out-of-school time

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Following are more detailed descriptions of the programs highlighted in sidebars in this report.
United Way for Greater Austin (Texas)
Goal: To actively engage volunteers, a cross-departmental team of staff, and a broad array of external
community stakeholders, including youth, leading to a formal action agenda for out-of-school time
activities and programs
In Texas, the United Way for Greater Austin (UWGA) was able to capitalize on existing in-depth academic
achievement work focused on three high-needs community middle schools. In doing this, UWGA faced a
number of significant challenges. During the last decade, Austin’s demographic makeup has undergone
a major shift. While Texas has the fastest-growing child population in the nation, in Central Texas the
child population is growing at twice the Texas rate. The low-income child population has grown three
times faster than the general population. In Austin, nearly a third of students do not graduate from high
school. Some neighborhoods have dropout rates that exceed 60 percent.
Against this backdrop, UWGA used the Community Pilot Initiative grant to strengthen the out-of-school
time elements of its “Middle School Matters” initiative. By building on this existing concentration,
UWGA was able to dive deeply into its planning as well as leverage the Community Pilot Initiative to
better engage its community.
“This provided us an opportunity to broaden what we are doing, to engage our partners in a different
way,” says Laura LaFuente, Director, Target Graduation at UWGA. “We engaged the community in
conversations about what does quality look like” UWGA began with professionally convened youth
focus groups to learn more about their aspirations and concerns, and brought this data into a community
conversation. UWGA followed these steps:
• Conducted focus groups with middle school students and parents, using outside
researchers at focus group facilities
• Hosted a planning meeting with key out-of-school time stakeholders to plan the larger
out-of-school time community
• Hosted an all-day out-of-school time stakeholder meeting to develop an out-of-school
time system and action agenda
• Formed a steering committee to create the Out-of-School Time for Middle School Youth
Action Agenda
United Way for Greater Austin made it a point to work with key partners, one of which is the Central
Texas Afterschool Network. UWGA helped facilitate the development and launch of a survey to support
the mapping study. The findings from this study will be incorporated into the out-of-school time action
agenda.
UWGA is moving methodically as it develops its action agenda. “Previously, we had the opportunity to
take advantage of technical assistance, and we moved right to implementation,” says LaFuente. “Here
we are trying to develop a plan, so it has a greater likelihood of actually being implemented.”
Accomplishments show that the approach has been successful. UWGA became a visible leader in the
out-of-school time area, which led to being selected as the Central Texas Afterschool Network’s partner
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