We are California families asking you to invest federal funds directly in community-based nonprofit organizations providing after school learning and summer enrichment opportunities to support students’ mental health, social-emotional well-being, and accelerate learning outside of schools. We are facing an enormous challenge and we know that schools can’t do it alone. This requires all hands on deck. We request substantial funding for educational interventions and programs led by community-based nonprofit organizations. Specifically we are asking the state to do the following for the 2021-22 budget: 1. Ensure at least $1.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan is made directly available for nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) providing after school learning opportunities. We recommend funding is directed through county offices of education who will then make grants directly available to nonprofit organizations that provide after school learning and summer enrichment opportunities. 2. Provide a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC). These COLAs would bring funding rates to $10.75 per student per day. We ask that this COLA increase be funded through Proposition 98 funding, rather than through the $1.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan funds that we hope will be made directly available to nonprofit CBOs. 3. Ensure that all after school recovery funds are directed to the most underserved students and that the process for selecting organizations to receive funding is transparent and engages parents and families. 4. Pass AB 1112 which will stabilize after school and summer programs by creating a stakeholder-driven funding formula for these programs. 5.Approve Senator Cortese’s budget request regarding youth mental health by investing $25 million in one-time funding to the Mental Health Student Services Act Grant Program This will incentivize counties to use their local funds and allocate the Governor’s proposed $25 million of ongoing Proposition 98 dollars to the established Mental Health Student Services Act Grant Program (rather than establishing a new program). This once-in-a-generation crisis has affected each of our families in consequential ways. We call on the legislature and the Governor to invest in resources that will allow all our communities to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and emerge stronger together.

We are California families asking you to invest federal funds directly in community-based nonprofit organizations providing after school learning and enrichment opportunities to support students’ mental health, social-emotional well-being, and accelerate learning outside of schools. This is an enormous challenge and we know that schools can’t do it alone. This requires all hands on deck. We request substantial funding for educational interventions and programs led by community-based nonprofit organizations. Specifically we are asking the state to do the following for the 2021-22 budget: 1. Ensure at least $1.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan is made directly available for nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) providing after school learning opportunities. We recommend funding is directed through county offices of education who will then make grants directly available to nonprofit organizations that provide after school learning and summer enrichment opportunities. 2. Provide a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC). These COLAs would bring funding rates to $10.75 per student per day. We ask that this COLA increase be funded through Proposition 98 funding, rather than through the $1.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan funds that we hope will be made directly available to nonprofit CBOs. 3.Ensure that all after school recovery funds are directed to the most underserved students and that the process for selecting organizations to receive funding is transparent and engages parents and families. 4.Pass AB 1112 which will stabilize after school and summer programs by creating a stakeholder-driven funding formula for these programs. 5. Approve Senator Cortese’s budget request regarding youth mental health by investing $25 million in one-time funding to the Mental Health Student Services Act Grant Program This will incentivize counties to use their local funds and allocate the Governor’s proposed $25 million of ongoing Proposition 98 dollars to the established Mental Health Student Services Act Grant Program (rather than establishing a new program). This once-in-a-generation crisis has affected each of our families in consequential ways. We call on the legislature and the Governor to invest in resources that will allow all our communities to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and emerge stronger together.