The Afterschool Investments project has developed profiles for each state to provide a snapshot of the "state of afterschool," as well as an opportunity to compare afterschool activities across the country. This profile provides key data and descriptions of the afterschool landscape, which includes a range of out-of-school time programming that can occur before and after school, on weekends, and during summer months. It is designed to serve as a resource for policymakers, administrators, and providers.

• Quick Facts
• Statewide Initiatives
• Notable Local Initiatives
• Statewide Organizations
• Additional Resources
• Notes and Sources

Quick Facts

Demographics

For more demographic information, visit http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/statedata/statepro/index.html

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)

• CCDF Administrative Overview

• Settings

Where CCDF-Subsidy school age-children are served:

• Uses of CCDF Targeted Funds and Quality Dollars for Afterschool

"Resource and referral and school-age" targeted funds:
A collaboration between the Department of Human Resources and the Department of Education may grant school-age targeted funds to local education agencies to provide a statewide program for school-age care in public schools.

Other quality activities:
Funds can be used to increase school-age activities at both before- and afterschool programs.

• Provider Reimbursement Rates

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Care

Program Licensing and Accreditation Policies

21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC)

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Statewide Initiatives

• Community Education Extended-Day Program. The primary purpose of this program is to open public school buildings for youth programming during extended hours and beyond the school year. Program goals vary among the 270 program sites, but include educational enrichment and services for working parents. Extended-Day also supports existing character enrichment programs such as Boy and Girl Scouts and 4-H. By using high school and college students as teacher aides, the program offers these older students training and career development opportunities. The program is administered by the Alabama Department of Education in partnership with local schools, parks and recreation offices, and the cooperative extension system. Extended Day’s total funding of over $5 million comes from federal, state, and local funding streams, as well as parent fees.

• After School Alabama. Housed at the Program for Rural Services and Research at the University of Alabama, After School Alabama (ASA) provides technical assistance to community groups and organizations that maintain or establish quality afterschool programs. With initial funding from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) in 2001, ASA’s first project was to research afterschool programs throughout the state. Its study found that demand for quality programs exceeds supply in Alabama, especially in rural areas. ASA received additional funding from ADECA in 2002 to design and implement model programs that will provide guidance for implementing and maintaining quality afterschool programs. The project hosts workshops and maintains a website to disseminate information to agencies, child advocacy groups, and policymakers. After School Alabama is currently partnering with the state Department of Education and the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service to develop a statewide afterschool network.
  
  For more information, see: http://www.prsr.ua.edu/afterschool/about.html
  
  

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Notable Local Initiatives

• Birmingham Community Education. Community Education has been an integral component of the City of Birmingham since the 1970s. Community Education has several related goals: to provide community residents with lifelong learning opportunities; to cooperate with other community agencies to provide health, education, cultural, and recreational opportunities at accessible central locations; and to involve the community in the education process. Cooperative arrangements with city agencies help each community education center provide an array of services on site during the afterschool hours and address issues such as illiteracy, unemployment, substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and homelessness. Advisory Councils at each of the city’s 18 sites feed into a citywide council that helps the school district set policy and direction for the initiative. The Birmingham Mayor and City Council provide two-thirds of the program cost through the city’s general fund budget. The Birmingham Board of Education provides one third.

• Mobile TEEN Center. In 1997, the Mobile, Alabama, Health Department was awarded a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy Start grant to open an adolescent resource center, the Mobile TEEN Center, with the goal of reducing violence, drug abuse, and other risky behaviors leading to infant mortality among babies born to teenagers. The TEEN Center is a multifaceted one-stop center offering services including case management, family support, home visitations, mentoring, academic enhancement, counseling, medical clinics, GED classes, and teen summits. The school system refers students to the TEEN Center on a regular basis to deal with risky behaviors. In 2000, the evaluator of the TEEN Center along with 12 other community members partnered with the school system to write a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant using needs assessment data about risky behaviors. This data continues to be used by the TEEN Center to help focus service delivery and to evaluate progress in risk reduction efforts.

   

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Statewide Organizations

National AfterSchool Association Affiliate:

Not Available

Statewide Child Care Resource & Referral Network:

Alabama Child Care Network
c/o Family Guidance Center
1230 Perry Hill Road
Montgomery, AL 36109
Phone: 334-270-4100 x 227
Fax: 334-270-4216

Other statewide organizations:

Alabama Community Education Association
Derrell Morrison, President
Birmingham City Schools
Phone: 205-231-5839
Email: comedeast@bham.rr.com

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Additional Resources

State Child Care Administrators:
http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/statedata/dirs/display.cfm?title=ccd

State TANF Contacts:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/tanf-dir.htm

21st Century Community Learning Centers Contacts:
http://www.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/contacts.html

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Notes and Sources

Demographics

Total population: Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States and States, and for Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006, U.S. Census Bureau.

