In This Issue:

Campaign for Quality: Strategies to Increase Program Quality

In August 2009, the California Afterschool Network and California Department of Education released the California After School Quality Self-Assessment Tool (QSA Tool), a comprehensive self-assessment tool that out-of-school time professionals can use to start important conversations about quality.

Network News

Northern CA English Learners After School Summit was a success! Registration now available for Southern CA Summit. Space is Limited for the Step Up High School Summit, Register Today! Registration is now open for Rural After School Summit Register for the Amp Up! Middle School Conference

Celebrate Lights On Afterschool!

Celebrate Lights On Afterschool! Register Your Events Prior to October 21st!

Policy Update

October 20th Toll Free Telephone Policy Update Bill to Place Proposition 49 Back on the California Ballot was not Included in CA Budget

Let's Move California After School

The Let's Move California After School Initiative is inspired by Michele Obama's Let's Move initiative to raise a healthier generation of kids. Funding Opportunities

Campaign for Quality: Strategies to Increase Program Quality

In August 2009, the California Afterschool Network and California Department of Education released the California After School Quality Self-Assessment Tool (QSA Tool), a comprehensive self-assessment tool that out-of-school time professionals can use to start important conversations about quality.

The Campaign for Quality! Promising Practices from California’s After School Programs is a companion to the QSA Tool. This document offers research-based strategies to improve program quality connected to each section of the QSA Tool. The strategies outlined are also grounded in practice through interviews with multiple California practitioners. The Network will regularly highlight these strategies in its newsletter. This month’s strategies are for reaching and sustaining full enrollment. Some of the strategies offered in the Campaign for Quality are:

Hold an open house so that parents and youth can see your program in action. Set up informational tables at school and community events. Happy participants are your best recruiters. Ask participants to share the news about your program with their friends. Send fliers home with youth, place an article in the school newsletter, and utilize the school’s automated telephone message system to announce openings. Have kids present their success at school assemblies.

To view the full list of strategies offered in the document for reaching and maintaining full enrollment, or access the complete Campaign for Quality Promising Practices from California’s After-School Programs, please click here.

Celebrate Lights On Afterschool!


Celebrate Lights On Afterschool! Register Your Events Prior to October 21st!
The 11th annual National Lights On Afterschool sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance will be celebrated at after school sites and public gatherings nationwide on October 21, 2010. In New York, the Empire State Building will again light up in yellow on the night of October 21st in honor of this national celebration. The California Afterschool Network will host its third annual Lights On Afterschool Celebration at the California State Capitol. Governor Schwarzenegger outlined a letter to support the Lights on Afterschool celebration, outline the importance of after school programs, and thank the Afterschool Aliance for their dedication to this work Nationally.

Last year over one million Americans celebrated Lights on Afterschool, and California led the nation in the number of celebrations registered. Last year California had over 1100 events. California currently has 899 events registered. Be sure to register and host a Lights On event at your after school site. Register your celebration today, and access the online toolkit to access planning resources for a small event at your site to a large public rally.

Let's Move California After School

The Let's Move California After School Initiative is inspired by Michele Obama's Let's Move initiative to raise a healthier generation of kids. The California Afterschool Network Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee has linked their efforts to the Let's Move initiative. The purpose of these efforts is to offer strategies for after school programs to increase nutrition and physical activity and combat the obesity crisis.

The California Afterschool Network Nutrition and Physical Activity Committee has worked with its membership and statewide after school practitioners to create resource cards containing seven simple tips for practitioners to increase high quality nutrition and physical activity offerings in their after school programs. The Committee has created two resource cards. One resource card contains seven simple tips for after school Site Coordinators to create a healthy environment. The other resource card containins seven simple tips for Program Directors to create an organizational culture of health. To access these resource cards, click here.

Network News

Northern CA English Learners After School Summit was a success! Registration now available for Southern CA Summit. 

The English Learners After School summit was brought to you by the California Afterschool Network English Learners Committee. The Summit outlined quality indicators for supporting English learners in after school programs, highlighted effective programs and promising practices, highlighted recent research, and allowed participants to dialogue and create recommendations about effective systems of support for English learners in after school programs. To view pictures from the event or PowerPoint presentations from the summit, please click here.

A Southern California Summit will take place in Los Angeles on February 15, 2011. For more information or to register for the summit, please click here.

