Research indicates a safe, well-supervised and enriching SAC environment can greatly enhance the social, emotional, cognitive and physical development of children. Afterschool programs are not intended to extend the direct instruction of the classroom by using right answer” materials and textbooks. However, parents, regular school staff and most financial stakeholders, including legislators, want and need to know that academic support is taking place. All afterschool programs can support the academic development of participants by maximizing a variety of teachable” moments to promote the cognitive, social and recreational health of students. SAC programs can also reduce the negative effects many children experience from being in self-care (i.e., negative peer pressure, loneliness, boredom, fear, accidents and poor school performance).
SAC Programs are programs offering services to all children, including children with disabilities, from ages five through 12. SAC Programs can be provided to children enrolled during non-school hours, after their daily class sessions or during other non-school hours (i.e., breaks, holidays or weekends). Additionally, SAC Programs should meet the needs of working parent(s) during non-school days. This should not impede their ability to charge tuition or secure other funding to pay for the care of the children.
This SAC grant funding is made available as part of the Child Care Development Fund implemented by DESE's Office of Childhood, Quality Programs. As such, we want to expand our services and elevate the quality of programs that do not have other funding and ensure children have quality programming.
DESE will award competitive priority points to applications that:
- Propose to target services to students who attend school listed as either comprehensive or targeted schools at https://dese.mo.gov/childhood/quality-programs/afterschool-programs/grants (maximum three points).
- Operate SAC program year round, including the summer months, breaks, holidays (except legal holidays), inclement weather, teacher conference and other days when public schools might not be in session (maximum two points).
- Include a district (not site) applying for a SAC grant for the first time. First time is defined as no grant awarded to the district beginning with the 2017-18 school year to present (maximum five points).
- Propose to operate in a school with higher percentages of free and reduced priced meals (maximum four points; 100-80%: 4 points; 79-60%: 3 points; 59-45%: 2 points; 44-40%: 1 point)
SAC Programs can be provided to children enrolled during non-school hours(before school/after school), before/after their daily class sessions or during other non-school hours (i.e., summer, school breaks, holidays or weekends).SAC Programs should meet the needs of working parent(s) during non-school days.
The hours and days of operation must be reflective and accommodating to the families of students participating in the program, especially parents working outside the home, i.e. 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., as well as Monday through Friday; year round including summer months, breaks and holidays (except legal holidays); inclement weather; teacher conferences; etc. Each enrolled student must be given the opportunity to attend academic and enrichment activities a minimum of 13 hours each week to provide a quality program in order to foster maximum positive impact on students' development and learning.
DESE requires SAC programs to offer services no less than four days per week during a typical school year and no less than 13 hours per week during non-school hours or periods when school is not in session (including after school, before school, evenings, weekends, holidays, summers or other school vacation periods). Each community should base its Application on the needs of its students and their families.
DESE encourages programs to operate at least three hours per day beginning when school dismisses. If offering services before school, the program should operate at least one hour per day, ending just before the regular school day begins; and if offering services during the summer, the program should operate at least three hours per day (no rounding up or down of time). Any combination must still meet the requirement of days per week and hours per week per the above. DESE also encourages programs to operate the length of the school year in order to accommodate working families.
This grant is highly competitive. Applicants should ensure that all guidelines and requirements are met before submitting an application. In addition, the clarity and readability of grant applications will be taken into consideration during the review process. Please use clear, concise, and jargon-free language in your application.