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 Lights on Afterschool
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 October 20 was celebrated as Lights On Afterschool Day with 32 registered events across Nebraska and many more unofficial events. Governor Heineman joined in the festivities when he signed a Proclamation designating October 20 as Nebraska Lights On Afterschool Day. Following the signing, the Governor met with students from Crete, Lincoln and Omaha to discuss the importance of their afterschool programs. Earlier in the day, these same youth shared their afterschool experiences with Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy. In Omaha, Mayor Jim Suttle celebrated the day with youth from an afterschool program. For those who didn't hold an event this year, I hope these photos plant seeds for events that you could host in 2012. Visit our website to download a copy of the Governor's Proclamation and visit Nebraska Children and Families Foundation's Facebook page for more photos of Lights On Afterschool.
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| Networking Through Social Media |
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Speaking of Facebook, we have seen a proliferation of pages providing information about innovative out of school time programs. Here are a few of our favorites.
- Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, home of the Nebraska CLC Network, has recently launched a Facebook page to interact with other youth development stakeholders around the state, nation and world! In addition to our Lights On Afterschool photos, we recently uploaded a video of U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arnie Duncan discussing the importance of strong school-community partnerships for afterschool programs in supporting student success.
- Afterschool Alliance, the national organization that sponsors Lights On Afterschool focuses its page on connecting providers to resources and promoting dialogue about afterschool programs. On October 27, the Alliance uploaded a Harvard Family Research Project webinar on how to develop an afterschool program evaluation.
- Connect a Million Minds is Time Warner Cable's multi-year "community commitment to connect youth to ideas, people and opportunities that will inspire them to become the problem solvers of tomorrow." Their page contains a wealth of outside resources and the opportunity to engage in an open dialogue about Science Technology Engineering and Math activities, especially as they relate to out of school time programs.
- EduTopia, created by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, bills itself as providing "inspiration and information for what works in education." Their page creates opportunities to think about learning in new and exciting ways and to network with other professionals interested in breaking down the school walls and operating beyond the final bell.
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Training Opportunities for Afterschool Professionals
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There are two school-age training opportunities in the next few weeks:
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