New York

New York State Afterschool Network

The New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) is a public-private partnership of statewide, regional and local groups that promote the safety, learning and healthy development of children and youth outside the traditional classroom.

New York State Afterschool Network
Accomplishments: 
  • NYSAN emerging partnerships include: Early Childhood Advisory Council, Winning Beginning New York, New York State Department of Labor, New York State Department of Health, New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, the Nutrition Consortium of New York State, the State Senate Education Committee and the New York City Youth Funders Network.
  • NYSAN convened a cross-agency taskforce to coordinate afterschool program data and map publicly-funded afterschool program sites across three public agencies and four major public funding streams. Updated in 2011, this database and map represents over 1,500 programs and over $300 million in federal, state and/or local investments. This work informed advocacy efforts, capacity building needs, policy analysis, development and recommendations.
Current Projects and Initiatives: 
  • NYSAN is helping New York State stakeholders integrate expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) into state educational systems. The goal is to promote collaboration, coordination and communication between ELOs and public education to improve student engagement and bolster dropout prevention efforts, and uses global learning as a lens and context to build the capacity of a comprehensive educational system to these ends.
  • NYSAN continues to work with Asia Society to infuse global learning in afterschool programs, practices and policies. NYSAN has participated in the development of tools and resources for afterschool and expanded learning educators to infuse global learning into existing programs and/or create globally-focused programming in expanded learning settings.
  • NYSAN continues to promote the effective use of the second edition of the Afterschool Program Quality Framework, Quality Self-Assessment (QSA) Tool, and QSA Tool Users Guide through statewide conferences and convenings, electronic communication and work with policymakers and public agency administrators. NYSAN is also developing School Age Standards for New York State’s Quality Rating and Improvement System by collaborating with New York State’s Early Childhood Advisory Council, which is leading the QRIS system development for the state.
  • In collaboration with The After-School Corporation (TASC), TASC and NYSAN have launched a Noyce Foundation-funded statewide initiative to build awareness about the value and impact of STEM learning in afterschool settings, create networks across the state of stakeholders working on STEM in formal and informal settings, and train a cadre of trainers so that they can build the capacity of afterschool programs in implementing high-quality STEM learning activities and curricula.