Afterschool Programs Fact Sheet

THE NEED:
Families worry about kids being unsafe and having too much idle, unsupervised time.

1. The parents of more than 28 million school-age children work outside the home. (U.S. Department of Labor)
2. At least 7 million and as many as 15 million "latchkey children" return to an empty house on any given afternoon. (U.S. Census Bureau, Urban Institute estimates, 2000)
3. Children are at greater risk of being involved in crime, substance abuse, and teenage pregnancy in the hours afterschool, particularly between the hours of 3 - 4 p.m. (National Center for Juvenile Justice, 1999)
4. The most common activity for children after school is watching television - on average, 23 hours a week. (A.C. Nielsen and Company, 1992)

THE BENEFITS:
Afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and improve students' academic achievement by providing critical opportunities for youth to learn and grow.

1. Students in quality afterschool programs have better academic performance, behavior and school attendance and greater expectations for the future. (U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, 2000)
2. Students who spend 1 - 4 hours per week in extracurricular activities are 51 percent less likely to have used drugs and 63 percent less likely to become teen parents than those who do not. (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Adolescent Time Use, Risky Behavior and Outcomes: An Analysis of National Data. Washington D.C., 1995)

SUPPLY & DEMAND:
Afterschool programs are in short supply.

1. Nearly two-thirds of voters report difficulty in finding quality, affordable programs. (Mott/JCPenney poll, 2000)
2. Twice as many elementary and middle school parents want afterschool programs as are currently available. (National Opinion Research Center, August 1998)

PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR AFTERSCHOOL:
The public strongly supports afterschool programs because they provide a safe place, a supervised learning environment, and provide peace of mind to working families who can't be home in the afterschool hours.

1. The public wants afterschool programs provided at public schools. (Mott/JCPenney poll, June 2000)
2. The public believes that all levels of government must provide afterschool resources. (Mott/JCPenney poll, June 2000)

PUBLIC DESIRE TO FUND AFTERSCHOOL AND EDUCATION:
The public supports funding education measures over tax cuts and is in fact willing to increase taxes to support afterschool.

1. More than two-thirds of the public gives higher priority to providing access to afterschool programs than cutting taxes. (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2001)
2. The public is willing to tax itself to provide additional resources. (Mott/JCPenney poll, June 2000)
3. Three out of five voters are willing to increase their taxes to pay for afterschool programs. (Mott/JCPenney poll, June 2000)