Why Are So Many Kids Nationally Missing Out on Aftershool? Hear Key Insights from the Wallace Foundation

National survey finds high demand for after school programs, but cost, transportation and other factors prevent access, especially for low-income families. That is why Carver offers free transportation and 70%+ of Carver students are subsidized by our donors.

See the entire transcript here at The Wallace Foundation.

For the past few years, participation in afterschool programs has dropped precipitously. ​Families of 24.6 million children—an ​​increase of 60 percent since 2004—are una​​ble to access a program and many report cost as a barrier, according to a new survey from the Afterschool Alliance.

The study, America After 3pm: Demand Grows, Opportunity Shrinks, identifies trends in afterschool program offerings and shares overall parent perceptions of afterschool programs. With responses from more than 30,000 U.S. families, this survey builds on the household surveys conducted in 2004, 2009 and 2014. While it offers a pre-pandemic snapshot of how children and youth spend their afternoons, it also includes findings from a separate survey of parents conducted in fall 2020, to capture the pandemic’s impact on afterschool. 

The Wallace Blog caught up with Jennifer Rinehart, Senior VP, Strategy & Programs at the Afterschool Alliance, to discuss the implications of the survey and what they might mean for a post-pandemic world. 

This is the fourt​​h edition of America After 3PM. Why did you start collecting these data and what is the value in continuing to do so?

America After 3PM was the first research undertaking at the Afterschool Alliance and continues to be a pillar of our work. In the early 2000​s, we realized very quickly that there wasn’t a data source that provided a comprehensive view of how kids in America spend their afterschool hours, and we set out to remedy that. As a field building, policy and advocacy organization, we recognized that having good research and data would be critical to our success in helping all young people access quality afterschool and summer programs. And we knew it wasn’t enough to have just a national snapshot. We’d need families from every state, families at all income levels and all races and ethnicities, to really tell the story of who has access to afterschool and summer programs, who is missing out, and why. Through the fourth edition of America After 3PM, we surveyed more than 31,000 families to capture this in-depth and detailed portrait of the afterschool hours across the U.S.

Unmet demand for afterschool programs continues to be a major issue, but access and availability of programs is still a concern. Can you talk more about this?

America After 3PM paints a picture of the huge unmet demand for afterschool programs, with the heaviest burdens falling on low-income families and families of color. The families of nearly 25 million children are unable to access a program. That’s more than ever before; for every child in an afterschool program in America, three more are waiting to get in.

More families report that cost and transportation, as well as overall lack of programs, are barriers today than in 2014, and that is especially the case for families with low-income and families of color.

Carver celebrates International Women's Day

International Women's Day, each year on March 8th, isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength. We celebrate women and girls every day here at Carver.

Every day is a great day to celebrate the amazing women in our lives, but International Women's Day gives us an extra reason to do just that.

Celebrated every year on March 8, on this day we are encouraged to actively choose to "celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness about women's equality and lobby for accelerated gender parity.

Celebrating achievement at Carver

The holiday first came about in the early 1900's. In 1908, women had begun agitating for greater equality and less oppressive working conditions with women taking to the streets in New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. The first National Women's Day was celebrated in 1909 and while Women's Days were marked in various countries for the next 100 years, the online portal was launched in 2001 to re-energize their efforts and bring them all together in one virtual place. 

Boys & Girls Club of Stamford CEO Rowena Track will moderate conversations with distinguished local women leaders including Indra Nooyi, Former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo; Margaret Keane, CEO of Synchrony; Kathleen Silard, President and CEO of Stamford Health; Juanita James, President and CEO of Fairfield County Community Foundation. They will celebrate and reimagine women's futures in leadership at this free virtual event on March 8, 2021, at 7 p.m. See the registration link below.

This year's international theme is #ChoosetoChallenge, calling on us all to think critically about our own thoughts and actions and how we can celebrate women's achievements.

Click on the image above to go to the virtual event registration page.

Girl Powered Robotics at Carver!

With the generous financial support of FIRST®, an international robotics community, Carver’s after-school programming incorporates the FIRST® LEGO® League initiative to promote STEM education amongst our students. This is particularly important for our female students, as women are historically underrepresented in STEM fields due to gender bias that underestimates their abilities. Beginning in elementary school, girls are steered away from science and math, minimizing their confidence and limiting opportunities to develop their skills in these areas.

