General

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced the release of the FY 2026 After School Programs – Non-School Districts Notice of Funding Opportunity/Request for Proposal (NOFO/RFP) in the IWAS system on August 27th, 2025. This year’s Non-LEA After School Programs grant program is funded at $18 million, a $10 million increase from last year.  …

Susan Stanton, Executive Director of ACT Now, issued the following statement in response to the Trump Administration’s decision to release current FY25 funding for afterschool and summer learning that it had previously chosen to withhold: “After seventeen days of immense bipartisan advocacy, the administration had no other choice but to release the funding for the…

Susan Stanton, Executive Director of ACT Now, issued the following statement in response to the Trump Administration withholding $6.8 billion in education funds and impacting afterschool and summer learning programs in Illinois:  “The devastating withholding of afterschool and summer program funds from the federal government is unacceptable. Communities across Illinois know that afterschool and summer…

Dear 21st CCLC Advocates, ACT Now has increasing concerns about FY25 federal 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) funding. The bipartisan FY2025 full-year continuing resolution was signed into law by President Trump in March. Annually, State Education Agencies (SEA’s) normally receive allocations for 21st CCLC in April and then receive the actual funding on July 1st. The…

Hello Advocates, I wanted to share some updates regarding the FY26 state budget. We recognize the difficult fiscal environment that shaped the FY26 budget and extend our deep appreciation to the many legislative champions and tireless advocates who stood up for afterschool programs throughout this process. Your voices have been critical in ensuring that afterschool…

Susan Stanton, Executive Director of ACT Now, has issued the following statement in response to the proposed elimination of dedicated funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) and Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) in President Donald Trump’s budget proposal through consolidating Title funding into block grants and reducing overall funding:  “ACT Now and our…

Yesterday, in Chatham, our worst fears became reality. A place that was meant to be a safe, joyful space for children — an afterschool program where they laughed, learned, and felt protected — became the place of a horrific tragedy. A vehicle crashed into that space, stealing lives, injuring others, and leaving families, staff, and…

Dear Coalition Members, Yesterday, March 20th, 2025, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order (EO) asking the Secretary of Education to take steps to close the U.S. Department of Education. As afterschool programs and community schools are critical, data-driven strategies to support students’ educational success and are funded through this department, ACT Now is closely following this issue.  The EO requires the…

Afterschool Programs Zeroed Out In The Governor’s Proposed FY26 Budget Governor JB Pritzker’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Budget leaves a glaring, urgent gap in serving children and families through afterschool that must be addressed immediately. Under the Governor’s leadership, Illinois as a state is doing a great deal to support our most vulnerable populations in the…

Hello Afterschool Advocates!   I hope you are all hanging in there. So many of you have expressed interest in our advocacy this year, and we’ve seen more engagement than ever! Since we all can’t be on an advocacy webinar together every single week, we wanted to look for ways to keep you updated with what’s…