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Arts Public Engagement Meetings

To continue in the Thanksgiving spirit, we are grateful for our new AmeriCorps VISTA Member, Nicola Crawford, who supports the Refugee School Impact Grant. VISTAs serve a year in a non-profit that fights poverty. We asked her a few questions about herself.

Where are you from?
I am a Washington and Puget Sound native and grew up on Vashon Island. Now after finishing my education and some global adventures, I am back in Seattle because it is home. I love this place with the mountains and water and even the rain...

What do you like to do on your own time?
I love to read and learn new things and am a big public library fan. I like to go hiking in the mountains or walking around the city -- as long as I'm outside. I love spending time with family and friends and having fun with people I love.

How did you come to SOWA?
I am very excited to be at SOWA and working under the Refugee Student Impact Grant (RSIG) in support of education. Several years ago I had the opportunity to work at an afterschool program in South King County and discovered helping kids learn was something I truly cared about. During that time, I worked with a lot of immigrant and refugee students and that really helped lead to SOWA. Last year I had the opportunity to go and teach English in Kenya which was an amazing experience and gave me a different look into education cross-culturally. Now, I am excited to be back in my own community, working with SOWA and the RSIG.

What are some other interests?
In addition to education, I am interested in community development and conflict resolution. I like farming. I have secret ambitions to one day be a writer.

If you were an animal, what kind do you think you would be?
I’ve always thought if I were an animal I would want to be a cat because they are affectionate yet also really independent. Also, I would like to be able to always land on my feet.

As part of the 2011 Lights On Afterschool celebration, the Afterschool Alliance released Afterschool Progress Reports and Consumer Guides for each state.  Washington State has made progress since 2004, with a 12% participation in afterschool programs in 2009 versus 8% in 2004. However, we still trail the national average of 15% participation.  We still have work to do despite the some progress being made.  According to the Afterschool Alliance:

Based on the FY2011 funding level and an average per student cost of $1000, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) can serve 14,597 students in Washington. However, that is only a small fraction of the 298,973 kids in Washington who are eligible to participate in a 21st CCLC program, if more funding were available.

The full progress report can be accessed from the Afterschool Alliance’s website.

We all know that a barrier to accessing high-quality afterschool programs is funding, and this is becoming even more of a harsh reality every year.   In just a couple short weeks, Washington State legislators will be convening in Olympia for a special session.  The focus will be on passing a budget for the 2012 session.  Cuts already proposed by Governor Gregoire will impact working families who rely on afterschool programs to keep their kids safe, learning and engaged after the school bell rings.  We’re facing further cuts to the Working Connections Child Care program, cuts to K-12 education funding and other social and health services that will only create more challenges for children and families in our state.

Every year, advocates for children’s issues gather in Olympia for Have a Heart for Kids Day in February, but this year due to the special circumstances, the advocacy day will be held December 2nd.   Learn more about this important event and join the Change Direction: Raise Kids Up campaign to send a message to legislators that cuts are not the answer.

We just wrapped up the second year of our Washington Afterschool Network Healthy Youth Healthy Futures initiative and have posted accomplishments from this past year on our website.  Take a moment to review some of the Washington Afterschool Network highlights including increasing our focus on summer learning and developing a summer learning policy brief; continuing our Healthy Youth, Healthy Futures mini-grants; involving the afterschool and youth development field in common core standards discussions; participating as a partner in the ending childhood hunger initiative; and more. 

This month we start out on the final year of our 3-year Achievement Grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation which supports much of our work to mobilize the afterschool and youth development field through the Washington Afterschool Network.  We look forward to again awarding mini-grants to support public will building efforts around the importance of afterschool programs in supporting healthy youth behaviors as part of our Healthy Youth Healthy Futures initiative.  We also are continuing to strengthen our focus on building a professional development system in Washington State and developing quality standards to support this work. 

It’s not too late to get involved with WAN.  Our next meeting is December 2 from 10-3pm in Federal Way.  Visit our website for more information or contact Janet Frieling if you’re interested in learning more about WAN and how to get involved.

Last Thursday, October 20th, which coincidentally was the 12th annual Lights On Afterschool celebration, the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization bill out of committee.  The bill was supported by all the committee’s Democrats, including Washington State Senator Patty Murray, and three Republicans.

A press release on Senator Murray’s website states that the bill would, “free most districts from the unsuccessful and often unfair burdens of meeting ‘adequate yearly progress’.” Senator Murray provides a broad look at the changes to No Child Left Behind included in the reauthorization legislation.

One issue that we have been tracking within the reauthorization language is around changes to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative that would allow funding currently supporting afterschool and summer learning programs to also fund a comprehensive redesign of the school day.  The Afterschool Alliance spent last week working hard with some Senators on the committee to improve language to better support the 21st CCLC initiative. As a result of this advocacy effort, an amendment to the bill introduced by Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island that passed out of committee made some improvements to the 21st CCLC language by including:

1. Language that prevents a federal preference or priority on which approach (afterschool, summer learning, expanded learning for some students, expanded learning for all students) will be used.
2. A stronger requirement for partnerships with community based organizations, with only a narrow exception for rural communities for whom the requirement would be a significant hardship.
3. Clarity of existing language to ensure that either the local education agencies or nonprofit partners can be the lead fiscal agent on 21st CCLC grants.
4. New language to ensure that effective and innovative approaches to programs can be utilized by grantees.

