"Positive Youth Development Grant Program Act" moves state toward offering quality after-school and summer programs to all children in need.

LITTLE ROCK - Today Gov. Mike Beebe signed into law the Positive Youth Development Grant Program Act, creating the framework for a statewide after-school program.

Senate Bill 138, sponsored by State Sen. Johnny Key of Mountain Home, allows the Arkansas Department of Education to establish a set of operational guidelines for after-school programs to that will be set up when, and if, money becomes available.

"Positive, out-of-school experiences are vital to keeping our most vulnerable young people safe, are crucial to enhancing the learning that happens during the traditional school day, and assist the working parents of Arkansas who care so much about the learning and safety of their children," said Jay Barth, chairman of the Arkansas Out of School Network (AOSN) and a member of the Governor's Task Force on Best Practices for After-school and Summer Programs. "This legislation has promise, across the years ahead, to make Arkansas the kind of place we need it to be for our young people."

Research by AOSN and Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families shows that each day 125,000 Arkansas children and teens are on their own after school.

"The passage of this legislation means that Arkansas has taken a major step towards ensuring that our children and youth have safe, healthy, and enriching learning experiences after school and during the summer," said Laveta Wills-Hale, Arkansas Out of School Network Coordinator.

In the past few years, Arkansas has developed a set of quality standards and guiding principles and has gathered widespread public support for expanding after-school and summer programs. The Governor's Task Force on Best Practices for After-school and Summer Programs made specific recommendations for implementing these programs in 2008. The Department of Human Services, the Department of Education, AOSN and local service providers have worked together to establish quality standards, licensing requirements, professional development trainings, and evaluation methods needed to operate quality programs.

"In the current economic climate, even when adequate funds are not yet available, it is still important to authorize the creation of a quality statewide after-school program to maintain the momentum and focus on these important programs," said Paul Kelly, Senior Policy Analyst for AACF.

Research says:

• Two-thirds of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth results from unequal access to summer learning opportunities. (i)
• Students attending after-school and summer programs have improved school attendance, fewer discipline problems, higher educational aspirations and significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits. (ii)
• Participation in these programs reduces drug use, drop-out rates, aggressive behaviors and sexual activity. (iii)
• The parents of children in after-school programs miss less work, are more productive, worry less about their children's safety and are able to better balance family and work. (iv)
• Eighty-eight percent of Arkansas voters agree that quality after-school programs are an absolute necessity for their community, 83 percent support public funding for these programs, and 93 percent believe they expose children to new experiences and give them hope for the future. (v)

(i) American Sociological Review, Vol. 72, April 2007

(ii)  UCLA National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, June 2000 and Afterschool is Key , May, 2010

(iii) Fox and Swatt, Northwestern University, December 2008; Policy Studies Associates, Inc, 2007; University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, June 2004

(iv) Brandeis University, Community, Families and Work program, 2004 and Catalyst & Brandies University, December 2006

(v) A Survey of Arkansas Voter Opinion, Opinion Research Associates, Inc., March 2010: Margin of error + 5.0 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.