"What did you do after school?"

I rarely miss a chance to ask a prospective donor that question.

From 1988 to 2015, Carla Sanger, M.Ed., served as president and chief executive officer of LA's BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) After School Enrichment Program. 

"Building American Skills Through Community Colleges" Proposal Presents Huge Opportunity for Afterschool

Each day, over 10 million children participate in afterschool programs. Working parents rely on these programs to keep their children learning, growing and safe during the gap hours—after the school day ends, but before parents come home from work.

The New Year is the perfect time to evaluate the efficacy of programming thus far, and ensure high quality in what's planned for the second half of the academic year.

Jim Murphy is the senior manager overseeing the national accreditation of child and youth development programs and work with the Department of Defense (DoD) for the Council on Accreditation (COA). He is the past executive director of the New York State School Age Care Coalition, now AfterSchool Works NY—the New York state affiliate to the NAA. Murphy has more than thirty years' experience working with children, youth, and families. These experiences have included providing independent consultative services across the country, and volunteer Endorser, Peer Reviewer, and Team Leader services for the COA. Murphy has also served as a volunteer Endorser for the National Afterschool Association Accreditation program, has been a Quality Advisor for afterschool programs, and Endorser for the NYS School Age Care (SAC) Credential. He has worked in numerous settings, such as residential treatment centers, community-based residential care, psychiatric care, diagnostic and emergency care, non-secure detention care, therapeutic foster care, and in-home family counseling services, as well as a decade of YMCA programming. Murphy is a trained mediator, and has taught Crisis Prevention and Intervention courses, and CPR, First Aid, and HIV/AIDS education.

Since 2005, Jodi Grant has been executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality, affordable afterschool programs.

New research from the 2014 edition of "America After 3PM," the most comprehensive household survey of how students in America spend their afterschool hours, shows that summer learning programs are strongly supported by parents and that participation in summer learning programs is on the rise.

Keeping kids engaged in this day and age is almost next to impossible when their minds are focused on the technology in front of them. For any teacher, it's always a battle to fight for kids' attention and keeping them involved and participating with the activity the rest of the class is doing. Here, we provide you with ten ways that you can keep kids in your program engaged and focused on whatever task is at-hand. 

Keeping kids engaged in this day and age is almost next to impossible when their minds are focused on the technology in front of them. For any teacher, it's always a battle to fight for kids' attention and keeping them involved and participating with the activity the rest of the class is doing. Here, we provide you with ten ways that you can keep kids in your program engaged and focused on whatever task is at-hand.