Space is Limited for the Step Up High School Summit, Register Today!
The California Afterschool Network is excited to host the second annual High School Summit on November 2-4, 2010. Program administrators, high school after school practitioners and high school principals are encouraged to attend. The Summit will focus on successful strategies for high school after school programs. The event will be held at the Bahia Resort Hotel in San Diego. The summit will feature over 50 workshop sessions, informative and inspiring keynote presentations, as well as presentations from. and opportunities to Network with this year's high school innovator awards recipients. View the recently updated and finalized list of workshop offerings. The Network has worked hard to keep registration costs as low as possible for participants. Registration is filling fast, reserve your spot today! To learn more, and to register, click here.


Registration is now open for Rural After School Summit
The Rural After School Summit will be held at the UC Davis Conference Center in Davis, CA on January 19, 2011. The Summit will highlight the successes and challenges of rural after school programs, demonstrated the need for sustaining rural programs, and provided opportunity for participants to make recommendations to strengthen rural programs. To learn more or register for the Rural After School Summit,
please click here.

Register for the Amp Up! Middle School Conference

The California Afterschool Network and the Region 9 Technical Assistance Center (RTAC) at the San Diego County Office of Education welcome you to attend the first annual Amp Up! Middle School Conference March 8-10, 2011. The conference will feature engaging workshops, keynote presentations, youth performances, and networking opportunities. Program staff, directors, middle school site administrators, and technical assistance providers are encouraged to attend. Early Bird Rate Available Until November 24, 2010! To learn more, and to register, click here.

Policy Update

October 20th Toll Free Telephone Policy Update
The Policy Committee is committed to amplifying the experience of the field to promote responsive policy development. The policy committee meets quarterly to discuss current and relevant state and federal policy impacting after school programs. Join the upcoming telephone Policy Update on October 20, 2010 from 10:00 – 11:30a.m. This free, telephone-based after school policy update will be facilitated by Brian Lee, Network Policy Committee Co-chair, and Deputy Director with Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California. The call will offer information and discussion regarding budget and legislative developments impacting after school at the state and federal level. For more information, and to learn how to join the upcoming policy update, click here.

Bill to Place Proposition 49 Back on the California Ballot was not Included
in CA Budget
On August 4, 2010, the Budget Conference Committee voted 9-0 to support a stand-alone budget trailer bill that would place an initiative on the ballot to eliminate the Proposition 49 (ASES) funding guarantee. A similar bill passed the Legislature two years ago, but was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. On October 8, 2010 the Legislature passed the California Budget. The stand-alone trailer bill approved by the budget conference committee did not come to the floor of either the Senate or Assembly for votes and was not included in the approved budget.

Three Bills Impacting After School Programs in California Recently Signed Into Law

AB 434 (Block) will ensure that funding for Site Coordinators that spend
85% of their time on the after-school program site will be considered funding for direct service. Therefore, effective January 1, 2011 Site Coordinators that spend 85% of their time at the program site will not need to conduct time studies to determine how much of their time is considered direct service.

AB 2178 (Torlakson) will, to the extent consistent with Federal and State
privacy laws, authorize school districts to submit student data to After
School Education and Safety and 21st Century Community Learning Centers
program providers. Such data include: school-day attendance records,
Standardized Testing and Reporting scores, California High School Exit
Exam scores, California English Language Development Test results, and
California Healthy Kids Survey results.

SB 798 (DeSaulnier) will allocate 15% of any increase in federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) funding to summer programs serving elementary and middle school pupils (leaving high school after-school programs with 35% of future increases beyond the 2008-2009 state budget appropriation, instead of the 50% they receive of current 21st CCLC funding; 50% of future increases will go to elementary and middle school programs). It also offers priority to 21st CCLC elementary and middle school sites re-applying for funding

Funding Opportunities

UnitedHealth HEROES Service-Learning Grants
Deadline: October 22, 2010
UnitedHealth HEROES is a service learning, health literacy initiative designed to encourage young people, partnering with schools and nonprofits, to create and implement local hands-on programs to fight childhood obesity. Educators, nonprofit leaders, and students are encouraged to apply for grants of up to $1,000 to engage youth in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Youth participants raise awareness around their work by culminating their service projects on Global Youth Service Day (GYSD), April 15-17, 2011, an international day of service that occurs in all 50 states and in more than 100 countries. To learn more, please click here.

