Y4Y learned from Texas 21st CCLC program director Johanna Friedel that there are certain questions she hears from new grantees each year. If you’re the captain of a 21st CCLC program just unfurling your sails, you might have some of the same questions. Here are common questions and answers, with links to Y4Y tools that will help you navigate the waters.   

Q1: How do you recruit your staff?  

See the Identifying and Recruiting High-Quality Staff overview. You can download and customize Y4Y’s Sample Job Descriptions to post on professional sites or disseminate to organizations from which you envision hiring (such as local teacher unions or the education department at a nearby university). Y4Y also has suggestions for Getting Members on Your Program Team.   

Q2: How do you structure your afterschool time?  

Consult the Effective Homework Time Training to Go to consider the role of homework time in your program. You can use the Align for Success Click & Go, Intentional Activity Design Planner and Intentional Activity Design: Mapping Needs to Activities tools to start shaping your activities blueprint. 

Q3: Who’s in charge of my budget? How do I determine what percentage should be allocated to staffing, overhead, transportation, supplies, field trips, training and snacks?  

Grantees should refer to their approved grant proposal for specifics on budgeting. Consult the Sample 21st CCLC Budget Worksheet for direction on how to best allocate any funds with flexibility. 

 Q4: How and when do my staff receive training? Who’ll train my staff? What basic compliance trainings will they need at the beginning of the year? 

Use the Y4Y Training Guide and Template for guidance on training basics. This guide will be helpful whether you’re planning and conducting the training yourself, working with a partner or having staff attend training offered by a third party. As you consider basic compliance trainings, you’ll need to know the requirements of your educational partners and the institution that provides physical space for your program. Many training tools are available on the Y4Y site. Open the drop-down list under “Learn” and go to “Train Your Staff” for advanced trainings you can customize and use as your program grows and flourishes. Another way to support staff members’ ongoing professional development is to connect them with professional learning resources (see Y4Y’s Professionalization Resources page). 

Q5: What basic materials for students do I need at the start of the program year? 

The materials you’ll need will depend on the program activities you do. Leave sufficient budget for materials specific to the activities that will take shape as you intentionally design activities, including science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics (STEAM) projects you may offer. Consider community partnerships as a potential source of materials. Y4Y’s Sample Procurement Packet includes a supply request form, a supply and equipment tracking form, and a partner memorandum of understanding. 

Q6: Where can I find basic forms that will help me structure my program, such as enrollment forms, transportation forms, memorandums of understanding (MOUs), lesson plan forms, supervision and observation forms, student incident reports and a staff handbook? 

Y4Y offers a library of downloadable, customizable forms. The tools in Y4Y’s Managing Your 21st CCLC Program course are a good place to start. Don’t hesitate to reach out to other programs through the Y4Y discussion board. The board for the August 2019 New Leaders Academy has ideas from some veteran program leaders as well as new grantees. A template and tool for drafting MOUs is among the Y4Y Strengthening Partnerships course tools. 

Q7: What will my year-at-a-glance calendar look like?  

Y4Y’s Program Planning Timeline tool can assist you in broad-strokes program planning. To see an example of a timeline with a detailed breakdown of tasks, visit the Sample Annual Task Timeline.  

Q8: What data do I have to collect for my state and the federal government? 

The Implementation Strategies section of the Managing Your 21st CCLC Program course addresses many aspects of data reporting. Your state coordinator is your best resource for learning everything that’s required of you to maintain funding.   

Q9: What are the roles and responsibilities for my executive staff, site coordinators or managers, family engagement specialist and for me as a program director? What are the responsibilities for my frontline staff and child care workers? 

It’s an excellent idea to have roles as well developed as possible as you build your program. Y4Y’s Sample Human Resources Packet provides standard role descriptions that you can customize to fit your budget and the people you hire. It can be tempting to rest more or less responsibility with employees based on their demonstrated abilities, but bear in mind that, in the event of turnover, your hiring practices need to have solid alignment with the descriptors you decide on.  

Q10: What are the responsibilities of the parents for the program? 

As you know, family engagement is a centerpiece of 21st CCLC programs. The Y4Y Family Engagement course helps program leaders consider many aspects of programs’ critical relationship with students’ families. The Sample Calendar (Family Engagement) offers a glimpse of what that might look like throughout the year.