Afterschool programs enrich the lives of children by providing additional classroom time, positive community collaboration points, and safety. Mississippi afterschool program data has been compiled to demonstrate the current programs’ success, and growing needs for additional programs and funding across the state.
Program Needs
Afterschool and summer youth programming are supported by communities comprised of parents and caregivers, volunteers, educators, and community leaders. Working together enables Data reveals additional programs are needed to serve grades six through twelve.
We have utilized our platform to highlight programs serving youth in this demographic including:
Programming in this age demographic is primarily focused on college and career preparedness, offering expanded knowledge in STEM education as well as project management, collaboration, and public speaking and presentation.
How do we bridge the gaps?
Schools and community members alike can create new afterschool programs. Resources for creating a new program can be found here. Contact Amber May at MSAN as a resource, too.
Funding for afterschool programs is sourced from donations, foundations, government child care development funds, family fees, and the 21st Century Community Learning Center.
Funding Distribution
The metrics included in our report indicate some programs have received greater funding allocations. The ARP Learn More Program is a competitive Mississippi grant program to address students academic, social, emotional and mental health needs and is modeled after the existing 21st CCLC. Our data indicates eight out of ten programs awarded grants from the ARP Learn More Program are also recipients of 21st CCLC funding. In order to grow the afterschool network, funding needs to be fairly distributed across more programs.
We regularly include grant funding opportunities in our monthly email newsletter. Please sign up if you need funding assistance and program guidance with the form on our homepage. If you’re already signed up, please share the newsletter with your colleagues and encourage them to join our network.
Increasing Program Awareness
The State of Afterschool in MS report highlights program awareness as a barrier for greater involvement. The simplest way we can increase enrollment in programs is to be champions for them. Follow and engage with programs via social media, create handouts for parents and caregivers, offer scholarships for students to enroll, and reduce transportation and access barriers.
Together, we can expand afterschool programming and benefits to more communities and Mississippi youth. Increasing volunteers, the number of programs, funding access, and program awareness are all keys to providing additional educational environments to our youth.