The Afterschool Leadership Landscape: Supporting and Strengthening Racial Equity report frames efforts that will strengthen capacity building and outlines recommendations for supporting emerging leaders of color.

As one way to help address this systemic inequity, NAA, in collaboration with California School-Age Consortium, is piloting a national learning community for afterschool leaders of color. The Professional Learning Community for Emerging Leaders of Color will:

• Foster a network of equity-driven leaders of color
• Support them in deepening their equity analysis and leadership skills to be agents of change in the afterschool field
• Help them create a roadmap that advances their careers

The report and pilot program are part of a grant to NAA from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation (the Foundation) to address a critical need—to develop and support leaders of color in afterschool. With support from the Foundation, and building on the knowledge gained through its National Character Initiative, the Building Capacity for Leaders of Color project aims to help create systems to build the capacity of leaders of color in the afterschool field by conducting field research on needs, launching a national learning community for leaders of color, publishing the learnings and recommendations for sustainability and supporting NAA's State Affiliates in launching similar efforts.

"We can do better to build and strengthen our workforce," says Gina Warner, President and CEO of NAA. "My hope is that this project rallies together the afterschool workforce, our stakeholders and partners to examine current systems and elevate collaborations that intentionally create leadership pipelines for people of color."

This project acknowledges that inequity exists and is creating an intentional space for leaders of color to explore leadership development that is designed specifically for them and takes into account their experiences with inequity, power, privilege and oppression.

An estimated 10.2 million children participate in afterschool programs each year and the industry employs an estimated 850,000. The National AfterSchool Association is the membership association for professionals who work with children and youth in diverse school and community-based settings to provide a wide variety of extended learning opportunities and care during out-of-school hours.