Bright Ideas Factory Outlet

After-School Programs

One problem many communities face is that no single source of funding is usually adequate to support a good after-school program. In 1999, Contra Costa County addressed this problem in a creative way by using CalWORKs money to leverage more than $1.1 million in grants from the State’s After-School Learning and Safe Neighborhoods Partnerships Program. The After-School Learning Program while well-intentioned, provides only $5 a day per child for programs that provide safe, constructive after-school alternatives for children through grade nine. The grants are awarded competitively, and program rules require applicants to find community partners to supplement the grant. “It’s a fact of life today that you have to find multiple funding streams to do any successful programs,” notes Elaine Burres, a contract analyst with the Employment & Human Services

EHSD, which administers CalWORKs in the county, took the lead in urging several local school districts with high CalWORKs participation rates to apply for After-School Learning grants. The agency agreed to commit up to $823,000 from its CalWORKs funds to help pay start-up costs. The program goals include:

	Expanding learning opportunities for children
	Reducing delinquency, drug and tobacco use, and violence by roviding alternative behaviors in a safe, secure and supervised envirnment
	Increading socialization and coping skills of children and young adults
	Decreasing high-risk behavior
	Providing an alternative to spendng large numbers of hours alone or with peers in inadequately sueprvised settings Under federal and state rules, counties may use funds from their CalWORKs Single Allocation to help build childcare capacity

Agency officials knew that finding safe and enriching after-school programs for their children was a major problem for CalWORKs participants and believed that many would take advantage of the new programs. “Our Department Director, John Cullen, has been adamant that we get money out there in creative new ways,” said Sandy Bustillo, a Workforce Services Specialist for Employment & Human Services Department. “If we want to help folks be successful at work, we have to look at innovative new approaches, especially partnerships.”

The Mt. Diablo and West Contra Costa County School Districts learned that their requests for After-School Learning grants had been approved (applications from two other districts were turned down). Mt. Diablo received a grant of $751,735 to start after-school enrichment programs at six elementary schools and one middle school, which altogether serve a total of 560 children. West Contra Costa County received a grant of $386,803 to expand and enhance existing programs at three middle schools, which serve a total of 300 youths. Employment & Human Services supplemented Mt. Diablo’s grant with $418,368 in CalWORKs money.

The money covers start-up costs such as equipment, supplies, staff training, snacks, instructional reading material, new outside lighting, and outreach efforts. West Contra Costa received $118,790 in CalWORKs money for similar start-up costs, as well as the purchase of software, recreation and sports equipment, and art supplies.

Because its programs serve middle schools, West Contra Costa asked for CalWORKs money to purchase materials and equipment to support youth leadership activities and community service projects. Rich Clarke, former Mt. Diablo After-School Program Coordinator, has worked hard to make sure that his schools’ programs include enrichment components like dance, theater, art, environmental education, and athletics, in addition to providing help with academic subjects. Each site has added programming to meet its childrens’ special needs or build on their particular strengths.

For instance, the children in one after-school program are planting a multicultural community garden. At another program, children are receiving anger management training. At still another, participants will learn to play musical instruments. The programs operate for three hours each school day, at no cost to their families. Depending upon the site, between 15 and 30 percent of the enrolled children have parents who participate in CalWORKs. Some of the programs have hired CalWORKs participants as teacher aides. Clarke believes it’s nothing short of amazing that the schools and the Employment & Human Services Department in his county have managed to blend funding streams to create exciting new programs for children. “It’s often difficult for social service people and educators to thing about collaborative funding,“ he says. “We’ve been able to do it here because we have a good history of working together. You don’t just knock on the social service agency’s door and say , “We hear you’ve got a pot of money. Will you share it?”

For more information

Elaine Burres
Employment & Human Services
eburres@ehsd.co.contra-costa.ca.us
(925) 313-1717

Sandy Bustillo
Employment & Human Services
sbustill@ehsd.co.contra-costa.ca.us
(925) 646-5081

Stephanie Roberts
Mt. Diablo School District
stephanie@afterschoolprogram.org
(925)691-0351

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