Groups Team with Clear Channel Outdoor in National Billboard Campaign Marking the 20th Anniversary of Lights On Afterschool
WASHINGTON, Oct. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Afterschool Alliance, the National League of Cities and the National Summer Learning Association, a coalition of afterschool supporters, joined with Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO) this week to launch a campaign across more than 1,000 digital billboards nationwide encouraging city leaders and other stakeholders to turn the Lights On Afterschool.
In its 20th year, Lights On Afterschool is the only national rally for afterschool programs. Throughout October, and leading up to Oct. 24, the official anniversary of Lights On Afterschool, the coalition expects to involve more than one million people at more than 8,000 events across the country and at U.S. military bases worldwide. The groups are sending the message on this anniversary that demand for afterschool programs remains high and millions of students are without the programs they need.
In fact, the America After 3PM household survey of more than 30,000 families, commissioned by the Afterschool Alliance, found that participation in afterschool programs has increased to 10.2 million students nationwide – but the unmet demand is great. For every child in an afterschool program today, two more are waiting to get in. Unmet demand is especially high in rural communities and communities of concentrated poverty. One in five students in the United States is unsupervised after the school day ends.
The 20th anniversary of Lights On Afterschool serves as a reminder that a powerful body of evidence demonstrates improvements in attendance, behavior, academic achievement and more among children who participate in afterschool programs. Researchers have also found afterschool programs encourage increased parental involvement – an important building block for student success.