Through the Municipal Partnerships for Success in Afterschool Initiative, the Utah Afterschool Network has:

• Created a guide for mayors on the importance of supporting afterschool programs in the state
• Created an outline of talking points for community members interested in increasing municipal leaders’ support for afterschool.
• Worked with local Afterschool Programs to support them in building relationships with their city leaders.

To view video clips of mayors who support afterschool from our Friends of Afterschool Mayoral Luncheon (May 2010), visit our Video Resource Page.

Scaling Up School and Community Partnerships: The Community Schools Strategy. An interactive guide that builds on both practice and research to describe the what, why, and how of system-wide expansion of community schools and the possibility of creating Colletive Impact. The guide is written for a wide audience and for communities at different points in planning for, implementing, and sustaining a community schools strategy.

Scaling Up School and Community Partnerships

Municipal Leadership for Afterschool: Citywide Approaches Spreading across the Country (2011). A new research report published by the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education and Families and commissioned by The Wallace Foundation highlights a growing trend in communities nationwide:  the emergence of comprehensive, citywide afterschool systems for children and youth.

Municipal Leadership for Afterschool

Collecting and Using Information to Strengthen Citywide Out-of-School Time Systems (2009).  This strategy guide, by the National League of Cities, provides municipal leaders and their key partners with strategies for collecting and using information tostrengthen citywide OST systems. The six strategies presented are intended to help build the capacity of communitiesto get and use information across a citywide system.  The guide also presents examples of how mayors, councilmembers and other municipal leaders across the country haveimplemented each strategy to improve the OST opportunities available in their cities and towns.

 Collecting and Using Information to Strengthen Citywide Out-of-School Time Systems

A Place to Grow and Learn (2008).  Drawing on early lessons from a Wallace Foundation initiative in five cities, this report describes a novel, coordinated approach to achieve widespread, sustained improvements in the quality and reach of "OST" programs so that many more children can benefit.  The report discusses a number of "action elements" that can help other cities get started, including: committed leadership, multi-year planning, reliable information, and commitments to expanding both participation and program quality. 

 A Place to Grow and Learn

Opportunity in Hard Times: Building Out of School Time Learning Systems that Last(2009). A number of U.S. cities, including five supported by Wallace Foundation, have been building new systems of high-quality out-of-school time programming citywide. But what should supporters do to ensure that these young systems endure, during the immediate economic crisis and for the long term? This report on a recent Wallace-sponsored conference that gathered 108 OST system coordinators, funders, researchers and others offers possible answers to that challenge, including: forging closer ties to schools, using new data systems to inform budget decisions, and making the recession an opportunity to introduce bold changes. 

 Opportunity in Hard Times: Building Out of School Time Learning Systems that Last

Strengthening Partnerships and Building Public Will for Out-of-School Time Programs (2010) With support from the Wallace Foundation, the YEF Institute has developed a new strategy guide on Strengthening Partnerships and Building Public Will for Out-of-School Time Program. The guide describes three key strategies that city leaders can use to generate support for access to high-quality out-of-school time activities. It highlights a broad range of examples of how cities have successfully implemented each strategy, from partnerships with universities to coordinated communications plans.

 Strengthening Partnerships and Building Public Will for Out-of-School Time Programs

Bolstering Out-of-School Time for City Kids: A New Systems Approach (2010)  A RAND Corporation study evaluating five efforts to piece existing city programs, municipal agencies, schools, technology and other resources together to work in sync to establish citywide Out-of-School Time systems.

 Bolstering Out-of-School Time for City Kids: A New Systems Approach

Solutions Storytelling: Messaging to Mobilize Support for Children’s Issues (2010) This summary, based on research by Douglas Gould and Company and the Topos Partnership, addresses the hypothesis set by The Communications Catalyst Initiative that stories about effective programs, or “solutions stories,” are an overlooked tool in advocates’ toolkit that can educate and mobilize needed support.  The research aimed to establish the effects of various stories and story elements on people’s support for policies and interventions to help children.

 Solutions Storytelling: Messaging to Mobilize Support for Children’s Issues

The State of City Leadership for Children and Families: Innovations and Trends in Afterschool (2009) The State of City Leadership for Children and Families is a groundbreaking new report from NLC's Institute for Youth, Education, and Families that identifies the nation's most cutting-edge city strategies to help children and families thrive. This chapter highlights the broad range of innovations and trends in municipal leadership around afterschool.

 The State of City Leadership for Children and Families: Innovations and Trends in Afterschool

Financial Strategies to Support Citywide Systems of Out-of-School Time Programs (2009) This strategy guide, made possible by support from The Wallace Foundation, describes several options that city officials may consider for supporting and sustaining local programs.  These options include: creating dedicated, local funding streams; making better use of existing funding streams; maximizing state and federal funding sources; and strengthening collaborative efforts.

 Financial Strategies to Support Citywide Systems of Out-of-School Time Programs

Cities and Statewide Afterschool Networks Partnering to Support Afterschool (2009) This guide, published with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, features examples of how municipal leaders are working with the 38 statewide afterschool networks to influence state afterschool funding and policies and to strengthen local programs.  It focuses on several areas in which cities and state networks can make a significant impact together: joint efforts to increase state funding and support; improving program quality; building public support for afterschool; and strengthening local partnerships.

 Cities and Statewide Afterschool Networks Partnering to Support Afterschool

The Afterschool Hours: A New Focus For America's Cities (2005) This report highlights strategies and insights from the eight cities that participated in the YEF Institute's Municipal Leadership for Expanding Learning Opportunities technical assistance project. The project describes the efforts of Charlotte, N.C.; Fort Worth, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Lincoln, Neb.; Spokane, Wash.; and Washington, D.C., and provides lessons emerging from these cities' experiences, contact information for project team leads, a list of collaborating organizations that participated in the project, and further resources on improving public schools. 

 The Afterschool Hours: A New Focus For America's Cities

Assessing Local Afterschool Resources and Needs (2003) This strategy guide outlines six clear steps that city leaders should consider when conducting a needs assessment of local afterschool programs: defining goals, focus, and scope of assessment efforts; developing multiple ways to gauge family needs; using survey and mapping techniques; exploring multiple uses of compiled data; looking for partners in survey design, data collection and analysis; and sustaining assessment efforts over time. This guide also provides examples of how some communities have successfully responded to this challenge.

 Assessing Local Afterschool Resources and Needs

Action Kit on Expanding Afterschool Opportunities (2002) This action kit illustrates the many ways in which municipal leaders can craft a strategy to expand afterschool opportunities, and in the process, advance the goals of public safety, academic achievement, and youth development in their cities. The kit describes roles that city leaders can play in promoting partnerships, building public will, assessing local needs and resources, improving quality, broadening access, and financing a citywide system, and also includes a broad range of city examples, facts, and further resources.

 Action Kit on Expanding Afterschool Opportunities