Produce for Kids (PFK)
Deadline: October 30, 2010
PFK invites families and classrooms to enter the PFK Play with Your Produce Healthy Challenge for Fall 2010. All families are invited to create a new game or activity idea using fresh fruit and vegetables that encourage healthy eating and exercise. First place winners will receive $250 grocery store gift cards, 2nd place winners will receive $150 grocery store gift cards, and 3rd place winners will receive $100 grocery store gift cards. 

The Play with Your Produce Classroom Challenge also challenges K-6 classrooms to create a classroom activity focused on healthy eating using fresh fruits or vegetables. The 1st place winner will receive $1,000, 2nd place winner will receive $750, and 3rd place will receive $500. For more information, please click here.

Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
Deadline: November 1, 2010
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service. The program was created in 1995 by Prudential in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) to honor middle level and high school students for outstanding service to others at the local, state, and national level. The program's goals are to applaud young people who already are making a positive difference in their towns and neighborhoods, and to inspire others to think about how they might contribute to their communities. To be eligible, a student must be in grades 5-12 as of November 1, a legal resident of a U.S. state, have engaged in a volunteer activity that occurred during the last 12 months, and submits a completed application to a school principal or head of a designated local organization by November 1. 12 students will receive the maximum award of $1,000 and a trip to Washington, DC. For more information and to apply, please visit spirit.prudential.com

Youth Garden Grants
Deadline: November 1, 2010
Home Depot and the National Gardening Association (NGA) are partnering again to offer the Youth Garden Grants, given to schools and community organizations with child-centered garden programs. Priorities will be given to programs that emphasize one or more of these elements: educational focus or curricular/program integration, nutrition or plant-to-food connections, environmental awareness/education, entrepreneurship, social aspects of gardening such as leadership development, team building, community support, or service-learning. Schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities, and intergenerational groups throughout the United States are eligible. Applicants must plan to garden with at least 15 children between the ages of 3 and 18 years. Previous Youth Garden Grant winners who wish to reapply may do so, but must wait one year (e.g., if you won in 2010, you can apply again in 2012) and have significantly expanded their garden programs. This year, 100 grants are available, with five programs receiving gift cards valued at $1000 (a $500 gift card to Home Depot and a $500 gift card to the Gardening with Kids catalog, and educational materials from the National Gardening Association. Ninety-five programs will receive a $500 gift card to Home Depot and educational materials from NGA. For more information, please visit www.kidsgardening.org/ygg.asp.

Project Ignition Grants
Deadline: November 15
Applications for $2,000 grants are now available online for high school students and adults interested in addressing teen driver safety through service-learning initiatives. State Farm and the National Youth Leadership Council are proud to continue their collaboration on Project Ignition in this seventh year. Students and staff from any public high school in the U.S. and in the Canadian Provinces of Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick can apply. Applications are due November 15, 2010, and twenty-five high schools will receive $2,000 grants in December 2010 to support implementation of their programs between January and April 2011. To apply, please visit www.sfprojectignition.com

Office Depot Foundation Grants
Deadline: November 15, 2010
The Foundation's funding focus includes: Making a Difference in Children's Lives - to support activities that serve, teach and inspire children, youth and families; Building Communities - to support civic organizations and activities that serve the needs of our community; and Disaster Relief - to support disaster relief efforts of recognized national, regional and local agencies, and to provide disaster relief to Office Depot associates who have experienced catastrophic loss. An online eligibility survey and grant application can be found on the Grant Making Guidelines page. Applications are retrieved on a monthly basis and are reviewed by a committee. Please allow at least 12 weeks after you submit your completed application before you receive a response. Grant amounts will be a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $3,000 (very limited). The majority of grants issued are in the vicinity of $1,000 and are supported by in-kind donations when inventory allows. The Office Depot Foundation will accept applications for the current funding cycle through November 15, 2010. Learn more at: www.officedepotfoundation.com/...

California Fertilizer Foundation School Garden Grant 

Deadline: January 15, 2011

Through the garden program, CFF provides direct funding to California schools for garden projects. The gardens provide an opportunity for students, teachers and parents to truly "grow" together. They have expanded the program and are now able to annually provide 24 grants for $1,200 each to schools throughout California (12 awarded twice a year). For more information, please contact Pam Emery at (916) 574-9744 or click here for more information.