Visit the Afterschool Alliance’s website for more information and policy updates regarding ESEA reauthorization. 

Closer to home, Governor Gregoire held a press conference today addressing her proposed $2 billion in budget cuts this session.  She will be releasing her supplemental budget proposal in November.  The Office of Financial Management website includes proposed budget reduction alternatives by area.  Under social and human services, you’ll find a proposed reduction in state funding for subsidized child care ($50 million) which would impact an estimated 4,000 children.  The education area includes proposed cuts to the Department of Early Learning, K-12 and higher education including elimination of state funding for child care resource and referral, reducing levy equalization which helps property poor districts, increasing class size in grades 4-12 and many other cuts.

While these proposed cuts do not come as a big surprise, it is still devastating to see how this will impact children and families in our state. Please be sure to sign up for the Children’s Alliance Action Network and stay up to date on legislative and budget issues impacting children and youth in our state. Now more than ever, we need to speak up for vital services that support children, youth and families and make sure our voices are heard loud and clear.

The National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education and Families has issued new research findings highlighting progress in 27 major U.S. cities in building comprehensive, citywide afterschool systems. Commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, “Municipal Leadership for Afterschool: Citywide Approaches Spreading across the Country” identifies cities that are among the most advanced in their efforts to coordinate afterschool opportunities for children and youth.  Included in the 27 cities are Seattle and Spokane.

The report cites that cities are paying more attention to the needs of children and families during the afterschool hours because such programs can help city leaders confront pressing local challenges such as public safety while providing additional learning opportunities that support school success. Each of the cities in the report have made progress on six "action elements" defined as central to the sustainability of a coordinated out-of-school time approach based on a Wallace Foundation report.  These six elements are:

• Committed Leadership
• A public or private coordinating entity
• Multi-year planning
• Reliable information
• Expanding participation
• A commitment to quality

We were happy to see two of Washington’s cities included in the report!  The outgoing co-chair of the Washington Afterschool Network, Joanne Benham works for the City of Spokane as the Director of the Spokane Regional Youth Department.  In her role, she has worked closely with Mayor Mary Verner to promote quality afterschool programs.  Despite the tough economic times, Spokane leaders are committed to doing what they can within limited resources to work towards creating a coordinated and sustainable system of afterschool and youth development programs. 

The Seattle profile highlights the Youth & Families Initiative launched in 2010 which sought input from Seattle residents to help shape the Seattle Families & Education Levy which is now up for a vote in November. The levy has funded essential services for children and youth including afterschool, youth development and summer programming.  If approved, the proposed levy will double the funding from the past levy and secure resources for children and youth for the next seven years.  

School’s Out Washington is a supporting organization of the campaign to renew the Seattle Families & Education Levy. We believe this funding is critical to provide expanded learning opportunities before and after school and during the summer in the city of Seattle. 

We know there are other Washington cities doing great work to support afterschool and youth development programs.  We are busy working on planning a Mayoral Summit in 2012 to bring together mayors and municipal leaders to learn and become inspired to create more citywide systems of support for afterschool programs across our state.  We are lucky to have great models already out there to help lead the way.  For more information about the mayoral summit planning process, contact Janet Frieling and be sure to take a moment to read this informative report.
 

Governor Gregoire recently announced a 30-day special session beginning on November 28th.  The September revenue forecast revealed a $1.4 billion drop in revenues.  The Governor has already requested all state agencies submit proposals outlining 10% budget reductions as she prepares to put together her supplemental budget proposal.  Her hope for the special session is pass a supplemental budget and spend the regular session focused on policy bills. 

Our partners at the Early Learning Action Alliance have provided an overview of submitted recommendations for their 10% cut. 

Some of the cuts proposed by the Department of Early Learning that would affect school-age children include:

• Eliminating all support for culturally relevant services ($200,000) when combined with the reduction in the first priority reduction decision package
• Eliminating all support for seasonal child care subsidies ($773,330) when combined with the reduction in the first priority reduction decision package
• Eliminating over 80% of the homeless subsidy program ($225,240) when combined with the reduction in the first priority reduction decision package
• Agency administration ($33,762)

Fortunately, the Department of Social and Health Services did not propose any additional cuts to the Working Connections Child Care program.  We are hopeful this program will stay at 175% of the Federal Poverty Level after already taking a hit this past year. 

Now more than ever, it’s critical to contact legislators and let them know that preserving services for children and families must be made a priority this coming session. Our state has already endured deep cuts to critical social, health and education services and we can’t take any more. 

Join the Children’s Action Network to stay up to date on legislative activities and to take action for kids.  Be sure to select the Washington Afterschool Network to receive alerts specific to afterschool and youth development issues.