One of the most important benefits of an afterschool program is that it widens young peoples' interests and gets them involved in a variety of activities to foster their personal growth.

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with Dollar General Literacy Foundation, recently honored The Bridge Project in Denver, Colorado, for demonstrated excellence in helping develop literacy skills of English language learner students.

Jesse Burne, Executive Director, offers an inside look at his program's work.

Mark your calendars: October 26, 2017, is the 18th annual Lights On Afterschool. Launched in October 2000, Lights On Afterschool is the only nationwide event celebrating afterschool programs and their important role in keeping kids safe, inspiring them to learn and helping working families.

Imagine the potential of empowering the 10.2 million children in afterschool programs with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills, while providing them with opportunities to eat healthy and stay active.

Students learn new skills and concepts every day in school—but learning comes with an extra set of challenges for more than 4 million English language learner (ELL) students who attend public schools nationwide.

The National AfterSchool Association (NAA) recently elected and appointed new members to its Board of Directors. The strong slate of candidates was impressive, which was reflected by the large number of members who voted in this election—it was an all-time high for our association! Thank you to our members who took the time to vote.

Know a program that excels in improving its students' reading, writing and critical thinking skills? For the third year in a row, the Afterschool Alliance and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation seek nominations for the $10,000 Dollar General Afterschool Literacy Award.

In a Web search for the word STEM, Google returns more than 200 million results. STEM today is a hot topic and Web pages are being created at a frenetic pace, which can be quite overwhelming for users. Websites may have outdated information, be difficult to navigate and, occasionally, even provide bad information. Your time is precious, so to help you navigate the World Wide Web of STEM information I am providing my current pick of some of the best STEM resources available today.

The 2016 NAA Convention is now only two months away! We've been working hard to put together the best program yet, and are excited to highlight some workshops we're most excited about. You can also preview all of our 140+ sessions on our website.

Afterschool programs are embracing STEM as a natural fit for the afterschool setting.

In 2014, Afterschool Alliance conducted a nationwide survey that included asking parents about STEM in afterschool and summer programs.