New Afterschool Funding Available in your December VPOST News!

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Subject: New Afterschool Funding Available in your December VPOST News!

Governor Youngkin Announces New “Building Blocks for Virginia Families” Initiative

Governor Youngkin recently unveiled a new initiative focused on expanding access to childcare. The American Rescue Plan Act provided Virginia with $794 million to expand childcare and early education programs. However, with those funds expiring soon, 27,000 children stand at risk of losing access to quality care. Through Building Blocks for Virginia Families, eligible children will continue to qualify for childcare. We were pleased that afterschool programs were specifically named as a component of the plan. A detailed breakdown of the plan will not be available until the budget is officially released on December 20th. We will know more than whether the Governor’s budget includes increased investments in out-of-school time programs.

Building Blocks of Virginia Families include:

Maintains the eligibility of low-income working families already currently receiving public support to continue to have access to early childhood and afterschool programs with over $448 million annually in total investment
Creates a new digital childcare payment system
Invests $25 million in childcare deserts
Invests $1 million in a scholarship program to increase the skills of Virginia’s early education workforce and $10 million per year for direct-to-childcare educator incentives

VPOST will continue to advocate for childcare investments to include increasing funding to school-age OST programs.

VPOST Childcare Champions

VPOST is pleased to announce Dr. Phillip Norman, Child Care Aware of Virginia, has joined our Leadership Advisory Council (LAC). He will be serving on our Development & Sustainability Committee. As the Western Regional Manager, Phillip coordinates technical assistance and professional development opportunities for providers in his region, as well as parent and provider outreach to expand youth programming opportunities. Learn more about Phillip, here.

VPOST is also excited to announce our childcare consultant, Dr. Holly McCartney has been appointed to represent VPOST on the Virginia Department of Education's (VDOE) Early Childhood Advisory Committee (ECAC). This committee includes 22 representatives spanning the diversity of child care and early education programs, advocacy groups, and child development experts in the Commonwealth. Dr. McCartney has over 30 years of experience in teaching and teacher preparation. Learn more about Holly here.

Up to $100,00 in Afterschool Grant Funding!

The New York Life Foundation is seeking applications from afterschool, summer, or expanded learning programs serving underserved middle-school youth. In total, $1.8 million in grants will be awarded to programs all across the country.

Grant categories:

$100,000 Level
- Ten (10) grants of $50,000 per year over the span of two years (for a total award of $100,000) will go to OST programs with annual program budgets of $250,000 or more and annual organizational budgets of $500,000 or more.
$50,000 Level
- Ten (10) grants of $25,000 per year over the span of two years (for a total award of $50,000) will go to OST programs with annual organizational budgets of $250,000 or more.
$15,000 Level
- Twenty (20) awards of $15,000 over one year will go to OST programs with annual organizational budgets of $150,000 or more.
  - Ten (10) will focus on racial equity and social justice, and
  - Ten (10) will focus on youth entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial mindset.

Afterschool Alliance is hosting a webinar on January 11th at 2 p.m. ET to share more about this opportunity. Applications are due February 1, 2024 at 5 p.m. ET. Learn more about the grant application, view the RFP, and submit your application.

New Arts Funding- ArtsHERE

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in partnership with South Arts and in collaboration with the other five U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs), is launching the ArtsHERE pilot grant program.

ArtsHERE will invest in a range of projects from eligible organizations throughout arts and cultural ecosystems that have demonstrated a commitment to equity within their practices and programming>

FUNDED ORGANIZATIONS WILL RECEIVE:

95 nonprofit organizations with non-matching grants of $65,000 to $130,000. Grants are for specific projects that will strengthen each organization’s capacity to sustain meaningful community engagement and increase arts participation for underserved groups/communities.
Peer learning and technical assistance opportunities

Application due January 19, 2024. Full details are available here.

Increasing Opportunities for Alexandria Youth: A Community Report Just Released!

Act of Alexandria has just released Increasing Opportunities for Alexandria Youth: A Community Report.

The study documents and maps the current state of K-12 out-of-school time programming in the City of Alexandria and identifies the hopes, needs, and barriers experienced by youth, families, and providers related to OST activities. As a result of the study, recommendations have been produced that serve as a community-wide call to action about the value and importance of expanded learning programs in Alexandria.

VPOST applauds ACT for Alexandria and the Alexandria Youth Support Network, as well as their supporters and partners including the City of Alexandria and the Frank & Betty Wright Foundation and Weber Moore Partners, LLC.

Read the full report here.

Find Your All at NAA24 Convention from March 17-20, 2024 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas! Find your people in a place where being authentic, brave, and curious is encouraged and supported. Register and learn more here.

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Subject: New Afterschool Funding Available in your December VPOST News!

Find Your All at NAA24 Convention from March 17-20, 2024 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas! Find your people in a place where being authentic, brave, and curious is encouraged and supported. Register and learn more here.