Afterschool in Action: Innovative Afterschool Programs Supporting Middle School Youth

This report, released by Afterschool Alliance in partnership with MetLife Foundation, highlights the work of quality afterschool programs that support children, families and communities across the nation. This compendium is a compilation of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This series explores afterschool and: arts enrichment, parent engagement, school improvement and digital learning. The compendium also includes in-depth profiles of the 2012 Afterschool Innovator Award winners, as well as highlights from 2008-2011 award winners. The 2012 MetLife Foundation Afterschool Award winners are:

• The Wooden Floor, Santa Ana, CA

• Latino Arts Strings & Mariachi Juvenil, Milwaukee, WI

• Kid Power Inc., The VeggieTime Project, Washington, D.C.

• Parma Learning Center, Parma, ID

• Green Energy Technologies in the City, Lansing, MI

• Successful Strategy: The Wooden Floor, which serves low-income students by combining dance, academics and family services, boasts 100% high school graduation and college enrollment rates among its alumni. Tweet
• Successful Strategy: VeggieTime promotes nutrition, health, the environment, and civic participation. Its programming was rated "excellent" or "good" by 100% of parents and average "good behavior" scores of participating youth increased from 67% to 81%. Tweet
• Observation: Afterschool programs can help break down barriers between parents and schools and facilitate parental involvement by accommodating their work schedules and providing counseling and other wraparound services. Tweet
• Observation: Adopting afterschool initiatives into a School Improvement Grant is one way to align school and afterschool improvement endeavors. Tweet
• Observation: Afterschool programs using digital learning should work to narrow the new digital divide -- the emerging inequalities in the way youth are interacting with media as either content producers or consumers. Tweet