North Carolina – North Carolina was chosen as one of nine states to host a Statewide Mayoral Summit on Afterschool/Expanded Learning from the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute), with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, A.J. Fletcher Foundation, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, First in America Foundation, NC League of Municipalities and City of Charlotte.
On April 16-17 at the Charlotte Hilton University Place, the North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs (NC CAP) and Public School Forum of North Carolina will convene 50 state and local elected officials, alongside 500 educators, afterschool providers, and philanthropic leaders to discuss how communities can work together to build and sustain high quality, accessible afterschool and summer programs to address a broad range of community priorities, including academic success, economic development, workforce preparedness, public safety and children’s health.
“Local officials understand the benefits afterschool programming can bring to their communities and the important role city leaders play in ensuring children and youth have access to quality, accessible expanded learning opportunities,” said Clifford M. Johnson, executive director of NLC’s YEF Institute. “We are excited to work with statewide afterschool networks to share emerging research into what works so that city officials can play a pivotal leadership role in improving afterschool opportunities.”
NC CAP will present awards to five mayors at an April 17 breakfast featuring NC Speaker of the House Thom Tillis and Charlotte Councilman James E. Mitchell, Jr. “Champion of Afterschool” award recipients will include Mayor William Bell, City of Durham; Mayor Bill Saffo, City of Wilmington; Mayor Al King, City of Goldsboro; Mayor Terry Bellamy, City of Asheville; and Former Mayor Susan Kluttz, City of Salisbury. A video montage featuring the mayors will be released at the event. A preview is available at: http://vimeo.com/40012286
Keynote speakers will include The Honorable Thom Tillis, North Carolina Speaker of the House; Former Senator Howard Lee; Former Representative Gene Arnold; Immediate Past NLC President and Charlotte Councilman James E. Mitchell, Jr.; Charlotte Councilman Michael D. Barnes; County Commissioner Dr. James West, Wake County; Mayor William Bell, City of Durham; Mayor Pro Tem Susan Kluttz, City of Salisbury; Jamie Knowles-Griffiths, NC CAP Director, and Jo Ann Norris, Executive Director, Public School Forum of NC. Video remarks will be shown from Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx and US Senator Kay Hagan. National keynote speakers will include Afterschool Alliance Board Chair Terry Peterson; Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Audrey M. Hutchinson and Bela Shah Spooner with National League of Cities; Nancy M. Devine, The Wallace Foundation; and Shawn Stelow Griffin, The Finance Project.
A panel of private and public funders will share resources for how to build and sustain afterschool and summer programs. Panelists will include: Barry Ford, US Tennis Association; Keith Poston of Time Warner Cable – Connect A Million Minds; Carr Thompson, Burroughs Wellcome Fund; Brian Collier of Foundation for the Carolinas; Joni Davis, Vice President, Government & Community Relations, Duke Energy; Becky Scott, NC Department of Public Instruction; and Cynthia Ervin, NC Division of Public Health.
Felicia Arriaga, Duke University Student & Former Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year, will also share remarks regarding the youth perspective on how afterschool changes lives and mobilizes youth to reach their greatest potential.
The nine selected statewide afterschool networks are supported in part through grants from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. All state networks selected to participate in this initiative demonstrated an interest in working with municipal officials and state municipal leagues on enhancing afterschool and expanded learning opportunities. In order to be considered for the project, networks secured commitments from their governor’s offices and state legislative representatives, state education department officials and key mayors to participate in and help plan the summit.
“Coordinated approaches can help cities and states ensure that OST and afterschool programs are of high quality and are available where they are needed most,” said Lucas Held, The Wallace Foundation’s director of communications.
“This collaborative grant helps tie our statewide networks with the city-based activities that The Wallace Foundation supports – extending the range of promising practices to an ever-larger pool of policymakers concerned with making high-quality, afterschool opportunities available to more children and families,” said Gwynn Hughes, Program Officer at the C.S. Mott Foundation.
Event sponsors include the National League of Cities, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, A.J. Fletcher Foundation, NC Department of Public Instruction, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, First in America Foundation, Microsoft, Best Buy Foundation, and the City of Charlotte. Event planning partners include Boys & Girls Clubs, NC Department of Public Instruction, Communities in Schools of NC, Professional Educators of NC, NC Rural Economic Development Center, City of Charlotte, NC Department of Commerce, NC DHHS-Division of Child Development, NC DHHS- Division of Public Health, and POST.
For more information on afterschool, visit www.nccap.net, www.nlc.org/iyef, www.mott.org and www.wallacefoundation.org.
The National League of Cities is the nation’s oldest and largest organization devoted to strengthening and promoting cities as centers of opportunity, leadership and governance. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans.
The North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs (NC CAP) is a ten-year old statewide afterschool network serving more than 6,000 afterschool programs reaching 150,000 children and youth in our state every day. The network aims to increase access to high quality afterschool and summer programs.
NC CAP is housed in the Public School Forum of NC.
Press Release
(News from the National League of Cities)
4-11-12