AmeriCorps State and National
Deadline: January 25
CNCS is looking for high-impact organizations across America to submit their strongest applications for how to use AmeriCorps members to address pressing social problems. If the President's fiscal year 2011 budget request is fully funded, the agency anticipates approximately $311 million to be available for new, re-competing, and continuation grants in all of the AmeriCorps State and National grant categories, and $1 million for AmeriCorps planning grants. This funding will make a focused investment in the six national issue priorities identified in the Serve America Act of improving education, energy conservation, the health of all Americans, and economic opportunity for economically vulnerable individuals; increasing service by and for veterans; and providing disaster services. Public or private nonprofit organizations, including labor organizations, faith-based and other community organizations; institutions of higher education; government entities within states or territories (e.g., cities, counties); Indian Tribes; partnerships and consortia; and intermediaries planning to sub grant funds awarded are eligible to apply. The Corporation encourages organizations that have never received funding from the Corporation or AmeriCorps to apply for these grants.

Applications to the Corporation are due January 25, 2011, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and successful applicants will be notified in early June 2011. For more information, please click here

Starbucks Shared Planet Youth Action Grants
Deadline: January 31, 2011
The Starbucks Foundation is accepting applications from organizations that provide young people a continuum of opportunities to develop creative approaches to address pressing concerns in their communities. Grants are 10,000 to $30,000(USD) on average. Funding will be considered based on numbers of beneficiaries served, geographic reach, organizational capacity, and size of operating budget. Please complete a letter of inquiry for your organization. The Starbucks Foundation will contact you if we'd like to request a full grant proposal. Successful grant applicants will exhibit all of the following qualities: Deliver services to youth, ages 6 - 24; Preference will be given to organizations that focus on young people in the age range of 12 and older, when they are able to take independent action; Provides opportunity to combine learning with action that support communities and further global citizenship; Deliver services, disseminate information, provide training and/or build broad networks; Provide opportunities for Starbucks partners and multiple stores to be engaged in community service. The Starbucks Foundation reviews the submissions on an annual basis; letters of inquiry submitted between October 1, 2010 and January 31, 2011 will be reviewed and considered for the spring 2011 grant round. For more information, visit: www.starbucksfoundation.com

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 

Deadline: July 1, 2011

Grants available to build evidence to prevent childhood obesity and support research to inform policy and environmental strategies for increasing physical activity among children and adolescents, decreasing their sedentary behaviors and preventing obesity. There is a total of $1.5 million, $150,000 maximum per award for non-profits and public organizations. To learn more, please click here.

Office Depot Foundation
Deadline: Ongoing 

For the priorities of serving, teaching and inspiring children, youth and families; supporting civic organizations and activities that serve community needs; and 
disaster relief. Most grants average $1,000 dollars each but can go up to 3,000 dollars. For more information, please click here.

Digital Wish Grants
Deadline: Ongoing

At Digital Wish, teachers can create technology wish lists of items for class. The organization helps partner classrooms with donors. The service is open to those who work in schools and education non-profits. To learn more, please click here.

Annie's Homegrown 

Deadline: Rolling
Annie's Homegrown is offering up to $250 to community gardens, school gardens, and other programs that connect children to gardening. They donate to schools and non-profits organizations. To learn more please click here.

Bank of the West Introduces Online Charitable Grants System 

Deadline: Ongoing 

San Francisco-based Bank of the West's new online Commitment to Community Charitable Investments Program provides grants to local nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving quality of life, particularly for low- and moderate-income individuals and communities. Grants are made in the categories of Community and Economic Development, Education and Job Training, Health and Human Care, and Civic and Cultural. Click here to learn more.

After School Advantage Program
Deadline: Ongoing

The GTECH Corporation is awarding afterschool computer labs to inner city youth, ages 5-15, located in certain states. They will award 100 Computer Labs at $15,000 each to programs serving minority and at-risk children and youth. To learn more please click here.

WaysToHelp.org Grants
Deadline: Ongoing
WaysToHelp.org invites teens in the United States to apply for grants to fund their community service ideas across any one of 16 issue areas. You can apply for a grant, by visiting www.waystohelp.org and for any issue area, selecting "See Ways To Help" followed by "Apply for a Grant". Applications are short - just 5,000 words or less - and should summarize: how the project will involve others, who it will help, what effect it's expected to have, when it will start and how the funds will be used. Grant requests are reviewed and responded to on a monthly basis.