Lights across the state went on in support of afterschool on October 18th, National Lights On Afterschool Day. Georgia ranked in the top 10 for number of events to rally support for afterschool for all, totaling 129 spread out across the state. These exciting events built on Governor Perdue's recent proclamation in support of afterschool for Georgia's youth.

The first citywide Atlanta Lights On Afterschool day was a tremendous success with more than 500 people participating. At 3pm on October 18th, the auditorium of Brown Middle School was filled to capacity with 500 middle school students, parents, providers, and honored guests including: Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin; Emmett Johnson, Vice-Chair of the Atlanta Board of Education; State Representative Robin Shipp, District 58; State Representative "Able" Mable Thomas, District 55; Milton J. Little, Jr., president, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta; and Dr. Susan Dyer from the Atlanta Public School system. Guests were entertained by lively student performances from each attending middle school including a jazz ensemble and African drum and dance. The show was emceed by Ann Cramer, director of IBM North America, and Jermaine Dupri, producer and rapper, closed the show with a special performance by R&B singer Johnta Austin.

The National Association of Counties Center for Sustainable Communities (NACo), the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) together with the City of Savannah and Chatham County held a community strategic planning session in late September to focus on the development of common approaches to improve the health of children and youth in their community.

The community meeting brought together county and city officials, school administrators, and other key local stakeholders to dialogue and strategize about rising rates of youth obesity and the associated critical health issues. The group produced a number of mutually agreeable steps that the city, county, school district, and other community leaders will take to create a healthier city and county.

GAIC is excited to distribute this recently released report, "Afterschool Programs as an Oasis of Hope for Black Parents in Four Cities." The report, funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and prepared by The Black Alliance for Educational Options, summarizes the findings of an independent study on the opinions of low-income and working class Black parents regarding afterschool programs.

The 407 Black mothers, fathers, grandparents and other caregivers participating in the 46 focus groups explained the importance of afterschool programs in their children's lives and articulated specific factors they use to evaluate programs. Investigators found a common theme among focus group participants: parents hope that afterschool programs will improve their children's life chances and help lift them out of poverty. Focus group participants also stressed their desire for afterschool programs to improve their children's academic motivation, achievement, school engagement, bonding and social skills.

Recognizing the increasing role that afterschool and summer learning programs play in raising student achievement, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has created a graduate-level certificate in "out-of- school-time learning." The university's Center for Summer Learning, part of the school of education, will administer the 15-credit program, which is intended to help fill the need for highly skilled providers of afterschool and summer programs.

"With the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act and the passage of America COMPETES - the first federal legislation to focus exclusively on the summer months as a strategy in closing the achievement gap - there is a new emphasis on out-of-school-time learning and global competitiveness," states Jennifer Brady, Director of Professional Development at the Center for Summer Learning, "We are on the front end of a trend where we expect increased demand for professionals to manage out- of-school time programs." The new certificate is a collaborative effort involving the Center for Summer Learning and the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at the School of Education. Focusing on program management, the certificate targets the skills program directors and managers need to effectively run high-quality out-of-school time programs in both formal and informal settings.

We hope you can join us one last time before the new year to network, update you on GAIC's work, and discuss the new children's advocacy coalition, JUSTGeorgia. Our meeting will feature special guest Mindy Binderman of Voices for Georgia's Children and JUSTGeorgia. Ms. Binderman has agreed to share information on JUSTGeorgia's mission and current work with prominent attorneys throughout the state of Georgia to revise the Juvenile Justice code of our state. Their important work directly impacts children advocacy in our state and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on how it could impact afterschool and summer learning opportunities.

• When: Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 from 11am - 1:30pm
• Where: United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Guy Millner Conference Room (2nd floor), 100 Edgewood Ave. NE, ATL, GA 30303

The Georgia Afterschool Investment Council, Family Connection Partnership, and the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta hosted the third regional forum on afterschool in Georgia in Marietta on November 7, 2007. Twice the size of previous forums, the Metro Atlanta regional forum was the largest thus far with 95 afterschool supporters attending, including 12 engaging youth participating in Communities in Schools programs. Youth being a part of this forum was extremely beneficial as they offered their perspective and advice on improving afterschool programs and strengthening the out-of-school time field.

GAIC is making its way around Georgia engaging people and organizations in regional forums focused on afterschool. GAIC and FCP have conducted forums in Central Georgia, West Central Georgia, and Metro Atlanta and are heading to Southwest Georgia at the end of November for a forum in Albany, GA. It is exciting to see and hear about what regions are doing around afterschool and summer learning and the excitement in these forums in contagious!

Since meeting with West Central Georgia in late August, GAIC heard from Spalding County that they have established a youth development committee which allows youth to be engaged in back-to-school initiatives. Spaulding County is also working with community members and a local medical group to develop a public health initiative about youth obesity. They are designing this pilot program with the assistance of a local elementary school and the Boys and Girls Club. Way to go, Spaulding County!

Child Trends released two new briefs in its series on fostering the adoption of evidence-based practices in out-of-school time programs:

1. Implementing Evidence-Based Practices: Six "Drivers" of Success
2. Seven Activities for Enhancing the Replicability of Evidence-Based Practices

Child Trends also released two new briefs in its series on practical evaluation methods for out-of- school time programs:

1. Why Conduct a Program Evaluation? Five Reasons Why Evaluation Can Help an Out-of-School Time Program
2. Five Steps for Selecting an Evaluator: A Guide for Out-of-School Time Practitioners

To help build support for afterschool with potential afterschool funders and local and state officials, Georgia Afterschool is searching for personal success stories about how an afterschool program has positively affected the life of a young person.