3/7/05 –The Georgia Afterschool Investment Council(GAIC), a partnership comprised of the Georgia Department of Education, other state agencies, and public and private organizations, is pleased to announce that Georgia is one of nine states to receive grants from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan.  The grants are for the launch of statewide afterschool networks that promote sustainable and effective afterschool programming.  The $225,000, three-year-grant – made to the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta – will fund the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council, a formal statewide collaboration designed to improve the quantity and quality of afterschool programs in Georgia.  Network participants will include policy makers, educators, childcare providers, youth development workers, program developers, advocates, parents and others.  

“The Mott Foundation’s support will jump-start, bring to scale and sustain successful afterschool programs in Georgia,” said Jill Riemer, Executive Director of the GAIC.  “It is going to provide the resources we need to bring together key decision makers on afterschool programming and will build robust support for afterschool among parents, the business community, lawmakers, and afterschool program providers in our communities. This support will also give us a nice start toward implementation of a vibrant strategic plan put forward by the 34 members who came together and formed this network.”

With the grant, Georgia joins other statewide afterschool networks that received Mott funding in 2002 and 2003, including Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, South Carolina, North Carolina, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, California, Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Washington, as well as the other new grantees in Colorado, Michigan, Montana, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania.

“Our hope is that funding for the networks will encourage local and state policymakers to invest additional resources into expanding quality afterschool opportunities and improving their sustainability,” said Mott Foundation Program Officer An-Me Chung.  “The Network will also provide a means for joint planning, sharing of resources and best practices, building bridges to and between federal, state, and local afterschool initiatives, and forging partnerships necessary for comprehensive statewide afterschool policies.”

“GAIC will strive to position the issues that impact youth better so that this network might play a substantial role in shaping an even brighter future for Georgia’s kids,” says Riemer.  Toward this end, the Georgia network will focus its collaboration on three related goals:

• Create a sustainable structure of statewide, regional, and local partnership, particularly school-community partnerships, focused on supporting statewide policy development;
• Support the development and growth of statewide policies that will secure the resources that are needed to sustain new and existing afterschool program; and
• Support statewide systems to ensure that programs are of high quality.

For more information about the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council, contact Jill Riemer at GPYI@unitedwayatlanta.org.  

For more information about the department’s Title IV, Part B 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, contact Julie Flores Demers at jdemers@doe.k12.ga.us.

National organizations providing technical support with Mott funding to the existing and emerging statewide networks include:  the Afterschool Alliance, Council of Chief State School Officers, National League of Cities, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, The Finance Project, and the  University of South Carolina Education Foundation with assistance from Learning Points Associates and Collaborative Communications Group.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, established in 1926 in Flint, Michigan by an automotive pioneer, is a private philanthropy committed to supporting projects that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society.  It supports nonprofit programs throughout the United States and, on a limited geographic basis, internationally.  Grantmaking is focused in four programs:  Civil Society, Environment, Flint Area and Pathways Out of Poverty.  The Foundation, with year-end total assets of $2.37 billion, made 501 grants totaling $100 million in 2003.  For more information about the Foundation, visit www.mott.org

Peggy Guice
Office of Policy and External Affairs
Georgia Department of Education
205 Jesse Hill Jr. Dr., Suite 2062
Atlanta, GA  30334
404-463-1543