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Save Afterschool Programs in New Jersey: Keep Kids Safe & On-Track to Graduate!
SIGN THIS PETITION
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Signatures
3,161 out of 5,000Petitioning
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The Governor of NJ
(+ 2 others)
Petitioning
close- The Governor of NJ
- The NJ State Senate
- The NJ State House
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The Governor of NJ
(+ 2 others)
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Governor Christie line-item vetoed support for New Jersey After 3 in the 2011-2012 school year. This elimination of state funding to New Jersey After 3 delivers a devastating blow to 5,000 students and their families, who rely on these afterschool programs to keep kids safe, improve student achievement, and support working parents. We need your help to convince our legislators to fight for these programs!
New Jersey After 3 is a statewide, nonprofit organization that expands learning time in public schools each day through evidence-based afterschool programs. New Jersey After 3 is a proven strategy that improves student achievement and development. The first public/private partnership of its kind, New Jersey After 3 partners with community-based organizations (e.g., Boys & Girls Clubs, cultural centers) to serve thousands of children. Without intervention, the proposed elimination of these services will lead to serious immediate and long-term ramifications for communities across the state:
IMMEDIATE IMPACT: Without these programs, the safety and well-being of thousands of New Jersey students will be in serious jeopardy, and workforce productivity will be compromised.
-- More than 5,000 students in thirteen school districts across the State will be left unsupervised during the most dangerous time for kids, 3 pm to 6 pm, during which juvenile crime rates triple. The effects of putting more kids on the streets at a time when urban districts are increasingly forced to cut social services and lay off public safety officers, has explosive potential to detrimentally impact community well-being.
-- Furthermore, the workforce in these communities will be hit hard, during a period of high unemployment. More than 500 afterschool educators will lose their jobs, and thousands of working parents will no longer have affordable afterschool options for their children.
-- In a recent independent evaluation of New Jersey After 3’s services, 9 out of 10 parents reported that these programs helped them to keep their jobs, and the majority said it helped them to work more hours and miss less work.
LONG-TERM IMPACT: Today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce, with investment in their achievement as an investment in our State’s future success. By building upon school day learning, New Jersey After 3 provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to graduate high school, succeed in the workforce, and, eventually, transform their communities.
-- As early as 6th grade, student engagement and academic performance serve as powerful indicators of whether a student will graduate high school (Balfanz & Herzog, 2005). New Jersey After 3 expands learning time each school day for K-8 students in order to provide students with critical academic enrichment and hands-on activities that exercise creative skills, inject relevance into learning, and keep kids invested in school.
-- Independent evaluation has demonstrated New Jersey After 3’s positive impact on student achievement and behavior, including language arts skills, study skills, and enjoyment of school (Policy Studies Associates, 2009; 2011). With over 200 failing schools in New Jersey, New Jersey After 3 stands out as a cost-efficient and effective strategy for improving student outcomes and keeping kids engaged in school.
-- Not only do we need to get our kids to graduate – we need to ensure that they develop the complex 21st Century skills necessary for the modern workforce. Various studies show how afterschool programs help to train the future workforce and provide students with the opportunity to learn critical skills like teamwork, leadership, applied math and communication skills.
Last year, New Jersey After 3 was able to reinstate its State funding through a successful campaign, due in large part due to the voices of our parents, teachers, and thousands of New Jersey After 3 supporters. Your participation will make a difference!
Please take a minute to sign our electronic petition and appeal to the Governor and our elected legislative leaders to fully support New Jersey After 3 in next year’s budget, and sustain future investments in this vital asset.
Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures
Restore Funding to New Jersey After 3!
Dear Governor Christie and New Jersey State Legislators,
I write to you today to urge you to restore funding for New Jersey After 3 in the FY12 State Budget. Families throughout New Jersey rely on these programs to not only keep kids safe but to equip them with the knowledge and skills they need to graduate and succeed in the 21st Century workforce. Particularly in hard times, schools cannot do it alone. As an innovative, evidence-based model, New Jersey After 3 combines local resources with statewide accountability systems to expand learning time each day for thousands of students to accomplish the following:
1. Proven, Effective Program: New Jersey After 3 has independent evaluation results that verify its positive impact on student performance and behavior in school. A three-year evaluation of New Jersey After 3, published by Policy Study Associates (PSA) in 2009, documents statistically significant gains in the Language Arts skills of student participants, as well as benefits in classroom grades, math skills, study skills, homework completion, fitness levels, and overall enjoyment of school. In addition, a recent study revealed that not only did these programs improve student achievement but helped an overwhelming majority of parents to keep their jobs and work more hours (PSA, 2011). In this way, New Jersey After 3 serves as a critical support to both the current workforce and future workforce, ensuring that students develop the skills necessary to advance through school and graduate on-time.
2. Cost-Efficient Learning Time: New Jersey After 3 spends less than half of the average per-pupil, per-day cost of other high-quality programs in the nation while achieving one of the highest average daily attendance rates (80%) in the field. New Jersey After 3 expands learning time for students by more than 40% each day at just 6% of the cost of traditional school-day learning. Instead of proposed elimination, the State should be utilizing New Jersey After 3 as an exemplary model for public investment in educational supports.
3. Wise Investment: In 2010-2011, New Jersey After 3 leveraged its State appropriation of $3 million to secure an additional $4.5 million of outside support in afterschool programs, resulting in a 150% Return on Investment to the State and taxpayers. This represents a remarkable achievement given tough financial times. Meanwhile, national studies have shown that afterschool programs provide as much as $12 in social benefits for every dollar invested, due to reduced crime and welfare costs and improved future wages - suggesting that New Jersey After 3’s long-term Return on Investment is actually much greater. New Jersey After 3’s ability to provide such critical support, while leveraging such a significant return, makes it an asset to the State, and wise investment of taxpayer dollars.
I realize that the State is facing significant challenges given the current economy, but expanding New Jersey After 3’s critical support to our State’s youth, families and school communities is exactly the type of investment that our State should be making. In hard times, we should be eliminating what doesn’t work and investing in those programs that do – New Jersey After 3 is a model of effective public investment in cultivating our state’s next generation of workers, parents, and leaders.
It is critical that you immediately act to restore funding for New Jersey After 3, and continue the State’s investment in this innovative, public/private partnership!
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