The purpose of the initiative is to establish 21st CCLC programs that provide economically disadvantaged students with opportunities for academic enrichment, personal enrichment, and other activities designed to complement the students' regular academic program. The 21st CCLC program must also engage adult family members of actively participating students, through educational and personal development opportunities. The 21st CCLC programs provide safe environments for students during non-school hours and may have one or multiple centers/sites, located in schools, community facilities, and/or faith-based facilities. All centers must provide a range of high-quality services to support student learning and development, that may include, but are not limited to: tutoring and mentoring, academic enrichment (e.g. homework assistance, reading, math, science, and technology programs) service learning, physical fitness and wellness, career and technical programs, internships or apprenticeship programs, and others.
The specific purposes of the programming according to the law are to:
- Provide opportunities for academic enrichment (e.g. tutoring, homework assistance, high-yield learning activities, etc.) particularly to youth who attend low-performing schools, in order to meet the challenging State academic standards.
- Offer youth a broad array of character enrichment programs that may include, but are not limited to: mentoring, service learning, physical fitness and wellness, career and technical programs, internships or apprenticeship programs, drug and violence prevention programs, counseling programs, art, music, financial literacy programs, environmental literacy programs, and others.
- Offer families of youth served by the community learning centers opportunities for active and meaningful engagement in their youth's education, including opportunities for literacy and related educational development.
Previously awarded grants can be viewed here: https://www.in.gov/doe/grants/OST/cohort-11/