Author(s): The Wallace Foundation and FHI 360
- Linda Simkin
- Ivan Charner
- Caitlin Dailey
- Eric Watts
- Hannah Taub
- Abidemi Adelaja
Published: September 2013
Report Intro/Brief:
“Historically, afterschool programs have functioned independently with little coordination among provider organizations or agencies, and public and private funders operating in isolation. Research conducted by the National League of Cities for The Wallace Foundation profiled 27 cities that were known to be taking steps to improve coordination among their afterschool providers, creating citywide systems designed to support high quality programs and increase access. This research prompted questions about the growth and characteristics of afterschool coordination nationwide. What is the prevalence of afterschool coordination? To what extent have large cities adopted key afterschool coordination components? What are the roles of the mayor or city manager, city agencies, and other organizations in providing reliable information and affirming a commitment to quality?
This exploratory study answers these and other questions and provides a first-ever look at afterschool coordination and system-building in large cities across country. FHI 360’s study of afterschool coordination was conducted in the Fall of 2012 using a stratified, random sample of cities with a population over 100,000. To answer the question about prevalence of afterschool coordination, researchers made telephone calls to 129 cities in an effort to find a person in each city who was the most knowledgeable about afterschool coordination. Knowledgeable respondents, identified in 100 of these cities, reported that afterschool coordination in 77 was already underway. Findings related to the two other study questions were based on data collected by interview or online surveys in 69 cities with coordination (excluding eight cities where respondents did not complete surveys).”
-from the executive summary
