OKAN Policy Briefs:

STEM Education and Oklahoma's Future Workforce

This policy brief explores how our national, state and corporate competitiveness increasingly requires a workforce with STEM skills. Afterschool programs are an effective way to increase STEM learning for Oklahoma students by offering extended opportunities that engage students in hands-on experiential settings.

ROI: Return on Investment

In business, Return on Investment (ROI) measures the dollar value of benefits earned. This policy brief reviews how quality afterschool programs provide a high ROI for Oklahoma by lowering dropout rates, reducing crime, preventing teen pregnancies and preparing students to be high wage-earners in today's workforce.

Focus

Children and youth face enormous barriers to their success. Oklahoma is one of only 14 states that does not budget for out-of-school time programs for its 643,133 children between the ages of 5-18.
To address the critical needs of access, affordability and quality of programs in the state, the Oklahoma Afterschool Network commissioned two public opinion research surveys and a fiscal analysis study to provide an accurate view of parent's needs, the diversity of programs in the state and finally, the amount of public funding of programs throughout the state.

FOCUS provides you with a snapshot of afterschool in Oklahoma in order to create awareness and move toward change.

Promising Practices

Promising Practices 2010!

Click the image at left to see ten exciting new Promising Practices from organizations throughout the state.

Promising Practices 2009

Click the image at left to download our first edition of Promising Practices. This collection focuses on people and organizations who are creating great opportunities for kids in their out-of-school time.

Focus on Promising Practices is an effort to begin highlighting successful and innovative strategies that are used by afterschool programs to meet the needs of children and youth in their particular communities.

The programs featured also provide ideas for other communities to consider as they make plans to expand and improve the out-of-school time options for their children and youth.

The promising practices in this collection represent a mix of community sizes, program settings, participants, partners and funding sources. The practices were designed to address a particular need, strengthen the overall program quality and build a base for program sustainability. Each promising practice also includes a brief description about the out-of-school time program itself, the participants, the community, the organizational partnerships and the people to contact for more information.

The Promising Practices publication is a way to celebrate and share the exceptional efforts of Oklahoma organizations, leaders and communities as they work to provide quality out-of-school experiences for children and youth.