After School & Mentoring
In the hour after the school bell rings, violent juvenile crime soars and the prime time for juvenile crime begins. After-school programs that connect children to caring adults and provide constructive activities during these critical hours are among our most powerful tools for preventing crime.
For more information on our state-specific work, please visit our state pages.
21st Century Community Learning Centers
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program is the federal government’s principal after-school program investment. It awards grants to establish and run after-school programs that provide academic enrichment opportunities for elementary and secondary school students and their families and offer students youth development activities, counseling, art, music, recreation, technology, and character education programs.
After Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and our allies successfully fought a 40 percent cut in after-school programs in 2003, no significant cuts were proposed in the FY05-FY08 budgets. The FY09 Omnibus Appropriations bill, signed into law on March 11, 2009, increased funding for 21st CCLC to $1,131 million (a full $50 million more than in FY08). Unfortunately, level funding has been proposed for next year in the FY10 Budget Resolution. We will continue to educate policy-makers about the importance of after-school programs and the need for increased funding to give more kids access to quality after-school activities.
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers after-school grants program will be up for Congressional reauthorization as part of the No Child Left Behind Act. We urge Congress to improve quality and expand access to after-school programs during the "prime time for juvenile crime" from 3 to 6 PM. In particular, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program should be expanded to address the largely unmet after-school needs of middle and high school youth.
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