21st Century Community Learning Centers Program

In an era when most parents work, many Americans want their children to have access to safe and supervised after-school activities that help develop academic, personal, and social skills. In 1994, Congress authorized the 21 st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) program to open up schools for broader use by their communities. In 1998, the program was refocused on supporting schools to provide school-based academic and recreational activities after school and during other times when schools were not in regular session. The 21 st CCLC program currently allows for partnerships between schools and community-based and faith-based organizations. As an after-school program, 21 st Century grew quickly from an appropriation of $40 million in fiscal year 1998 to $1 billion in fiscal year 2002. It now supports after-school programs in about 7,500 rural and inner-city public schools in more than 1,400 communities. Programs operate in community agency and public school buildings and offer academic, recreational, and cultural activities during after-school hours. A distinguishing characteristic of 21 st Century programs is the inclusion of academic activities. Grants made after April 1998 included a requirement that programs include academic activities.

Guilford County Schools was awarded a four-year 21 st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grant in October 2002. Guilford County Schools' 21 st CCLCs are quality after school programs that assist students in meeting state and local academic achievement standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and mathematics, by providing the students a broad array of other activities such as character education programs, art, recreation, technology, dance, etc. Guilford County Schools, in partnership with the YWCA of Greensboro, the United Ways of Greensboro and High Point, the Family Life Council of Greensboro and United Child Development Services of Greensboro provides after school services to eight Title I Guilford County Schools; Bessemer, Fairview, Foust and Kirkman Park Elementary Schools and Ferndale, Hairston, Jackson and Penn-Griffin Middle Schools. Through this partnership, titled, Project Unity, a strong network of expanded learning opportunities has been established. Project Unity is an expansion of existing programs in Guilford County : Bridges to Success (BTS) under the direction of the United Way of Greater High Point; Success at Schools (S@S) under the direction of the United Way of Greater Greensboro and Support Our Students (SOS) under the direction of the YWCA of Greensboro. The learning opportunities address student achievement by providing a variety of services and activities for at-risk students and their parents. Project Unity targets the needs of students who fail to meet state academic achievement standards (students scoring I or II on the End of Grade test) in reading and mathematics.

At each of the eight Project Unity schools, the students receive tutoring through the schools' Extended Learning programs. Extended Learning is offered to students in Title I schools who do not meet state academic achievement standards (End of Grade scores of I or II). The Bridges to Success and Success at Schools programs are offered in the elementary schools. The goal of the programs is to increase the educational success of students by better meeting their non-academic needs during non-school hours. The programs emphasize positive youth development opportunities and parental involvement which reinforce, support and enhance the academic success of the students.

The YWCA of Greensboro offers services to the middle schools through their "Support Our Students" (SOS) program. The specific goals of the SOS initiative are: to reduce the number of young people who are unsupervised after school; to improve the academic performance and the attitude and behavior of youth participants; to meet the physical, intellectual, emotional and social needs of the students and to involve community volunteers. Helping the SOS program reach its goals are United Child Development Services (UCDS) of Greensboro and the Family Life Council of Greensboro (FLC). UCDS offers a select group of middle school students the TAPS program (Teaching Adolescents Plans for Success). This program helps young African American males become better citizens and become accountable and responsible for their daily actions. FLC offers the middle school students "Assets for Success" and "Wise Guys". "Assets for Success" is an interactive small group instruction on the power of the 40 developmental assets that are the positive building blocks that young people need to grow up to be healthy, principled, and caring adults. "Wise Guys" is an interactive small group instruction for males that focus on building positive character development and reducing violent behavior through sessions that include self respect, goal-setting and anger management.

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