Publications and Toolkits

Corporate Voices and Business Roundtable are calling for a renewed emphasis on high-quality early care and education in a policy paper, "Why America Needs High-Quality Early Care and Education."

Corporate Voices’ companies work with a range of after school programs around the country. While there are excellent individual programs in every community, one of the most successful models we have found is in Citizen Schools, which started in Boston and now has expanded throughout Massachusetts, along with North Carolina, California, Texas, New Jersey, New York City, and New Mexico.

Afterschool programs need the support of their whole community to thrive, and businesses are always a big part of the community. These are the companies that employ the working parents whose children need a safe place to learn and grow after school.

This toolkit has been designed by Corporate Voices for Working Families to serve as a resource that will direct and inspire proactive business engagement in afterschool policies and programs at the community level and will lead to policies and community outreach that garner widespread public support.

Afterschool programs keep kids safe, increase academic success and help working families. So what does all that do for the business community? Plenty.

There is and has been a significant interest and investment in after school by corporations for over a decade. The amount spent by companies interviewed totaled $136.6 million invested in after school initiatives for 2005. Over the last five years, the total investment reaches over $1 billion invested in afterschool and related youth development and parent education programs and resources.

GlaxoSmithKline is a company that supports children and public education on several fronts. Internally, the company works with employees and the community to ensure that after school programs and child care are available, and it encourages employees to volunteer with schools and after school programs. Externally, the company has been a leader on K-12 education issues for 20 years, through mergers, changes in leadership and various political climates.

While many businesses understand the important effects that high-quality afterschool programs and services can have on their bottom line and productivity, they are unsure how to become involved.

Time Warner has a long history of support for programs that provide youth with educational opportunities, especially around literacy, media, the arts and technology.

The North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs (NCCAP) was created through the leadership of Governor Mike Easley to bring the state’s afterschool providers, community leaders and policymakers together to build a network that addresses the afterschool program issues of quality, accessibility, and sustainable funding.