- 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?
Current Grant Opportunities
- 2023 Good Works Program Grant provides over $2 million in grants to Kentucky nonprofits that together help over 3.9 million individuals. Since 1951, the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels has granted $60 million to more than 1,700 nonprofits.
- DUE DATES: Large Grants – January 13, 2023; Medium Grants – January 27, 2023 and Small Grants – February 10, 2023
- New York Life Foundation Aim High Grants invites out-of-school time programs to apply for a competitive grant opportunity to support and bolster the ability of afterschool and summer learning programs to help prepare middle school students for success in high school, college, and life.
- DUE DATE: February 1, 2023
- Greater Cincinnati Foundation Educational Success grants support in and/or out of school educational efforts that address disparities in educational and career attainment for students of color and/or those of low socioeconomic status; or that increase social-emotional learning and health for those students.
- DUE DATE: February 3, 2023
- Metro United Way Youth Success RFP is aligned to their educational success work and open to all youth-serving nonprofit organizations in Jefferson, Bullitt, Oldham, and Shelby counties in Kentucky and Clark, Floyd, and Harrison counties in Indiana, serving individuals ages 6 – 24 and in priority zip codes.
- DUE DATE: February 10, 2023
- Dollar General Family Literacy grants are for nonprofit organizations who support the whole family in literacy and are seeking funding are encouraged to apply if they provide the following: Adult Education Instruction, Children’s Education & Parent and Child Together Time (PACT)
- DUE DATE: February 16, 2023
- Dollar General Summer Reading grants support the creation or expansion of summer reading programs.
- DUE DATE: February 16, 2023
- Greater Cincinnati Foundation Summertime Kids grants support supervised activities and programs that are enriching and fun for youth and promote learning during the summer months.
- DUE DATE: March 6, 2023