Students Lose Afterschool Programs, Staff Laid Off—Policymakers Must Take Action!

Press Release – September 24, 2024

Chicago, Illinois – 13,500 students across the state have lost afterschool programs and 1,000 staff roles have been eliminated. Organizations gathered today at Aspira Business and Finance High School for a rally to ask policymakers to take swift action to rectify this issue. You can watch the full rally here.

Last June, hundreds of federal grants came to an end for afterschool programs; but legislators recognized the benefit of these programs and chose to include $50 million in additional state funding in the Illinois budget to stabilize the field. However, funds have yet to be released and programs are now shutting down.

Programs have already shut down and others are hanging on by a thread. By the end of this calendar year, almost 27,900 youth across Illinois will have lost services, and 2,000 people will have been laid off. These programs are high-quality, with a decade of evaluation data supporting their effectiveness, and have the robust infrastructure needed to run programs. Students and families across the state cannot wait any longer and availability of programs is shrinking by the day.
 
Afterschool for Children and Teens Now (ACT Now), along with its partners, gathered advocates for a rally to share the issues afterschool programs are facing. Speakers included youth workers, a parent, and students from Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Aspira Inc. Illinois, and Youth Guidance. 

Jorge Cardona, a Student at ASPIRA Antonia Pantoja High School credited his afterschool program with helping him to find a stronger sense of self: “I know who I am and who I want to be… afterschool programs help youth believe in themselves.” 

Ayelen Canales Acevedo, a Resource Coordinator at Youth Guidance described the difficult questions youth asked when they had to close their program site: “Were we not good enough? Did you not like us? What was wrong? And it’s hard to explain to children that funding is the reason.”

ACT Now and thirty other organizations sent a sign on letter yesterday asking ISBE, the Governor’s Office, and the General Assembly to work together to issue these funds and stabilize the afterschool field.

Executive Director of ACT Now Susan Stanton stated, “Our policymakers have a lot of difficult choices and problems to solve on a daily basis, but this is an easy one.  The money is there and we have a plan for them.  We need them to ACT Now and save our afterschool programs.”

This annual state investment will ensure that students across the state will continue to receive high-quality learning opportunities and that professionals retain their critical jobs supporting Illinois’ diverse communities.