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21st Century Community Learning Centers
Program Overview
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is a federally funded program designed to provide opportunities for academic enrichment, including providing tutorial services to help students, particularly students who attend low-performing schools, to meet State and local student academic achievement standards in core academic subjects.
21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) offer students a broad array of after-school services, programs, and activities, such as youth development activities, drug and violence prevention programs, counseling programs, art, music, and recreation programs, technology education programs, and character education programs, that are designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program of participating students. In addition, community learning centers offer opportunities for literacy and related educational development to families of participating students.
Why 21st Century Community Learning Centers Matter
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) places a high priority and commitment to providing quality after-school help particularly for underachieving students attending low-performing schools. Generally, these schools are located in communities characterized by a multitude of adverse systemic conditions such as, racial isolation, poverty, unemployment, crime, inadequate housing, and a lack of public services. These adverse conditions tend to expose students to safety risks that place them in jeopardy and increase the likelihood that they will engage in risk-taking behaviors. CPS believes that after-school activities have the potential to act as buffers against these negative outcomes and are able to counteract the effects of a range of negative factors that contribute to students’ lack of opportunities and underachievement. For children who face academic or behavior obstacles to success during the regular school day, the after-school hours can be a time to eliminate barriers and improve the education of the “whole child.”
Program Specifications
Each Chicago Public Schools 21st CCLC school site must:
- Partner with at least one non-profit organization (NPO)
- Minimum of three years experience implementing after school programs and/or demonstrated track record of providing successful educational and related activities that enhance academic performance and positive youth development of CPS students
- Establish an Advisory Group
- Includes teachers, parents, principal, community members, and NPO partner
- Primary responsibility for program guidance
- Hire a full time Site Coordinator
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Oversees overall program , maintains appropriate documents, coordinates with the NPO partner, and supervises student and/or community workers
- Provide a minimum of 12 hours of after school activities per week
Each site also: (1) identifies the specific 21st CCLC target population, (2) determines their unmet needs, (3) designs appropriate after-school activities, (4) develops appropriate recruitment and retention strategies, and (5) prepares and submits a detailed action/service and budget plan.
CPS Office of After School and Community School Programs
The Office of After School and Community School Programs was established in September 2001 and administers the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. The mission of the Office of After School and Community School Programs is to support students and families with engaging academic and creative after school programs that enrich, build and develop the whole child outside of the regular school day.
For more information, visit http://www.cpsafterschool.org/. For specific information about the CPS 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, contact Tawa M. Jogunosimi, Program Manager for the CPS Community Schools Initiative, at tjogunosimi@cps.k12.il.us or 773.553.3576.
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