May 2005

In Detroit, Mayor’s Time is making big strides in increasing after-school programming for youth.  With the help of its partners, Mayor’s Time is close to its goal of having 50 percent of Detroit youth involved in after-school opportunities.

Ultimately, Mayor’s Time seeks to reduce youth violence, substance abuse and early sexuality via its after-school strategy.  While its policy and funding efforts help boost the quantity of programs, Mayor’s Time also works to maintain and improve the quality of after-school services.  “Obviously, just warehousing kids won’t get you the outcomes you’d like,” says Joan Abbey, project coordinator for ASK-ME (After-School Knowledge, Management, Education) at Eastern Michigan University. 

ASK-ME is a joint venture of Eastern Michigan University's School of Social Work and Mayor's Time, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Skillman Foundation. Operated by EMU’s School of Social Work, ASK-ME is a training and technical assistance program for after-school service providers to improve the quality and capacity of after-school programs in Detroit. 

Abbey explains that ASK-ME provides a wide variety of in-person and on-line training for after-school providers.  “We cover program design and evaluation, child day care licensing, school-age care accreditation, family and youth involvement, program and parent empowerment, and health and safety,” she says.  In addition to the training, ASK-ME also provides information such as funding opportunities and best-practice research through its website, www.emich.edu/ask-me. 

ASK-ME’s website is valuable for parents, particularly the site’s resource guide to help choose a quality after-school provider.  The guide includes a checklist parents can use to evaluate an after-school provider.  The checklist covers issues such as staff qualifications, safety issues and staff-to-child ratios.

ASK-ME is part of the local infrastructure that facilitates the dramatic expansion of after-school programming in Detroit.  Mayor’s Time realizes that increasing funding is not enough; a growing after-school system needs effective technical assistance, data gathering and other services in order to thrive.  Over the last few years Mayor’s Time and its partners have been steadily building this infrastructure.  Other components of it include:

• After-School Management Organizations.  Certain large after-school providers and leaders have been asked to serve in the role of After School Management Organizations. They provide the needed infrastructure to receive public funding, use data more effectively to promote continuous improvement and to demonstrate positive outcomes.
• Data:  Mayor’s Time is improving the State’s The After-School Information System (TASIS) to improve, track and report after-school participation.  Scores of after school providers in Detroit participate in the system because of Mayor’s Time efforts. 

As the most recent addition to this overall infrastructure, ASK-ME’s primary concern is the overall quality of after-school programming.  However, Abbey notes that a valuable side benefit of ASK-ME’s training is that it helps many after-school providers achieve licensing as childcare centers by the State of Michigan.  Attention to quality can improve the outlook for additional quantity.  “This licensing opens the door to state and federal funding that the provider would not otherwise be eligible to receive, thus increasing the flow of dollars into Detroit’s after-school system,” she says.