First LEGO League promotes STEM learning and exploration while teaching Carver kids the value of teamwork, inclusion, innovation, and discovery. Our male and female elementary students partake in hands-on activities that require them to develop solutions to real-world problems using LEGO bricks and engineering fundamentals. Prior to the pandemic, Carver middle schoolers also participated in FIRST LEGO League’s robotics competitions, which entail building and programming a LEGO robot.

We encourage all of our students, regardless of gender, to engage in STEM learning. Carver’s mission is to close opportunity gaps for all children; doing what we can to address the gender gap in STEM education naturally aligns with Carver’s efforts to promote equity for our children and youth.

Norwalk Kindergarten Registration Now Open

Parents of incoming Norwalk Public Schools kindergartners can now register their child for the 2021-2022 school year online through PowerSchool registration. PowerSchool registration allows parents to easily and securely enter their child’s information.

Families of incoming kindergartners can visit the Step Into Kindergarten page to begin registration and learn more about immunization requirements, documents needed, lunch information and more. If a parent does not have a PowerSchool registration parent account, which would have been created for previous children registered to NPS, they can create one. The PowerSchool registration parent account will allow parents to fill out the necessary forms online, save and return to forms in progress and print form history.

For families who speak a primary language other than English, assistance is available by calling 203-854-4093.

For additional information click here.

Norwalk students are celebrating Read Across America today!

Students across the district are celebrating Read Across America today! Guest readers including NPS Superintendent Dr. Estrella are sharing their favorite books virtually with learners to promote a love for literacy.

NPS Virtual College Tour on Wednesday, March 24th

Tamara Williams is preparing for a career as a lawyer to advance civil rights

These past months Hamlet's words have been apt: "The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold." Despite all the challenges our world is facing today, the only extreme apparent in Tamara Williams' world seems to be her joy.

"Carver played a major part in who I am today," Tamara recently shared with us. "I began by attending Carver's after-school program. I worked as a Carver summer camp counselor and then worked for Carver's CASPER after-school program for elementary students at the Carver Community Center. Carver helped me find my passion for my community and in helping others."

Tamara attended our annual Spring College Tour in 2013. Her account of the group's visit to the Shaw University campus was published here in the Norwalk Patch.

Shaw was the first school on the schedule for the Carver Foundation of Norwalk's 43rd annual college tour. We were greeted by Marcus McElveen, son of Mark McElveen, who coaches our rival Brien McMahon varsity girls' basketball team. I also learned that his uncle is the Recreation Coordinator for the Carver Foundation of Norwalk. Marcus, who is more than six feet tall, ran into our chartered coach bus to greet us and welcome us to Shaw. Sports must run deep in the McElveen family because Marcus is an Assistant Coach of the Shaw University Football team. Marcus credits Ms. Novelette Peterkin for introducing him to Shaw University eight years ago when he was one of the students on the college tour.

Tamara graduated from Norwalk High School in 2014. She then attended Morris College, a private, Baptist historically black college in Sumter, South Carolina. Founded in 1908, the college was named after the Reverend Frank Morris because of his outstanding leadership throughout the African American community of South Carolina. “They gave me a foundation,” Tamara said. “Morris was the place that molded me into who I am.”

Tamara spent the final year and a half of her undergraduate experience at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A& M University), another historical black college and university (HBCU) and a traditional 1890 land-grant institution. She graduated cum laude in 2019.

During her time at Alabama A&M University, Tamara completed an internship with Madison County, working for the Commissioner for District 6. Her experiences during her college years also included working as an advocate for recently released criminals, "giving them and their families a second chance at life." 

Tamara is a member of the Phi Beta Lambda Business Fraternity and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Tamara is presently preparing to take the LSAC exam in order to attend law school later this year. She is also working part-time for a private law firm in Montgomery, Alabama.

"Needless to say, my focus in law will be Civil Rights. Carver not only gave me one of my first jobs but supplied me with endless mentors, role models, an amazing support system, and exposure to things I never knew."

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, declaring that all men were created equal, he owned slaves. Women couldn't vote. But our abolitionists, suffragettes, and civil rights leaders called on our nation to live up to the nation's professed ideals in that Declaration. That is the tradition we are proud to see Tamara commit herself to advance. During this fraught time in our nation's history it is helpful to remember that the civil rights movement continues to achieve its goals without resorting to violence.

