With the landmark federal scholarship tax credit set to take effect in January, experts discuss where things stand and what still needs to happen.

The $17 billion Meta settlement should be spent on mental health support for children and paying for aftershool and summer school programs to create community for children.

It’s a funding round-up! Check out the latest state funding wins from across the country, a database to help you track down federal dollars your program might already be eligible for, and tools

We’re 4 weeks away from the 27th annual celebration of Lights On Afterschool!  There's never been a better time for afterschool programs to take some time to show off to their

Afterschool, before-school, and summer learning programs play a vital role in supporting both the physical and mental health of the young people they serve, and Lights On Afterschool is the perfect

It’s time to play! Our World: Worldwide Day of Play is on September 26, 2026! The Association of Children’s Museums (ACM) and our member museums are pleased to partner with Nickelodeon on the 2026 Our...

On August 14, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on the future of the E-Rate program, which provides discounts to help schools

Photo courtesy of Sawhorse Revolution By Leah Silverberg and Anita Krishnamurthi. This blog is part of the Afterschool Alliance's Collective for Youth Empowerment in STEM & Society

As of 2019, Minnesota’s After-School Community Learning Grant program, which supported afterschool programs from 2007 to 2009, had been unfunded for over a decade. 2020 America After 3PM

This blog is part of our Advocating For Afterschool series, where we share tools and best practices to help make the case for afterschool to funders, partners, and policymakers at the local, state,

Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Mathematics By Laura Lim, Afterschool Alliance STEM intern. When talking about STEM and civics, people often picture two very different learning

We’ve got 9 weeks to go until Lights On Afterschool! Register your event today, to make sure you'll have your 10 free posters well before October 22. Need a spark of inspiration? Whether

A parent looking for an afterschool program wants a few essentials: a safe environment, caring staff, and engaging activities. Increasingly, those activity expectations include engaging children with

Meta's new settlement with 47 states will direct up to $17.1 billion over 10 years toward addressing the mental health harms linked to social media use among young people. Critically, this

By Riley Hayden, Summer Policy Intern. 8 weeks ago, I walked into the Afterschool Alliance knowing almost nothing about how afterschool programs get funded. I’d spent 8 years coaching

By Riley Hayden, Summer Policy Intern. Idaho’s growing demand for afterschool programs highlights the need for sustainable state investment. 2025 America After 3PM

On May 19, 2026, the Afterschool Alliance released new America After 3PM data on summer program access, unmet demand, and parent perspectives. To share those findings with the field, we hosted a

With the House and Senate in recess for the rest of the month of August, it’s a good time for an update on the status of the FY2027 appropriations process. The federal current fiscal year

Workforce Pell is a new provision in the federal budget reconciliation law enacted last year that, for the first time, allows Pell Grants to help pay for short-term workforce training. Pell Grants

Last week, Representatives Mike Carey (OH-15) and Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA-44) introduced the Sports Training, Recreation, and Opportunities for the Next Generation Act (H. R. 9839). Also

Data collected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) highlighted the threat that substance misuse and suicide pose to

By Josephine Vu, Research Fellow, Afterschool Alliance. A middle school student today can learn how to use ChatGPT in just a few hours after school. Within an afternoon, they may learn how to

An interagency agreement, or IAA, is how the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has been shifting day-to-day administration of specific programs to other federal agencies, without changing the

A new bipartisan, bicameral bill introduced on July 16, 2026, could help afterschool and youth development programs recruit more mentors, volunteers, and community leaders. The Building Community

Over the past few months, the Afterschool and Summer Workforce Solutions Database received some incredible new entries highlighting practices that are contributing to a thriving afterschool and

Join the Forum for Youth Investment, the Afterschool Alliance, and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) for a conversation on capacity building and the policy environment facing 21st Century Com...