The U.S. Department of Education and the Florida Department of Education together have conducted a free technical assistance workshop on the 21st Century Community Learning Centers for organizations that were interested in working with children in their community. This training was held on April 11, 2006

Below are links to the video of the workshop as well as the slide presentation. Please feel free to download these resources and share them with your stakeholders..

The purpose of the 21st Century Learning Centers Program:

Authorized under Title IV, Part B, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the law's specific purposes are to: (1) 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 performance standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and mathematics; (2) offer students a broad array of additional 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; and (3) offer families of students served by community learning centers opportunities for literacy and related educational development.

Description of a Community Learning Center:

A community learning center offers academic, artistic, and cultural enrichment opportunities to students and their families when school is not in session (before school and after school, or during holidays or summer recess). According to Section 4201(b)(1) of the program statute, a community learning center assists students in meeting State and local academic achievement standards in core academic subjects, such as reading and mathematics, by providing the students with opportunities for academic enrichment. Centers also provide students with a broad array of other activities - such as drug and violence prevention, counseling, art, music, recreation, technology, and character education programs - during periods when school is not in session. Community learning centers must also serve the families of participating students, e.g., through family literacy programs.

   The Leadership Team of Florida’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers would like to thank those who attended the 2006 Spring Conference. Through a variety of diverse seminars, workshops, and discussions, this unique conference was specifically designed to demonstrate the innumerable possibilities in building strong and successful after school programs throughout the United States. Included in this year’s conference were sessions on a variety of contemporary after school topics, advice and experience shared by recognized experts within the field, and grant writing tutorials for after school sustainability. The Florida Department of Education and the University of Florida 21st CCLC Leadership Team invite you to take this opportunity and review the many wonderful presentations and handouts provided by practitioners and/or experts in the field of after school enrichment. It is our sincere hope that you can utilize theses presentations and handouts to enhance or establish after school programs throughout the country.

Please CLICK HERE to access all of the great resources that were available at our 2006 Sping conference.

The U.S. Department of Education and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, in conjunction with the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning at SEDL, are pleased to announce that the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) 2007 Summer Institute will be held in Miami, Florida. This year's program is open to current State-funded 21st CCLC grantees, former grantees funded by the U.S. Department of Education that are still operating after-school programs, and other interested after-school providers, funders and policy-makers. For current grantees, we suggest that you have the project director and the site coordinators from your grant attend, though you have flexibility in deciding who should most appropriately attend the Summer Institute.

There is no registration fee for the 2007 Summer Institute.

For additional information, please go to http://www.synergyentinc.com/21stcentury/