Afterschool 101: Surveying the Michigan afterschool landscape
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EmailOver 100,000 Michigan youth participate in an afterschool program, many of them funded by state and federal grants. Learn more about these programs to begin building partnerships and expanding youth programming.
Welcome to Afterschool 101, an introduction to the Michigan afterschool and out-of-school time (AST/OST) community! Across this three-part Michigan State University Extension series, we will explore the Michigan AST/OST landscape, discuss strategies for reaching your community’s AST/OST offerings, and talk through potential pathways to 4-H AST/OST programming.
First up, an introduction to Michigan’s AST/OST community. There are two major, though not exclusive, state and federal funding sources for AST/OST programming in Michigan:
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers. A federally funded program meant “to support the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during out-of-school time hours, particularly for students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools.”
- 32N Out-of-School Time grants. State grant funding “to provide in-person before-school, after-school, before-and-after-school, and/or summer programming to children and youth in any of grades K to 12.”
Becoming familiar with the subgrantees and host sites for both grants is a good starting point to understanding the AST/OST situation in your county. To explore funded sites near you, the mapping tools created through a partnership between Michigan State University’s Community Evaluation Programs, MiLEAP, and the Michigan After School Partnership (MASP) can help.
In addition to data collected and published by MiLEAP and MASP, Afterschool Alliance, a national advocacy group for AST/OST programming, conducted a comprehensive survey of youth and families in 2020. The published report, America After 3pm, provides state specific data. Michigan’s responses show:
- 168,171 children participate in afterschool programs.
- 34% of those children are from low-income households.
- 84% of parents overall agree that afterschool programs provide working parents peace of mind.
How does Michigan 4-H fit into these statistics and this landscape? It’s important to note that nearly all Michigan 4-H programming takes place after school or during out-of-school time, except for specific in-school programs. Michigan 4-H routinely engages 100,000 youth annually in a variety of year-round clubs, 4-H SPIN clubs, day camps, overnight camps and other learning opportunities. In counties across the state, we are already supporting strong AST/OST partnerships, but the possibility to reach more of Michigan’s youth with quality out-of-school time programming is out there. Be sure to catch parts 2 and 3 in this Afterschool 101 series to continue learning about these possibilities and ways to act on them!
