes high academic achievement, consistent with national standards in language arts and communications, mathematics, and science, as well as social studies, while fostering civic efficacy and responsibility. Research results document KAT's success. Like life itself, KAT is interdisciplinary and interactive.  

National Afterschool Association
The National Afterschool Association, formerly the National School-Age Care Alliance, was founded in 1987. We are a professional association with a membership component-our membership includes more than 7,000 practitioners, policy makers, and administrators representing all public, private, and community-based sectors of after-school and out-of-school time programs, as well as school-age and after-school programs on military bases, both domestic and international. As the leading voice of the after-school profession, we are dedicated to the development, education, and care of children and youth during their out-of-school hours.  

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
The NGA Center for Best Practices is the nation's only dedicated consulting firm for governors and their key policy staff. The Center's mission is to develop and implement innovative solutions to public policy challenges. The Center tracks, evaluates, and disseminates information on state innovations and best practices by: surveying states on key issues and providing assessments of current activities for individual states; cataloging innovative programs and sharing this information via reports, briefs, and a variety of online and printed materials; and hosting seminars, academies, and workshops to allow state executives to share ideas and experiences.  

National Institute on Out-of-School Time
For over 20 years, the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College, has successfully brought national attention to the importance of children’s out-of-school time, influenced policy, increased standards and professional recognition, and spearheaded community action aimed at improving the availability, quality and viability of programs serving children and youth.  

National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning
The National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning is supported by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Partnership includes Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL), the primary contractor, and five organizations who work collaboratively to help afterschool programs support student achievement through the use of high-quality and research-based practices.  

The Out-of-School Time Clearinghouse
In the past decade, The Finance Project has developed unparalleled resources that help leaders address financing and sustainability issues for out-of-school time programs. The Out-of-School Time clearinghouse brings together The Finance Project’s resources with resources developed by other organizations dedicated to building better after-school programs.  

The Out-of-School Time Resource Center
Funded primarily by a grant from the William Penn Foundation, the Out-of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC) is part of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy & Practice and is housed in its Center for Research on Youth and Social Policy (CRYSP). The OSTRC promotes out-of-school time student achievement by conducting research on and providing access to staff resources and professional development.  

Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
You will be able to find information about each of the eight program offices that administer DPW services, along with contact information and links to other relevant sites. The mission of the Department of Public Welfare is to: Promote, improve and sustain the quality of family life; Break the cycle of dependency; Promote respect for employees; Protect and serve Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable citizens; and Manage our resources effectively.  

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children is a strong, effective and trusted voice to improve the health, education, and well-being of the Commonwealth's children.  PPC conducts research and analysis to develop credible, sound information and insight to drive public policy; Uses an array of communications strategies to increase the awareness of key constituencies; Mobilizes individuals and organizations to speak out for the interests of children in Pennsylvania; Represents the interests of Pennsylvania’s children in Harrisburg and Washington through government relations.  

Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND)
The Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND) is a consortium of 36 colleges and universities in the greater Philadelphia area. PHENND works to build the capacity of its member institutions to develop mutually beneficial, sustained, and democratic community-based service-learning partnerships. The consortium actively seeks to revitalize local communities and schools and foster civic responsibility among the region's colleges and universities. 

The Philadelphia Foundation
The Philadelphia Foundation has been committed to improving the quality of life in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties for 90 years, through funds established by our donors.  As a public charity community foundation, they manage more than $350 million in assets in more than 775 charitable funds, maximizing the strategic impact of charitable contributions.  

Promising Practices in Afterschool
The Promising Practices in Afterschool (or "PPAS") System is an effort to find and share things that are working in afterschool programs. The PPAS website is for afterschool program directors who want to improve the quality of their programs. All sorts of other people will find it useful, too--people like program staff, volunteers, parents, community members, policymakers, funders, researchers, and anyone else who cares about children and youth.  

YouthBuild USA
Since its founding in 1990, YouthBuild USA has guided the development of the national YouthBuild network of more than 200 local programs that act in collaboration to improve their outcomes and impact. The reach of YouthBuild USA is not limited to YouthBuild programs; it extends to the broader youth development field to diminish poverty in the United States and internationally.  

YouthLearn: Afterschool & Technology
With a history of advancing informal learning through technology integration, YouthLearn has recently intensified its research and professional development activities in connection with the growing afterschool field. Much more than just a period of time in the day, Afterschool has become a movement -- a unifying interest for educators, parents, and policymakers alike. While community-based organizations have promoted positive youth development for decades, today's afterschool movement works to synthesize academic pursuits with youth development goals. Some programs are re-hashed remedial activities with limited impact. However, the best programs see afterschool as an opportunity to integrate rich content into fun, experiential learning fueled by the imagination and enthusiasm of the young participants.  

Youth Service California
Youth Service California’s (YSCal) mission is to make service a part of every young person’s life in California. It was founded on the belief that youth service positively impacts a young person’s academic and civic potential and strengthens the community. YSCal is committed to fostering the growth and effectiveness of youth service and service learning programs in California and provides information and other resources to policymakers, community-based organizations, press and educators.  

Websites to Purchase Resources

• School-Age Notes-Afterschool Catalog
• Discount School Supply
• Channing Bee Company
• S&S Brooks Publishing Co.
• Sopris West
• Redleaf Press
• Search Institute
• Lakeshore
• Corwin Press