Out of School Time

Interest in the out of school time of youth is at an all time high. From the federal government’s 21st Century Community Learning Center initiative to the work of governors and legislatures to the initiatives of national foundations, public and private investment is growing.

Community foundations have an historical interest in this issue as funders of out of school programs in their communities. Over the last two years, the Coalition has provided opportunities for community foundations to learn from each other and groups at the national level about best practices around quality, standards and training as well as about data, financing strategies, youth development principles, and youth engagement.

The Coalition also has provided grants for community foundations to put their experience and knowledge into practice. In partnership and with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, CCFY made grants totaling $600,000 to community foundations working on out of school initiatives. Leadership Grants of $100,000 each were made to five communities who are building a system or infrastructure that provides all youth with quality supports and programs in their out of school time. Ten Seed Grants of $10,000 were made to community foundations interested in building capacity in their foundation and/or community to address out of school issues. The RFP was issued jointly with one to community foundations interested in youth civic engagement. For a list of grantees and descriptions of their work on out of school time and youth civic engagement issues click on "Grants Announcement" on the sidebar or below.

At the Coalition’s Youth Development Institute in September 2000, more than 100 participants representing community foundations and their local partners (advocates, youth, civic leaders, non-profit and public agency staff) learned from resource people and each other about building out of school systems and engaging youth in the civic life of their communities. The day was organized around case studies of communities such as Baltimore, MD and Oakland, CA who are doing groundbreaking work to build systems; of Denver, CO where the community is working with the Mayor on a ballot initiative to address funding and the sustainability of out of school programs; of Baltimore, MD’s work on community wide standards for out of school programs; and of Hampton, VA ‘s exciting work to engage youth in every level of community through neighborhoods, schools, on non-profit and public boards and on a Youth City Council.