More Than One Million People Will Rally This Week for "Lights On Afterschool"

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hundreds of New York City-area students and families will climb 68 stories – 1,632 steps – to the top of Four World Trade Center. Students from 4-H Afterschool in Newark, Del. will show off their science skills by making slime and volcanic explosions. The North Platte Public Schools Kids Klub in Neb. will hold the city's largest indoor snowball fight with Mayor Dwight Livingston. The Calhoun, Miss. High School 21st Century Community Learning Center Program will host a bonfire, petting zoo and carnival games. And in Montebello, Calif., After-School All-Stars and the Mazda Foundation will bring Mazda Motorsports race-car drivers Neil Alberico and Dani Ferrarato to La Merced Intermediate School for a carnival and distracted driving obstacle course that allows students to experience how distractions impair drivers.

These are just a few examples of the more than 8,000  Lights On Afterschool events that will take place this week in nearly every community in the United States, and at U.S. military bases worldwide. The events, which include open houses and carnivals, fun runs and dance showcases, science experiments and computer animation demonstrations, sports contests and art shows, are part of the only nationwide rally for afterschool programs. Organized by the Afterschool Alliance, Lights On Afterschool is in its 16th year. More than a million people are expected to participate this week to urge greater investment in quality afterschool programs, which keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families.

The Empire State Building will be lit up in yellow again this year, on October 22nd, in honor of afterschool programs.

Several hundred event descriptions are here: http://afterschoolalliance.org/loaEvents2015.pdf.

To find a Lights On Afterschool event in your community, visit http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/loaFindEvent.cfm.

The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality afterschool programs. More information is available at www.afterschoolalliance.org.

SOURCE Afterschool Alliance

Related Links

http://www.afterschoolalliance.org