Did you know that 80 percent of children and youth spend their waking hours out of school?
After-school programs have been a tool within communities to develop positive youth atmospheres, allowing a safe space where youth are able to explore their full potential. High-quality afterschool programs are able to provide a great amount of support in order for youth to improve their performance academically and socially.
With the support of the afterschool program’s youth can be emotionally, cognitively, behaviorally, and physically challenged in all ways to become better.
To gain the full experience, youth must have a daily routine and regular dosage of what each program has to offer. When it comes to the demographics of older youth, regular participants in afterschool programs have been known to reduce behavior issues and can gain knowledge on college and career-based opportunities. In a report from the America After 3PM, afterschool programming is in a demand, meaning for each youth enrolled their are three that are waiting to be able to get acces into a program.
Research has shown that the barrier to access afterschool is the cause of cost, leaving 3 out 5 parents to label this the cause of the reason why they have not enrolled their child into the afterschool program. The lack of federal funding has been ongoing inflation, leaving the burden for funding on families, states, and communities.
In a conversation with Coach Ann, a basketball coach and a youth development specialist, she explains her intake on afterschool programs “after school opens that circle up to let a kid become involved in other things, other cultures; dealing with foods, dress, speech. There’s a lot of different things that after-school programs can provide for a child that a daily going to school five days a week doesn’t provide because it’s regimen.”
The overall objective is to provide these skills by giving a wide variety of leadership opportunities that help youth have a voice. To know that they matter.
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