Number of children ages 5-12: Estimates of the Resident Population by Single-Year of Age and Sex for the United States and States: July 1, 2006, U.S. Census Bureau.

Percent of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch rate: Numbers and Types of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2005-06. U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Percent of K-12 students in Title I "schoolwide" schools: Numbers and Types of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2005-06. U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. The federal Title I program provides funding to local school districts and schools with high percentages of poor children to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards. Schools enrolling at least 40 percent of students from poor families are eligible to use Title I funds for schoolwide programs that serve all children in the school.

Child Care and Development Fund

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the largest federal funding source for child care. States receive a funding allocation determined by formula and have broad flexibility to design programs that provide child care subsidies for low-income children under the age of 13 and to enhance the quality of child care for all children. Federal CCDF funding consists of mandatory, matching, and discretionary funds. Federal law requires that states spend at least 4 percent of their CCDF funds as well as additional targeted funds on activities to improve the quality and availability of child care. CCDF administrative data in this and the following sections is from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Child Care Bureau, as reported by States, unless otherwise noted.

FFY06 state MOE plus match: In order to receive Federal matching funds, a state must expend Maintenance of Effort funds. Note that this does not capture actual expenditures, only the minimum required to draw down all available federal funds.

FFY06 Tribal CCDF Allocation: Federal CCDF Funds are awarded directly to Federally-recognized Indian Tribes.

FFY05 total quality expenditures: This data includes FY05 and prior year funds expended for quality from each of the CCDF funding streams (mandatory, matching, and discretionary) and expenditures under targeted funds for infant and toddler, school-age care and resource and referral. This figure provides information obtained from state financial reports submitted for FY05.

Uses of CCDF Targeted Funds and Quality Dollars for Afterschool: Portions of CCDF discretionary funds are targeted specifically for resource and referral and school-age child care activities as well as for quality expansion. (These funds are in addition to the required 4 percent minimum quality expenditure.)

Maximum rate for school-age category: Rate listed applies to center-based care; where rates vary by region or county, the rate for the most populated urban area is given.

Standardized monthly school-age rate: Monthly rate for a child, age 8, in care after school during the school year at a center in the most costly district for four hours per day, 20 days per month. Calculated (in the lowest tier of a tiered system) using information from the FY2006-2007. State CCDF Plan, including rate structures, as submitted to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.

Separate subsidy rates for part-time vs. full time and Tiered Reimbursement Rate Systems: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Child Care Bureau. Report of State Plans FY2006-2007.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Care

In addition to spending TANF funds directly on child care, a state may transfer up to 30 percent of its TANF grant to CCDF. Expenditures represent TANF funds spent in FY05 that were awarded in FY05 and prior years. Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.

Program Licensing and Accreditation Policies

States with separate school-age licensing standards and states with specialized requirements for child care centers serving school-age children: National Association for Regulatory Administration, 2005 Child Care Licensing Study, available at http://www.nara.affiniscape.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=104.

Ratio of children to adults in school-age setting: Data from the National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC), available at: http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov.

Number of NAA-accredited programs: Data from the National AfterSchool Association, March 2007, available at: http://www.naaweb.org.

21st Century Community Learning Centers

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 converted the 21st Century Community Learning Centers’ authority to a state formula grant. In past years, the U.S. Department of Education made competitive awards directly to school districts. Under the reauthorized law, funds flow to states based on their share of Title I, Part A funds. States use their allocations to make competitive awards to eligible entities. Data from the U.S. Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers Office and the 21st CCLC Profile and Performance Information Collection System.

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The Child Care Bureau awarded a technical assistance contract to The Finance Project and their partner, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, for the Afterschool Investments project. The goals of the Afterschool Investments project include:

• Identifying ways that state and communities are using Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) subsidy and quality dollars to support out-of-school time programs, and sharing these practices and approaches with other states;
• Identifying administrative and implementation issues related to CCDF investments in out-of-school time programs, and providing information and context (about barriers, problems, opportunities) as well as practical tools that will help CCDF administrators make decisions; and
• Identifying other major programs and sectors that are potential partners for CCDF in supporting out-of-school time programs and providing models, strategies, and tools for coordination with other programs and sectors.

Contact Us:

Email:
afterschool@financeproject.org

Web:
http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/afterschool/

The Finance Project
1401 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-587-1000
Web: www.financeproject.org

National Governors Association
Center for Best Practices
444 North Capitol Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-624-5300
Web: www.nga.org

The Afterschool Investments project’s State Profiles are designed to provide a comprehensive overview of noteworthy State and local initiatives across the country. Inclusion of an initiative in the Profiles does not represent an endorsement of a particular policy or practice.