21st Century Community Learning Centers Integrated Service Delivery: Study Findings and Resources for Practitioners
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program was established in 1994 by the federal government to create afterschool and summer enrichment and learning opportunities for millions of youths who reside in communities that experience poverty.
With funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, AIR conducted a three-year study of 21st CCLCs across the country. The 21st CCLC Integrated Service Delivery System Study included analysis of survey and interview data from 21st CCLC sites in Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington. View study details.
Key Themes and Resources
Our evaluation revealed promising, unique strategies that communities and schools took in applying the 21st CCLC program in four thematic areas–a shared commitment and vision, development of grantee structures and capacity, relationship building and trust, and expansion of resources.
AIR has developed resources to help support the effective implementation of 21st CCLC funding and to broaden the scope of possibilities related to the potential of this funding to create lasting change in schools and communities.
Explore our four key themes in the section below, where you fill find a collection of research briefs, video interviews with stakeholders, and highlights of promising practices for each:
Shared Vision and Commitment
"We can't do this alone..."
Learn more about how a funding source becomes a means for collaboration and collective impact
Leveraging Grantee Structures to Develop Capacity
“Coordinating services to dig a little deeper...”
Developing Relationships and Trust
“The goal is the same and we work together to reach it...”
Learn more about building relationships where everyone is a stakeholder in the outcome of all kids
Sustainability and Continuity in Expansion of Resources
“Creating new relationships that can go on in the future...”
Study Details
The focus of the 21st CCLC Integrated Service Delivery System Study was to:
- Identify 21st CCLC programs that are integral parts of broader systems characterized by the coordination of multiple programs, activities, and services;
- Document strategies and approaches that support the coordination and integration of services; and
- Explore how students and families may benefit from integrated and coordinated service delivery.
The goals of the study were to elevate the role a 21st CCLC grantee can play in building integrated service delivery systems and to identify promising approaches that 21st CCLC programs have engaged in—both to be part of and to help create such integrated service delivery systems.
Through AIR’s evaluation of 21st CCLC implementation approaches in communities around the country we highlight promising approaches of integrated service delivery and strategies to utilize 21st CCLC funding as a platform for community engagement, and community renewal.
