• Senate Bill 429 (DeSaulnier) >>
• Summer Program Training and Technical Assistance >>
• Summer Matters Campaign >>
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction Blueprint for Great Schools >>
• Federal Policy >>

Expanding Learning Opportunities for Children in California’s Low-Income Communities

In the months since our previous report to you, the Partnership enjoyed a busy and productive spring and summer in 2011. Perhaps most notably, our efforts to expand access to high-quality summer learning and enrichment were felt at the local, state and national levels. On the education advocacy and policy front, the Partnership provided expertise and strategic thinking to leaders in the California Department of Education and the Legislature, in addition to helping draft and shepherd a key summer-learning bill through the Legislature, to the Governor’s desk and into law.

Summer Learning and Enrichment

Senate Bill 429 (DeSaulnier)

We’re pleased to share that on Oct. 8, 2011, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill 429, authored by State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and sponsored by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, Partnership for Children and Youth, and Children Now. This important summer-learning legislation increases flexibility around the use of After School Education and Safety (ASES) and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) summer supplemental grants in order to maximize student attendance and increase student learning.  SB 429 is the third consecutive successful piece of legislation on summer learning that Partnership for Children and Youth has spearheaded in partnership with Senator DeSaulnier.

Summer Program Training and Technical Assistance

The Partnership provided technical assistance in summer 2011 to an expanded cohort of summer-program sites in Oakland, San Francisco, Gilroy, Fresno, Whittier, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Santa Ana. Since 2009 we have been adapting our after-school technical assistance experience and expertise to the summer-learning environment with the goal of expanding high-quality summer-learning programs that can be models for implementation across the state. This work has resulted in a summer technical-assistance model with tools and quality measures that has now been tested and refined over three summers and is being offered to a growing number of programs in our region and across the state.

Summer Matters Campaign

With the support of funders including the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Kaiser Permanente and the San Francisco Foundation, and working closely with the strategic-communications firm PR & Company, the Partnership elevated awareness about the importance of summer learning and enrichment on a national scale. The Summer Matters campaign kicked-off with a highly successful advocacy and awareness event at the Capitol in Sacramento on June 21st, National Summer Learning Day. Nearly 200 students visited the Capitol, used video cameras to interview elected officials about their favorite summer memory and participated in a lunchtime science lesson by State Superintendent Tom Torlakson. The students received tours and presentations from the State Librarian and State Legislators, and had an exciting and educational day of civic engagement.

With our partners, we rolled out a comprehensive outreach strategy about the importance of summer-learning programs and were able to build steady momentum and visibility for the issue across myriad media channels. Executive Director Jennifer Peck secured a role as a nationally featured blogger on the Huffington Post and on the San Francisco Chronicle’s City Brights, and used the opportunity to post a series of insightful op-ed pieces on the need for summer-learning programs. The Partnership also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and Education Week.

Concurrently, we were able to work with our eight summer communities to help garner local media attention for summer learning in publications such as the Capitol Weekly, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times and San Jose Mercury News. On television, we championed summer on stations such as ABC-7 in San Francisco and Fox-40 in Sacramento. We also launched a Summer Matters website (SummerMatters2You.net) and established social-media pages on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  To see a full media report on all the coverage from summer 2011, please visit our Press Room.

State and Federal Policy Work

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Blueprint for Great Schools

On Aug. 9, 2011, State Superintendent Tom Torlakson released “A Blueprint for Great Schools,” offering vision and direction for California’s education system. Community schools, expanded learning and access to summer-learning programs are highlighted in the report. Jennifer Peck, the Partnership’s executive director, oversaw the work of the 59-member Transition Team as Superintendent Torlakson’s appointed transition director. Jennifer continues to advise the Superintendent on expanded learning and community-school issues.

Federal Policy

In May, together with the Collaborative for Building After School Systems (CBASS), the Partnership helped plan and participate in a Congressional Study Tour of expanded-learning-time schools in New York City.

Jennifer Peck spoke in June at the American Youth Policy Forum on Capitol Hill on partnerships between schools and community organizations that provide expanded-learning programs. A resulting forum brief discusses the importance of these partnerships to provide high-quality learning opportunities to all students.

In October, the Partnership will lead a delegation of high-level California policy makers to the Children’s Aid Society Community Schools Practicum in New York City. Participants will learn about New York’s experience implementing community schools and discuss ways California schools can more systematically remove barriers to learning for students through community partnerships and creative use of existing resources.

The Partnership continues to lead a coalition of organizations across California and the nation promoting improvements to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, the primary federal funding stream for out-of-school time programming. Together with our CBASS partners:

• we have publicly responded to proposals on the federal budget;
• we have submitted suggested FAQ language on expanded learning to the U.S. Department of Education for use with the federal waiver package; and,
• we are continuing our work  with Congressional leaders to ensure that ESEA and/or Appropriations proposals around 21st CCLC reflect strong expanded-learning principles.