America is Turning the Lights On for Afterschool Today!

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Oct 22, 2020, 13:37 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sorting donated food and disinfecting donated toys. Writing letters to isolated nursing home residents. Virtual STEM fairs and art contests. Bullying prevention activities. Exercises that demonstrate how ranked and winner-take-all voting work. A car caravan to a State Capitol. Those are among the many activities that students, parents, educators, lawmakers, business and faith leaders, community members and others are joining today for the 21^st annual Lights On Afterschool. U.S. Senators including Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Jon Tester (Mont.), as well as scores of lieutenant governors, mayors, legislators, and other leaders are joining events across the nation, many of them virtual.

The Afterschool Alliance organizes Lights On Afterschool to underscore the need to invest in afterschool programs.

Nickelodeon and the National Urban League have teamed up with the Afterschool Alliance for a national Lights On Afterschool Youth Town Hall this evening. National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial, U.S. Congressman David Cicilline (RI), and Nickelodeon's Darci Lynne, America's Got Talent winner, will be special guests. Tomorrow, the Million Girls Moonshot and NASA will provide afterschool youth with an out-of-this world Lights On experience when students speak live to astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli about her journey to becoming an astronaut and the Artemis mission to land on the moon.

"The strength and resilience afterschool programs are demonstrating this year is remarkable. Despite scarce resources, programs are finding ways to help students through what is, for many families, the hardest of times," said Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant. "So we are especially pleased that thousands of Lights On Afterschool events are taking place this week and thrilled that so many programs found ways to safely showcase the skills students hone and talents they develop at their afterschool programs. These programs help students succeed in school and life by keeping them safe, inspiring them to learn, and supporting working parents. But there aren't nearly enough afterschool programs to meet the need, especially now, with so many schools functioning virtually and school schedules changing without warning. We need to invest much more in afterschool and summer learning programs."

Read the full news release here.

SOURCE Afterschool Alliance