As Gulf Coast afterschool project wraps up, community collaborations to continue.

A joint meeting of teams of local leaders from Biloxi, Miss., and Bogalusa, La., last month marked the conclusion of a two-year technical assistance initiative to rebuild and sustain quality afterschool programs as part of the cities' ongoing recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.

The meeting, held May 29-31 in Biloxi, represented a milestone for these two cities that participated in the Quality Afterschool Initiative sponsored by NLC's Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) and the National Education Association (NEA). Teams of municipal officials, school district leaders and community groups are now poised to implement plans to leverage local resources toward the revival of high-quality afterschool activities for children and youth.

Public Engagement and Financing

Throughout the project, public engagement and collaboration among multiple stakeholders have been two key components of these cities' strategies. The cities have sponsored focus groups of Biloxi and Bogalusa parents who have reported the need for afterschool programs that keep children safe, are universally available, provide strong role models and are educational, fun and relevant.

To continue the momentum gained during the NLC-NEA project, the cities are also planning to host community conversations and are exploring program mapping projects to further gauge residents' needs and priorities for afterschool. During the final joint team meeting, staff from the New York-based non-profit opinion research firm Public Agenda shared public engagement strategies on fostering brand awareness, broadening stakeholder input into the design of afterschool efforts and identifying specific community needs to build public support.

The meeting also helped these cities explore financing options, with presentations from officials at the Louisiana and Mississippi Departments of Education, on how to access 21st Century Community Learning Center funds, the largest federal source of funding for academic, cultural and artistic afterschool programs. Representatives of The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi and the NEA Foundation offered additional information on funding sources.

Biloxi and Bogalusa leaders also received advice and assistance from Roxson Welch, education outreach coordinator in the Baton Rouge, La., Mayor's Office, and Corey Dixon of the Perry School Community Services Center in Washington, D.C. These cities are at more advanced stages of developing citywide afterschool systems, and provided insights on funding and sustaining high-quality programs based on their experiences.

Looking Ahead

Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway and Bogalusa Councilmember Marilyn Bailey-Crews both offered remarks reiterating their cities' commitments to the community collaborations emerging from the Quality Afterschool Initiative.

As populations in communities across the Gulf Coast return to their pre-Katrina levels, these cities and their partners are dedicated to re-establishing the afterschool infrastructure that reinforces in-school learning, reduces juvenile delinquency and supports working parents who cannot supervise their children after 3 p.m.

Going forward, Biloxi project team members have developed a plan to use the information gained from the meeting to secure additional funding and strengthen the city-school-community partnerships resulting from the project. The Bogalusa team has dubbed their coalition Bogalusa MAGIC (Making Achievement Gains in our Community), and plans to engage additional stakeholders around a common vision for high-quality afterschool programs.

Details: To learn more about YEF Institute afterschool initiatives, visit www.nlc.org/iyef or contact Lane Russell at (202) 626-3008 or russell@nlc.org.