America’s working parents and their children need afterschool programs

The Administration’s proposal to eliminate federal funding for afterschool programs is shortsighted; it takes away important support for children and deals a blow to the millions of working parents across the country who rely on afterschool and essential summer programs to keep their school age children engaged, supervised and learning while they are at their jobs. This comes at a time when affordable quality childcare for all children in a family is increasingly hard to find, and the essential financial support provided during the recovery has not been extended.

More than 25 years ago, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative began to grow, with bipartisan support in Congress and interagency coordination across the Departments of Education, HHS and Justice. As the director of the Child Care Bureau at the time, I saw a growing consensus that finally recognized the importance of high-quality afterschool programming both as support for working families and as a developmental opportunity for children, particularly in places where families would have no other options. We can’t go backwards now.

Not only do these programs provide a lifeline for working families, boosting their economic security, but they also provide an opportunity to build a “new neighborhood” for children where they can share and learn together and build social connections so critically important in today’s disconnected world. They provide a bridge between schools and communities—a critical connection that has been long overlooked. The overwhelming majority of parents report that afterschool programs keep children safe, get them more excited about learning, provide opportunities to build life skills including the ability to communicate and work in teams, and help working parents keep their jobs.

Parents today need more support, not less. A recent Child Care Aware of America report found that 90% of parents say that balancing child care and work responsibilities is a problem, and 81% say expanding access to affordable, quality child care should be a top or high priority for both federal and state policymakers. And it’s not just parents—nearly 9 in 10 voters across the country agree that afterschool programs are a necessity in their community and 90% say programs are important to “strengthening the economic well-being of families by allowing parents to work and provide for their families.”  

It’s very clear that voters want, and children, families, and communities need, the afterschool and summer learning programs 21st Century Community Learning Centers support. Now it’s up to all of us to call for continued funding, so that parents indeed can have real choices, children can have new opportunities and programs they both rely on will be able to keep their doors open and their lights on.

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About the Author:

Joan Lombardi, Ph.D. is a long-time champion for children. She served as the first Director of the Child Care Bureau in USDHHS 1995-97.

This blog originally appeared on Afterschool Alliance.