National Sign-On Campaign for Afterschool Re-launches with New Name: "Afterschool for All." Formerly "Afterschool for All: Project 2010," Name Change Embodies Renewed Commitment and Vision for Afterschool

"Recognizing that the work to advance afterschool programming is ongoing, the Afterschool Alliance is changing the name of its national sign-on campaign, Afterschool for All: Project 2010, to Afterschool for All.

Since we launched Afterschool for All in 2004, we have made great strides in making quality, affordable afterschool programs available to children and youth. We’ve seen increased investments at the state and local levels and growing grassroots support nationwide. However, years of federal funding freezes and erosions have left afterschool programs under-funded and levels that are $1.5 billion/ year less than what was agreed to by Congress and the President. While we applaud the progress that has been made it’s clear that we will not achieve afterschool for all by 2010.

We remain firmly committed to expanding quality afterschool programs. After consulting our partners, we have decided that Afterschool for All is a better name to represent our joint effort to support quality afterschool programming. We believe that this new name will give us greater flexibility to advocate for creating, sustaining, and expanding afterschool. And, while we are disappointed by these past federal funding freezes, we are hopeful for future investments in afterschool such as the developments in California and the first proposed increases to 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) in six years, now being considered by Congress. Now, more than ever, we must redouble our efforts to demand quality, affordable afterschool programs for all of our nation’s children and youth.”

-- Jodi Grant, Afterschool Alliance Executive Director

The Afterschool Alliance launched Afterschool for All in 2004 to bring together diverse voices who support the goal of quality, affordable afterschool programs for all children. Afterschool programs keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families. In the US today, more than 14 million students are alone and unsupervised from 3 – 6:00 PM---when children are most likely to be the victims or perpetrators of crime and to experiment with drugs, alcohol and other dangerous activities. Together, we can change that so that all children in this country have a safe place to go with opportunities to learn and grow after the school day ends.