View PDF - Heinz Endowments

More documents

Recommendations

Info

ExpcurIVE OvBnvIEw AND SurvrwrARy. conr. The findings of the survey led to the general conclusion that nonschool-hour services in Allegleny county represent a collage of programs largely operating independently of the public schools and lacking any systematic financiil stability or coordinated management across sites and that parents are forced into a catch-ascatch-can mode of meeting the nonschool-hour care needs of their children. Following are highlights of these findings that pertain ro programming and finances. Pnocnlu Issues ' Hours of operation. Nearly all programs (98vo) offer after-school care and most have summer services, but parents complained that services were difficult to obtain on school holidays, in-service days, school vacations, snow days, and at odd hours beyond the typical 7 am to 6 pm, Monday through Friday schedule. . Program activities. Focus groups involving 70 parents with children in center programs in different areas of the county indicated that parents want supervised care in a safe environment delivered by trained, competent, caring, and stable staff who provide a program of activities that represent an informal extension of school coupled with supervised recreational and social activities. . Quality. The quality of programs in Allegheny County is similar to the national average, but it is not clear that this level of quality represents the standard of practice that Allegheny County citizens and families desire. . Public schools. The public schools play almost no role in operating nonschool-hour programs, although some programs operated by independent organizations use school facilities. Frrl¡Ncral aND ADMrNrsrRATrvE Issurs . Agency funding. Sixty-one percent of the surveyed center-based programs charged parents fees, and an estimated 79Vo of parents pay full fees (approximately $2-$4/hour) as defined by programs. Regulated programs primarily use public subsidies, while other programs provide parents discounts, sliding-fee scales, multiplechild discounts, and scholarships, with contributions from private foundations and government programs covering the difference between parent fees and costs. But gaps remain, since one-third Nonscltool-ltour services ín Allegheny Cottrtty generally operate independently of the public scl¿ools and lackjinancial stabilíty and coordìnoted nønagement.
of the agencies surveyed said sufficient funding was difficult to obtain to provide the physical and material resources the.y felt were needed and to hire and maintain staff. Avariety of gõvêrnment and p.n]3te funding is available but not used to the fullest extent because agencies a.eïnaùare of its availability or.howto apply and because much funding is restricted to ceriain types of organizations (e.g., public schools), specific types of children, or pariicular purposes. ' I.ow-income families. Full fees a.t.r1Teg-u]a-ted center-based programs would cost approximately $2'0-00 per year for only the first child, which i! !o.o ]qge a propo-rtion of total inconió for an entíylevel wage earner. Even families fiom the GAPS initiative (an employment retention program foi Allegheny County welfare recipients) receiving subsidies paid an áveiage of $ I . I I pef hour or $1,110 per year for only one child (many have more than õne child). Further, low-income families face several special difficulties affording nonschool-hour services. For instance, the working poor are provided government subsidies only afler families below lBSVo of poverty are served and thus have no stable source ofsubsidized support. Also, future plans are to only recommend license.d and regulated services to parents eligible for iùbsidies, which represent only a small percenlage of the available options. In addition, etlliUitity for subsidies for individual families can change if employment status changes, meaning that sõme lów-income families are on-off-and-onagain in eligibility for subsidies, which representsã problem for both parent and agency. Clearly, nonschool-hour câre is too much for low-income families to pay and not enough tõ adiquately óu.t agency costs without public and private subsidies. RpcounlBNDATIoNs Based on the above findings and conclusions from this study, the Community Advisory Committee to this study listed in Appendix I of this report makes the following recommendations: A top-level After-School Commis.sion composed of respected and influential leaders representing governmext, the professions, and business should be créated to advance a public policy'agenda ai local and State levels an_d create a plan for a comprehensive and coordinated' ryrt". that'eniures 5- 12- year-old children, including those with disabilities, have access to nonschool-hour services as needed. The agenda for such a commission should include the foilowing issues: 9apaei-ty {uilding. The Commission should develop a plan to increase the capacity of nonschoolhour care in terms of space, staff, and funding and integrate such services intô a côordinated system. Progr-am Quality. The Commission should create guidelines for recommended practices for nonschool-hour programming. Tfaining and Technical Assistance. The Commission should consider the need for training, technical assistance, and information that will support agencies, staff, and parents in creating sr¡õii a system of nonschool-hour services. Financial Supp-ort. The Commission should create a coordinated, centralized, and sustainable system ofcore funding for the general operation ofsuch services.
Page 1 and 2: ExPAt{Drf{c THE PnoMrsE: An AcENDA
Page 3 and 4: Tnnrp or CoNTENTs Ol't,;Rl,ni\\',\N
Page 5 and 6: committee and rhe Forbes Fund that
Page 7: Low-income narents and children. Th
Page 11 and 12: _:.;;É:,: ;... .l;;..t.. t-1. ii.r
Page 13 and 14: Low-income children are no longer_s
Page 15 and 16: - Enrichment activities, including
Page 17 and 18: 1991, programs in Allegheny County
Page 19 and 20: likely to occur when nonschool-hour
Page 21 and 22: ' The agenda should emphasize creat
Page 23 and 24: I Nonschool-Hour Programs Community
Page 25 and 26: MAP 1: Loc¿,uon or Nonscuool-Houn
Page 27 and 28: MAP 3: Nuwan or Scuool Acn Csu.nnBn
Page 29 and 30: Goffin, S.G. & Lombardi, J. (1988).
Page 31: U.S. Departments of Education and J

View PDF - Heinz Endowments

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?