Nashville Public Library + Nashville Public Library Foundation | 2015 Annual Report

BOOKS ARE ONLY HALF THE STORY
Nashville After Zone
Alliance (NAZA)
The hours between 3 and 6 p.m. can be dangerous for kids. That’s when some
children are out of school and unsupervised until their parents get home from work.
National studies show students are more likely to engage in crime, become victims of
crime or try risky behaviors during those hours.
In Nashville, middle school students were falling through the cracks after school. What’s
more, they were faltering at school – and, ultimately, dropping out before graduation.
In 2010, a citywide task force set out to deal with Nashville’s “three-to-six” crisis, which
was derailing so many at-risk middle school students on their path to high school
graduation. They created NAZA, the Nashville After Zone Alliance.
NAZA gives kids in grades 5-8 somewhere to go from 3 to 6 o’clock, including, at no
cost to families, free transportation to and from sites. At NAZA sites, kids do homework
and take classes – everything from bike repair and fashion design to art and robotics.
NAZA students demonstrate better school attendance. They earn better scores in math
and science, and they get into less trouble. And, since moving from the Mayor’s Office
to Nashville Public Library in 2014, NAZA has helped students boost their reading
scores, too.
Limitless Libraries, NPL’s program to get public library books to public school students,
delivers books, music and study resources to NAZA sites. Meanwhile, a NPL–NAZA
Literacy Coach develops literacy strategies for NAZA instructors. As part of a pilot
Reading Mentors program, NPL librarians visit NAZA sites, offering literacy activities.
“If we engage middle school kids in NAZA, they’ll be ready for high school,” said NAZA
Coordinator Candy Markman. “Then, we can get them into programs for teens – and
then, they’re engaged in the library for life.”
NAZA is supported by the Economic Club of Nashville (ECON) Charities, The Forum for Youth Investment,
James Stephen Turner Family Foundation, Metro Arts Commission and The Wallace Foundation.
22