This brief is the first in a series featuring promising practices in city-wide after-school initiatives, with a focus at the infrastructure level, focusing on the infrastructure representing the underlying elements or framework that hold a system or initiative together. The brief identifies practices to support the public relations function and…

"Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California" is an anti-crime organization led by more than 200 California sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys, and victims of violence. This report brings together new evidence from California and around the nation showing that the after-school hours are the peak time when youth become involved in…

This booklet describes the CORAL (Communities Organizing Resources To Advance Learning) program within five California communities: Pasadena, Long Beach, San Jose, Fresno, and Sacramento. This initiative, begun in 1999, is committed to a community-based and community-building approach to supporting learning and focuses on improving academic…

As technology evolves and the economy changes, greater demands will be placed on the workforce of the future. Myriad opportunities are and will be available to those who have the knowledge and the skills to meet those challenges. Afterschool programs offer a key opportunity to expose students to ideas and teach them skills that can unlock doors to…

Examined the life histories of early adolescent participants in Artists in the Making, a program designed to motivate inner city youth through participation in visual arts classes. Student interviews indicated that, despite participant diversity, there were several common themes, including self-discovery, problem solving skills, opportunities for…

Discusses the disparity in academic achievement between African American males and males and females from other ethnic groups, recommending after school programs to provide services for addressing and decreasing these disparities. Notes policy issues affecting the targeted population, presents four programs that have successfully improved academic…

Describes the formation and organization of a mathematics club for fourth- and fifth-grade students. Offers 12 hints on running a successful club based on the author's experiences. (MDH)

Discusses the case study of the educational projects of two church-based community programs in Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), examining the understanding five women workers in these projects have about community and analyzing the relationships of these programs with the public schools. Of particular interest are the churches' after-school tutoring and…

Describes a program at an inner-city day care and after-school program (Brooklyn, New York) designed to help children express, share, and take pride in their family cultures, and to respond to increasing hostility toward new immigrant groups. Includes an annotated bibliography of resources for teaching about immigrants to the United States. (DSK)

A needs analysis showed that if a Connecticut school developed a customized enrichment program, it could offer parents more choices for the same fees they already paid for child care. The school became an enterprise zone offering enriched before-school, after-school, and full-day kindergarten programs. (MLH)

Discusses the United Kingdom's Education Extra, an organization that supports out-of-school learning opportunities and provides educational supplies and training materials for schools, local authorities, teachers, and other adult helpers. Highlights two of its programs, the Summer Literacy Projects and the Reading Club, and describes the New…

Assesses the effectiveness of an after-school, hands-on science program offered for two years for the purpose of stimulating in-service elementary school teachers to increase their use of the hands-on approach to the teaching of science and mathematics. (Author/CCM)

Investigated the relationship between the quality of after-school child care programs in Quebec and the education and experience of staff. Based on questionnaire responses of teachers and administrators, 26 programs were rated using the School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale. Found correlations between program directors' experience and program…

At one urban family service agency, staff members have drawn a vital connection between community and literacy. Explains how this literacy program evolved from a basic tutoring opportunity into a curriculum using themes and information gleaned from the young participants' immediate community surroundings. Describes the program's history,…

Describes technology-driven strategies for reducing school violence: (1) commitment communicated by newsletters and cable television; (2) elimination of weapons using metal detectors, surveillance cameras, breathalyzers, student passes, alarm systems, and school emergency plans; (3) two-way communications and low technology; (4) educational…