Funding and Sustaining Out-of-School Time Initiatives
Federal, state, and local policy makers always have to make difficult choices regarding what to do with limited resources. This difficulty is even more prevalent in hard economic times. The outcomes from the funding decisions made by these key players will have lasting consequences for children, youth, and families. This means that United Ways, working in collaboration with OST partners, will always have to make the case for Out-of-School Time as a necessary component to support youth development and academic outcomes.
As experienced mobilizers of community resources, United Ways can add considerable expertise to an Out-of-School Time coalition's sustainability strategies and joint planning efforts. United Ways can also use their leverage as investors in OST programs to compel program practitioners to focus more attention on this issue and create a sustainable action plan. Your United Way can use this toolkit as a resource to spur new ways of locating funding sources so that you can provide quality opportunities for youth and families.
To explore funding in more depth, head to the Learning Modules. Or, since your United Way needs to stay up-to-date on the current OST landscape to most effectively campaign for funding, go to the Featured Topics page to explore current trends in the areas of STEAM, Literacy, Mentoring, Summer Learning, and more!