A New Year and New Challenges and Opportunities

Greetings Everyone!

Another year has yet arrived bringing new opportunities and challenges. We hope to once again use this blog as a vehicle to share relevant information that will help you sustain your quality 21st CCLC efforts. This blog will supplement information that you are already receiving from the Department of Education about upcoming trainings and grant opportunities.

In case you missed it, here is some other news of note:

1) The New England states that have 21st CCLC grant funds will be meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, Massachusetts March 25 and 26, 2008. Karyl Resnick, Cathy Del Vento and Debra McLaughlin will be presenting a hands-on workshop about what leaders need to do in order to sustain their 21st CCLC efforts. Stay tuned for more details.

2) The Special Commission on After School and Out of School Time issued their final report in November 2007. The report was released both in Springfield and Boston and capped an eight month process where 10 public hearings and three work groups helped identify the pressing issues and worked to make recommendations in five key areas. The Massachusetts Legislature is currently reviewing the report's recommendations. The Special Commission's website has the Full Report, an Executive Summary and Profiles of Legislative Districts available for review.

3) Governor Deval Patrick released his budget today. Additional information will be shared shortly about how the various afterschool line-items fared in his budget. It now goes to the Massachusetts Legislature for review. The House will be putting out their version of the budget later this spring followed by the Senate with the goal of producing a final budget for FY09 before June 30, 2008. Stay tuned for more details.