Afterschool Advocates
Champions of afterschool programs who help facilitate activities who collaborate to raise awareness with diverse stakeholders.
Become an Afterschool Advocate!
Are you an afterschool program coordinator or frontline staff member?
A family member, educator or community leader who cares about afterschool?
Afterschool Advocates act as champions of afterschool programs with diverse stakeholders in our communities. The key characteristics of Advocates are a love of afterschool and a willingness to talk to others about afterschool. Advocates – through their work in or with afterschool programs – know firsthand the benefits of afterschool and the barriers that their community faces in making afterschool available to all children.
Afterschool Advocates will help facilitate activities that raise awareness of afterschool, such as:
- Coordinating a local Lights On Afterschool event
- Working with other local providers, advocates, and community groups to promote afterschool
- Reaching out to policymakers and the media on afterschool issues
- Identifying strong programs to highlight in your community to share their story
There are many benefits to becoming an Advocate! These include:
- Increased opportunities for networking
- An April advocacy campaign (either in-person in Springfield or in-district)
- Special spotlights in social media and ACT Now communications
- Access to advocacy materials and coaching
- Policy updates related to the out-of-school time (OST) field
