After School Programs in Tennessee

After school programs often provide food in the form of of snacks or dinner, computer time in the tech lab, social time and video game time in the games room that consists of Xbox, bean bags and board games, active play which includes gym and outside, and homework which includes homework help and tutoring These are the main parts that makes the club work smoothly and provides items to make sure a member is successful. The school bike sheds may even provide a safe space for members to store their bicycles while participating in these enriching after-school activities.

In Tennessee, 17% (170,645) of K-12 youth are responsible for taking care of themselves after school. Also, of all Tennessee children not currently enrolled in after school, 31% (263,754) would be likely to participate in an after school program if they were available in their neighborhood.92% of parents in Tennessee are satisfied with the after school program their child attends.18% (179,897) of Tennessee’s K-12 children participate in after school programs, including 21,786 kids in programs supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, the only federal program dedicated to after school (tnafterschool.org).

After school and summer learning programs help Tennessee’s students achieve goals. After school programs help students do better in school, develop their work behaviors, and advance. The programs involve students in moving experiences that increase leadership, collaboration, and responsibility. In Tennessee, nearly 180,000 children and teens are enrolled in an after school program. After school and summer learning programs can show kids new academic and professional opportunities, especially in the STEM fields known as science, technology, engineering and math. It is critical to prepare all kids for the future. Between Tennessee parents: 92 percent are pleased with their child’s after school program, 75 percent say it’s significant for their children to have summer activities that help them sustain academic skills and learn new things, 74 percent say after school programs help children increase workforce skills, and 59 percent say their child’s after school program offers STEM learning opportunities (nebula.wsimg.com). For those who are interested on STEM jobs, they can furhter their education through sites like www.calc.edu/programs/ or one can visit Kamau Bobb at LinkedIn.

Families across America report that the space between work and school schedules can be up to 25 hours per week. Parental worries about after school care result in missed work time and decreased production that costs U.S. businesses up to $300 billion annually (nebula.wsimg.com). Between Tennessee parents: 78 percent say that after school programs help working parents keep their jobs, 83 percent agree that after school programs help give working parents peace of mind about their children when they are at work, 86 percent backs public funding for after school programs, and 88 percent backs public funding for summer learning programs (nebula.wsimg.com).

Businesses can partner with after school and summer programs to offer mentorships or internships to middle and high school students and invest in STEM activities for after school and summer programs. Also, Volunteers in after school programs share simple STEM-related activities to acquire interest in the careers to encourage after school programming and organize a task force in the community to create youth services where there are gaps to Create a Maker Space where youth and their families can discover and experiment (nebula.wsimg.com).