After School Programs

Today the fellows were allowed to speak to Ms. Zelda Waymer about after school programs. Some of the fellows posed intellectual questions trying to gain knowledge of after school programs, how to begin after school programs, and how to get funding to keep these programs running.

One main source of funding that Ms. Waymer discussed was 21^st Century Learning Centers. They are an institution that funds people for year(s). She gave advice on receiving funds for an after school program. She said, “Tell funders what your goals are and just be honest.” She also stated that an incentive for contributors to contribute funds is to match the amount that you are asking for. Typically “matching” is being able to come up with 10 percent of the total amount of the grant.

Other Advice:

Other advice that was given is to get in contact with various local, state, and national levels. Some of these levels are:

• ·         School Administrators
• ·         Local Park and Recreations
• ·         County and City Municipality
• ·         Houses of Faith
• ·         Local and State community foundations
• ·         Local Universities
• ·         Simply volunteer in after school program to gain a hands on experience

21st Century Learning Centers
Darryl Hylton