Boston After School & Beyond gives over $1 million to 67 after-school organizations
By Michael Coughlin Jr.
Boston After School & Beyond, a local organization that focuses on expanding access to after-school and summer programs in the city, recently provided grants to 67 after-school organizations in Boston totaling $1,105,500 through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) After-School and Out-Of-School Time subgrant (ASOST-S). A press release from Boston After School & Beyond announcing the grant awards said, “These grants will support program staffing, transportation, supplies and materials, meals for participants, mental health services, and professional development. Funding will enable organizations to offer interactive and personalized programming to stimulate learning and positive social and emotional outcomes.”
According to Chris Smith, Boston After School & Beyond’s Executive Director, ASOST-S is a line item funded through the state budget process. The total amount budgeted for this item statewide—in this year’s case, over $8.6 million—is split between six regional organizations, including Boston After School & Beyond. After the statewide total is split between the six organizations, each organization grants 94% of its cut to the after-school organizations in its region that applied for the funding.
Having the grants awarded regionally is similar to how funding was awarded as part of another program called ASOST-Rebound, or ASOST-R which focused on providing support for youth in the state that experienced setbacks from COVID. Specifically, Smith mentioned that the success of strategically and equitably awarding grants regionally through ASOST-R has led to the same distribution method for ASOST-S. “We were able to show that we could administer the funds strategically and equitably. Strategically, because we get all the programs, despite their differences, whether they’re arts or music or something in between, on the same measurement platform.
So, we can measure how many kids participate, over what duration, and even what skills they learn and some of the key attributes of the program. So, we get everyone playing to their strengths as part of a coordinated system when we administer the funds,” said Smith. “Equitably, because the funds went further. Rather than the state identifying programs in different locations, we were able to fund 67 programs in all corners of Boston, many of whom had never even heard of these funds previously. So, the money went further to programs that wouldn’t have otherwise received them.”
Smith indicated several reasons why these 67 programs in the city were chosen. First, it should be noted that to be eligible for the grant, organizations must serve the same cohort of kids three days a week. As for what Boston After School & Beyond looks at, they analyze how many kids an organization serves and over what amount of weeks. Then, Boston After School & Beyond multiplies those figures and divides them into the requested amount of funding from an organization to get an idea of how much they are looking for per student. Other factors include attendance, program quality, geography, and whether an organization would be able to run its program without the funding.
“All of these are worthy programs, but given the scarcity of funds and the demand among programs, we have to incorporate this information into making the grants,” said Smith, who emphasized that Boston After School & Beyond has a network of more than 230 after-school programs they work with. In reading testimonials about how this funding is helping organizations around the city, it is hard to overstate its impact. “Funds awarded to Community Boat Building will allow us to provide students of limited means in Boston an extraordinary hands-on learning experience. The funding will offset our Boat Building Teacher salary, which allows us to hire and retain incredibly talented people to lead our boat building programs,” said Stockton Reece, Executive Director of Community Boat Building.
“Sociedad Latina appreciates the generous support of the ASOST grant funding from Boston After School & Beyond for the opportunity to support our Pathways to Success positive creative youth development programming, specifically with providing more Latine, immigrant, and multilingual learner youth with programming that supports high school graduation, on-time grade promotion, cultural identity skill building, and postsecondary success in desired future academic and professional pathways,” said Alex Oliver-Davila Executive Director of Sociedad Latina. While funding clearly makes a big difference for these organizations, Boston After School & Beyond’s support goes beyond money.
Notably, whether or not a specific organization receives funding, it becomes part of Boston After School & Beyond’s measurement and improvement network, where it can see how it compares to other organizations. Moreover, Smith indicated that they get these organizations together every Thursday over Zoom to share ideas and best practices and problem-solve with each other.
“By coming together, we can accomplish more because we can learn from one another, measure together, and collectively advocate for more public funding for after-school and summer programs,” said Smith. Although Smith talked about how gratifying it is to support these local organizations, as mentioned above, he emphasized the importance of advocacy.
The previous fiscal year, the amount of money budgeted for these grants was $10.9 million statewide, but this year, it dropped to around $8.6 million. Further, Smith noted that Boston After School & Beyond had more applications and requests for funds than it could support. “We have the means for doing this, and we have the means for implementing a much higher amount of funding in the community and demonstrating the results it gets through our measurement system,” said Smith, who indicated that research shows kids participating in these types of programs have better outcomes when it comes to schooling, skill development, and safety. Moreover, Smith talked about how the work they do in Boston is being replicated around the state and even in other areas of the United States, like Philadelphia.
“This idea that cities should capture support and capture the value of learning beyond school is really taking off, so we have room to grow in that area,” said Smith. To view Boston After School & Beyond’s program locator and learn more about the organizations in its network, visit https://bostonbeyond.org/after-school-programs/#top. For a list of the programs that were awarded grants, visit https://bostonbeyond.org/resource/boston-after-school-beyond-awards-more-than-1-million-in-dese-funds-to-67-boston-organizations/.