Engaging Education Stakeholders around a New Day For Learning

The Partnership provides workshops sessions on a "New Day for Learning", which is a 21st century vision for learning that builds on a foundation of core academics by leveraging community resources to incorporate strategies such as hands-on learning, working in teams and problem-solving. Before-, afterschool and summer programs are a few of the places in and out of the classroom that are already using these learning approaches to engage students and increase their chances for success.

Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the New Day for Learning Advisory Board released a report by the same name in 2007 and is working to bring awareness and inspire action at the local, state and national level to re-imagine how, when and where students learn. For more information, visit: NewDayforLearning.org or edutopia.org/new-day-for-learning.

The Partnership believes that after-school programs around the state can engage education partners in conversations about this vision, and help them re-shape the learning day for their students with the resources they bring to the table. Several tools have been developed, with the assistance of the New Day for Learning team, and we hope you make use of them as you take this vision to your communities. See the sidebar for the New Day for Learning Resources available for your use and contact us if you would like more information on how to begin these conversations in your area.

Business Engagement

Developing strategies to increase business involvement in out-of-school time has been a key component of the Partnership’s work since the creation of the Task Force. The Partnership was a lead partner in Governor Rod Blagojevich’s After-school Business Summit, held in November 2004. This summit provided a venue to educate business leaders about the importance of after-school services and how partnerships with after-school programs can help address business needs. Co-hosted by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, the summit showcased innovative examples of business investment in activities for youth outside of school. Business representatives from across the state discussed the returns they have received from their investments in the programs. The summit encouraged partnerships between business and after-school programs at the state, regional, and local levels.

This summit marked the beginning of a statewide effort to increase businesses support of after-school. The Partnership has worked with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and with chambers of commerce, and other business leaders in targeted communities around the state to identify opportunities for collaborations to support and expand local out-of-school-time programs for children and youth.

After-school Nutrition Project

The Partnership implemened a one-year project, funded through the federal Adminstration for Children and Families, designed to increase utilization of the federal Child Nutrition Programs by after-school sites. The Partnership conducted a survey regarding the use of federal food programs in afterschool sites, and found that many programs are either unaware of these resources, or experience barriers to accessing these funds. Our project was designed to increase awareness of the federal food programs and to increase the capacity of state and local systesm to increase enrollment. IDHS and ISBE collaborated to provide training about these food resources.

Please see our sidebar for information on a useful guide developed as a result of this project.

Inter-Agency Management Team

Leaders from the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois State Board of Education serve on an inter-agency management team that is working to coordinate services and resources across agencies. Initial efforts are focused on coordination between the Teen REACH and 21st Century Community Leaning Center programs. We plan to extend coordination efforts to other out-of-school time programming within those agencies as we move forward. The Inter-agency Management Team is currently discussing plans for joint training opportunities, and exploring ways to implement common quality assessment and reporting systems.

Community Collaboration

The Partnership understands that collaboration at the community level among all major stakeholders is vital for an effective statewide after-school system, as well as garnering input from the community, parents and youth about the need and quality of after-school. The Partnership is working to understand how resources can be coordinated and enhanced at the local level and to identify and promote effective collaboration practices, through the work of the Policy work group and by connecting to Illinois After-school Alliance efforts to build community leadership. The Partnership also seeks to increase quality opportunities for after-school stakeholders to network and exchange information through peer mentoring, on-line forums, and statewide and regional meeting