Program Resources

• Afterschool Alliance Navigate to the Start a Program page. This page provides resources to walk you through the basic steps of starting an afterschool program.
• Beyond the Bell Start-Up Guide This research-based resource guides you through the steps of starting a high-quality afterschool program and includes templates and tools to help you achieve your goal. You can find additional tools for purchase, including the recently released Fourth Edition of their guide, here.
• Expanding Minds and Opportunities This powerful collection of articles presents bold and persuasive evidence—as well as examples of effective practices, programs, and partnerships—that demonstrate how opportunities after school and during the summer are yielding positive outcomes for students, communities, and families.
• Extended Notes This resource will equip you with the latest resources and information to help you establish a program with rich, engaging activities.
• Kentucky School-Age Program Standards Serving as a baseline of quality, these standards are organized in seven components: 1) Environments; 2) Evaluation and Assessment; 3) Health, Safety, and Nutrition; 4) Professional Development; 5) Program Management; 6) Program Structure; and 7) Relationships. Each component begins with a guiding principle that defines the intent of the component followed by elements of quality. The elements are then supported by specific standards that are broad-based, allowing for encouraging and celebrating the uniqueness of each program.
• SEDL Start-up Guide This tool is full of resources for programming, planning, managing, and sustaining your afterschool program. Many of the resources will also apply to before-school and summer programs.

The activities and resources in the Summer Activity Guides are intentionally designed to support youth-serving summer programs in driving consistent engagement and providing ongoing opportunities for youth skill-building and emotional well-being. In addition to the activities for youth, supplemental materials will be available to support professional development and enhance family engagement.

The Guides include 150 original activities and challenges organized by four different age groups (5-9) (10-12) (13-15) (16-18). The activities are adaptable for in-person and virtual instruction, or a hybrid of both, as well as sent as take-home packets

Click here to download all five units!

Afterschool Funding At A Glance – there are potential sources to tap at the federal, state and local levels, as well as opportunities for private funding and in-kind contributions.

Afterschool Alliance Funding Database – search for a variety of funding sources for your program.

Expert Advice – Why reinvent the wheel when you can learn from those who have already gone through it?