CAN recently attended the Mott Statewide Afterschool Networks meeting. Attendees included Jeff Davis, Tiffany Gipson, Heather Williams, Michael Funk, Ruth Obel-Jorgensen, and Jenny Hicks representing HouseED (after school programs in low-income housing developments). While there:

• We participated in the Substance Use Learning Community which focuses on how after school and summer learning programs can be leveraged as UNIVERSAL PREVENTION for a variety of societal issues such as violence, substance use, and how we are a PROTECTIVE FACTOR against many of the risk factors in the communities we serve. We hope to continue learning from this group as we advance Expanded Learning Programs as vehicles for whole child health. We learned about a really cool initiative called Afterschool Heals Tennessee.
• We participated in a pre-conference  related to 21st CCLC new outcome measures, and it seems that the outcome measures look kind of like the one’s that CA just stripped from our programs in SB 122. We have an opportunity to influence this national set of outcome indicators for 21st CCLC and focus them on what after school should be, and what the “Science of Learning and Development” highlights, about learning happening in the context of relationships, safety, and belonging.
• We had the opportunity to hear from John B. King, former Secretary of Education and current President and CEO of the Education Trust. He shared with us the importance of putting equity at the center by focusing on quality and continuous quality improvement, support for the deep learning and development of our expanded learning professionals, and stronger integration of all the systems that affect kids’ lives.
• We had the opportunity to hear from Scott Stump from the USDE Career and Technical Education Unit who shared that career exploration, and specifically work-based learning can happen as early as 5th grade under the new Perkins act, highlighting the strong opportunity for expanded learning and CTE partnerships. 
• David Osher from American Institutes for Research and an inspirational panel including our very own Michael Funk shared with us new developments coming out about the Science of Learning. We learned that research proves, once again, that what we strive to do in our programs is 100% consistent with new research about learning. We were also challenged that we can always do better! Our work to advance quality and deepen staff capacity to create the conditions necessary for youth to thrive is an ongoing pursuit. Such a pursuit can be advanced collectively and collaboratively.
• Mott is committed to ongoing support for the Networks and Michael, Ruth and I had the opportunity to sit down for breakfast with the new leader of Mott, Ridgeway White.