The Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment (CASE) for Kids staff and division leadership never let an opportunity pass them by.
In the last few years, United Way of Greater Houston’s afterschool division – Out 2 Learn – has held quarterly meetings for out-of-school time (OST) professionals and agencies, bringing those representatives together for networking and sharing strategies and insights. But those meetings were set for elimination, a reflection of hardships organizations presently face with reductions in funding, staffing and events.
So CASE for Kids stepped in. The division, which serves many of the same community partners, offers numerous training and networking opportunities throughout the year. Leadership didn’t want to see this one go.
“It’s important for us to continue to provide these services to the community so they can network and share resources,” said Dr. Lisa Caruthers, CASE for Kids senior director. “So instead of reducing the community meetings, we decided to collaborate to keep them going at the same level and share the costs.”
The first meeting under the new partnership – “OST Network Convening” – was held Jan. 13 at Harris County Department of Education’s (HCDE) North Post Oak location. The start of the year made for the meeting’s appropriate title: “Shout It Out: Your OST New Year Resolution.”
More than 60 professionals attended the inaugural meeting, representing numerous non-profit organizations, service providers, direct service staff, various business and community partners. The benefit of bridging CASE for Kids and the United Way’s Out 2 Learn is merging audiences and exposing individuals who only supported one entity to the resources and programs run by each organization.
For-profit OST providers for example, may not have traditionally ventured toward Out 2 Learn or the United Way’s focus on nonprofit agencies. Or the other way around with organizations seeing the scope of CASE for Kids and its reach to students across Harris County.
“By combining our numbers, we’re opening people’s eyes to both sides,” Caruthers said. “We have to share resources. When times are tight, we have to come together and have resources so the services don’t drop and the support to the community doesn’t drop.
“I hope we can create a more tight-knit community that is working together hand in hand to help leverage new resources and funding and make sure that our families are being served during what’s a difficult time.”
Following a welcome from CASE for Kids Federal Programs and Compliance Manager Jasmine Castleberry and Out 2 Learn Coordinator Krystal Perez, Caruthers spoke on the state of afterschool and challenges. OST programming remains in high demand but not always available – parents of more than 3.3 million children want afterschool programs but only just over 580,000 are currently enrolled according to a survey from America After 3PM on behalf of the Afterschool Alliance.
Parents say top benefits in afterschool programming to children include boosting critical thinking and leadership skills and decreasing screen time, according to the survey. Benefits to parents include less stress knowing their children are safe and boosting productivity at work.
The conversation transitioned to a table talk exercise, where groups discussed the needs of OST programs from the viewpoint of families, non-profits, schools and service providers and how each entity is being affected with fewer options. The ideas and discussion points will be collected – in addition to a future survey – to identify potential solutions.
CASE also invited Arnaldo Sandoval-Guerrero, HCDE’s civic engagement specialist, to present to the group on advocacy in various forms. In his role, he works with HCDE divisions like CASE for Kids and Head Start to connect with students and families on civics, voting and using their voices.
“People tend to believe advocacy to be marching on the Capitol or testifying to elected officials,” Sandoval-Guerrero said. “My goal was to help out-of-school time professionals recognize that they’re already doing advocacy work. Bringing advocacy into afterschool programs is essential because these professionals have unique, on-the-ground insights into what communities actually need and serve as critical touchpoints for families who face the most barriers to having their voices heard.”
The meeting closed with attendees writing out their OST New Year’s Resolutions and setting the stage for a productive 2026 in afterschool and out-of-school time programming.