Thursday, October 12, 2006
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Promotes Community Partnerships to Support Students, Afterschool Programs
OSAGE BEACH–Gov. Matt Blunt today hosted an Afterschool Summit to encourage support for afterschool programs and to highlight opportunities that will benefit students, communities and businesses for years to come.
“Afterschool programs fill a need for our children, for our working families and for Missouri businesses and provide an excellent opportunity for collaboration among many partners,” Blunt said. “They open doors to challenge young minds, support working families and prepare our students to be tomorrow’s leaders.”
The governor’s afterschool summit focused on “Supporting Today’s Workforce; Building Tomorrow’s Leaders,” and was held in coordination with the national Lights On Afterschool campaign. It provided business and community leaders more information about afterschool programs and best practices to develop and support partnerships in their communities. The summit is part of the governor’s This is Your School initiative, which encourages communities to work together to take responsibility for the success of Missouri students.
In America today, one in four youth -- 14 million children -- are alone and unsupervised after school. Afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and inspire learning. They offer high-quality, extra learning opportunities that can help students improve academically, socially, physically and emotionally.
Education is Blunt’s first priority. He worked with the General Assembly to secure nearly a third of a billion dollars in increased funding for elementary and secondary education and passed a new formula that focuses on the needs of Missouri school children.
Lights On Afterschool is a nationwide event to recognize the critical importance of quality afterschool programs in the lives of children, their families and communities. More information about the program is available at www.afterschoolalliance.org.
###