While the extremes we have endured these past years have been "very cold” and have "bit shrewdly," and long after all the recent manifestoes and polemics are forgotten, Tamara's career in advancing civil rights will endure. Tamara will help us heal and make progress. Tamara and her peers will help us find clarity and lasting solutions.

And through it all, what seems most enduring about Tamara is her capacity for joy. Carver is many things to many people since our organization’s founding in 1938. Perhaps Carver's most lasting legacy will be our capacity for joy.

FIRST Lego STEM Education at the Carver Community Center

FIRST®, an international robotics community, awarded twelve grants this year to address inequities in access to science and technology. Carver was one of three grantees to receive the largest financial award of $50,000.

Carver’s FIRST robotics program operate in nine Norwalk elementary schools and the Carver Community Center during the 2020-2021 school year. There are six to eight third and fourth graders per team. Certified teachers and volunteer mentors assist each team. Carver after-school students have participated in FIRST Lego League competitions for many years.

Thank you everyone for supporting Carver kids yesterday on Fairfield County's Giving Day

Taylor Duhart will soon receive a graduate degree in sport management from UConn

In these uneasy, topsy-turvy times, alumni stories like this one winds up consoling us more than vaccine updates. Despite all the challenges this past year, Taylor Duhart is thriving at the University of Connecticut where she is on track to earn a master's degree in Sport Management in a few months

Taylor received her Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science from UConn in 2019.

UConn’s Sport Management Program is designed to provide an educational experience that includes an effective blend of classroom, research and field experiences in an effort to provide each student the opportunity to gain disciplinary knowledge and to develop the necessary skills to be successful in any area of the sport industry.

And what field experiences can surpass UConn sports? The UConn women’s basketball team is looking NCAA Tournament-ready over its last few conference games, a positive sign for Geno Auriemma with March right around the corner. Meanwhile, the Huskies were one of the few football teams to play their 2020 spring session before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports across the country. Months later, they were one of three FBS teams to opt out of the season. In exchange for competition, the fall was spent practicing, conditioning and lifting.

In addition to her studies, Taylor is an Intern for the UConn Athletics Department and a Program Leader with UConn Husky Sport. As such, Taylor is creating a Preventative Maintenance Plan for all of the athletic facilities on UConn's campus. This includes preparing maintenance plans and cost analyses. Also, as a UConn Athletics Student Worker, Taylor helps her supervisors ensure the upkeep of the athletic facilities and equipment on campus. Her work includes supporting athletic games and events. As a Program Leader with Husky Sport, Taylor teaches disadvantaged elementary school students in Hartford physical literacy, nutrition, and life skills while supporting them academically as well.

As an undergraduate researcher, Taylor worked with the UConn Korey Stringer Institute on a project with the US Army.  

As a graduate scholar-practitioner and a researcher, Taylor is gaining the knowledge, skills, and values to help lead the sport industry in the 21st century. Taylor is someone who envisions sport as a vehicle for positive social outcomes.

From an early age, Carver provided Taylor with solidity and engagement, a means of exploring the world’s complexities while also whirring along with a certain lightness.

Taylor’s twin sister, Kimberly, was the first to be profiled in this series on Carver alumni.

Taylor was a member of the McMahon High School girls’ varsity basketball team and graduated among the top students in her class. Taylor is someone who understands that sport medals aren't really made of gold; they are made of determination and a hard-to-find alloy called resilience. For Taylor, sport does not build character as much as it reveals it.

Taylor shares, “I was in YDP at McMahon High School and I was a counselor at the Carver day summer camp at Columbus Magnet School. Through YDP I was able to become confident in who I was and the experience helped me see that the mistakes I made did not have to be my future.

I encourage Carver’s students today to know that it’s okay to not know your path yet. The path we do take, even if we don’t use directly what we have learned, the process itself still helps us get to where we are going. I went to UConn to be a physical therapist, and although I’m not any longer intending to pursue that profession, that knowledge and experience helped be grow and to guide me into something I was more passionate about.”

We are not surprised that even in this most difficult of years Taylor’s work ethic and passion for life are lasting and true. The distilled essence of her character and what she accomplishes each day inspires us all.

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann The top academic seniors in Brien McMahon’s Class of 2015; clockwise from left: Maria Alegria, Gabrielle Ganino, Taylor Duhart, Taber McFarlan, Edwin Owolo, Juan Arenas, Olivia Clark, Tom Skiper, Olivia Haskell, Kimberly Duhart and Chris Gatt.