National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE)

Challenge

Afterschool and summer learning programs are critical to supporting the development of children, but low-income families are often unable to afford these valuable programs or find high-quality care.

To address these gaps, EDC supports state agencies and other stakeholders in expanding the supply of care for school-age children (ages 5–12) through the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE). NCASE is part of an integrated Early Childhood Training and Technical Assistance System of national centers working on behalf of the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Serving states, territories, and tribal communities, NCASE works to increase access to high-quality afterschool and summer learning experiences for school-age children in families of low income.

Key Activities

NCASE provides training and technical assistance through the following activities:

Develop and disseminate materials on key topics and promising practices in school-age care
Provide training and technical assistance to help state agencies supported by the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) improve the quality and supply of school-age programs
Research the state of the out-of-school time (OST) workforce and identify promising practices for staff recruitment and retention
Collaborate with national centers and networks of out-of-school Time stakeholders to achieve the broadest possible impact

Impact

Help school-age programs improve children's health, safety, and overall development in all 50 states; the District of Columbia; U.S. territories; and American Indian, Alaska Native, and migrant/seasonal communities
Support state, territory, and tribal agencies in improving program access and quality to benefit more than 1 million school-age children in families of low-income who use CCDF subsidies to pay for child care each year