DAVENPORT AFTERSCHOOL ADVOCATE DECLARES MEETINGS
WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ‘BIG SUCCESS’

‘Breakfast of Champions’ & Congressional Meetings
Send the Message: Afterschool Vital to Students and Families

Afterschool supporters from Davenport returned home today after a two-day visit to Washington, DC, where they met with Members of Congress including Senator Charles Grassley and Representative Bruce Braley to ask for increased funding for afterschool programs. The visit was part of the sixth annual “Afterschool for All Challenge”. John Border, Community Education Project Manager for Davenport Community Schools called the event “a great opportunity to meet with afterschool leaders from around the nation, and to remind our Members of Congress about the vital role afterschool plays in the lives of our children, our families, and our community.”

Border serves as an Afterschool Ambassador, appointed to the role by the Afterschool Alliance. As part of the “Afterschool for All Challenge”, the Afterschool Alliance sponsored a Breakfast of Champions at which advocates from across the country, including NFL star and afterschool champion Michael Vick, were honored for their support of afterschool. Participants then fanned out across Capitol Hill for more than 100 meetings with Members of Congress and their staff members. Border and his group met with Senator Grassley and Representative Braley, as well as staff representatives of Senator Tom Harkin and Representative David Loebsack.

The goal of the visit was to increase federal funding for afterschool programs and educate lawmakers about the important work being done in afterschool programs. The President’s proposed Fiscal Year 2008 budget freezes funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative – the chief federal funding stream for afterschool programs – at less than $1 billion. That is far short of the $2.5 billion Congress and the President authorized in the landmark No Child Left Behind Act for the current fiscal year and more than $20 million in real cuts to the funding provided in 2002.

“It was inspiring to be with hundreds of educators, parents and students from around the country who all came to Washington to ask for more afterschool opportunities for our youth,” said Border. “I know the commitment and enthusiasm made an impression on Members of Congress and their aides. Without adequate funding, afterschool programs and the children and families they serve here in Davenport and across the nation will suffer.”

The “Afterschool for All Challenge” was sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance.

The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality afterschool programs by 2010. More information is available at www.afterschoolalliance.org.

NOTE: For more information about afterschool, including research data and more, visit www.afterschoolalliance.org or call Gretchen Wright or Johanna Diaz at 202/371-1999.