Overview | In Focus | Funding | Partners | Events | Results/Impacts | Resources | Contacts

Overview

Every day in America, 13 million preschool children are left in child care arrangements, 24 million school-age youth are in need of after-school programs, and an estimated 5 million youth are without any adult supervision during out-of-school time. Most of today's children and youth will spend more time in child care and after-school programs than in formal education. The need for quality programs has never been greater. Unfortunately, national studies show that many child care and after-school programs are poor to mediocre. CSREES provides resources and national leadership to the Land-Grant University System to conduct research, education, and extension programs that will increase the quantity and improve the quality of child care (early care and education), school-age care (after-school), and teen out-of-school programs. In addition, CSREES collaborates with other federal agencies and organizations working on these issues.

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In Focus

• The National Integrated Food Safety Initiative (NIFSI) supports food safety grants that include food safety in child care and after-school programs.
• CSREES funds individual university and multistate research projects relating to child care and after-school programs.
• Extension CARES...For America's Children and Youth is a National Initiative to create a safe, caring environment for ALL children when away from their parents.
• 4-H Afterschool increases the quality and quantity of after-school programs while building a brand image for CES' contributions to the after-school field.
• The National Network for Child Care is a Web-based collection of resources for professionals, providers, and parents.
• After-school programs for children and youth are a primary delivery system of the 4-H Youth Development Program of the Cooperative Extension System.


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Partnerships

• CSREES' partnership with Promising Practices in After-School (PPAS) is a national effort to collect, review, and disseminate practices in after-school programs
• The Afterschool.gov Web site design team collects after-school resources from the federal government; CSREES is the USDA representative.
• CSREES partners with USDA Rural Development to provide information on funding for facilities and small businesses in rural communities for youth programs.


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Events

• National Association of Extension 4-H Agents (NAE4-HA), Oklahoma City, OK, October 31-November 4, 2004.
• National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Annual Conference and Expo, Anaheim, CA, November 10-13, 2004.
• National Association of Extension Family and Consumer Sciences Agents (NAEFCS), Nashville, TN, October 3-6, 2004.

Selected Results and Impacts

• CSREES-related programs improve staff competencies, quality of programs, skills of families, and community resources and policies for early care and education.
• CSREES-related programs improve competencies of staff, quality of programs, skills of families, and community resources and policies for school-age care.
• The 2003 Annual Report of the USDA/Army Youth Development Project lists many accomplishments in after-school 4-H club programs.


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Resources

• National 4-H Headquarters, CSREES. Information on youth development strategies for after-school programs.
• National 4-H Council. Information on grants, programs and initatives, curriculum, and reference materials for 4-H youth development, and more.
• Harvard Family Research Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Research projects, publications, and evaluation exchanges about human development.


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Contacts

Nancy Valentine

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