Supporting High Quality After-School and Out-Of-School Time Programs
Adopted at the 70th Annual Meeting in 2002
WHEREAS, affordable, accessible, and high-quality after-school programming is essential for all families; and
WHEREAS, a public consensus is emerging about the need to share the responsibility for providing safe, interesting, and enriching programs for children during out-of-school hours; and
WHEREAS, ensuring access to high-quality after-school programming for school-age children and their families increasingly is becoming a priority at the local, state, and national levels; and
WHEREAS, after-school programming promotes learning, enhances the physical, social, emotional, and moral development of children and youth, and provides support for working families; and
WHEREAS, children's risk of becoming victims of a violent crime triples in the hours after school, and children and youth who are unsupervised are at greater risk of truancy, pregnancy, receiving poor grades, experiencing mental depression, and abusing tobacco, drugs, and alcohol; and
WHEREAS, children who attend high quality after-school programs experience greater academic success, develop stronger peer relations, have better emotional adjustment and conflict resolution skills, and better conduct in school compared to their peers who are not in after-school programs,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors encourages the federal government to increase its investment in community-based after-school programs; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors requests funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Center program, which supports community efforts to expand out-of-school time programming, be increased to $1.5 billion.