Students who attend afterschool and summer programs are better prepared for work and life. They attend school more, make gains in reading and math, improve their grades and have higher graduation rates. And they develop positive social skills and improve their behavior during the school day.

Our interest in afterschool and summer learning programs spans 85 years of support, from the early development of community schools through our partnership with the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. Now serving more than 1.7 million children and youth at 11,000 sites across the country, these local programs provide a wealth of practical information and data on the impact of and need for afterschool and summer learning opportunities.

Mott is dedicated to making afterschool and summer learning programs available for every child and family who needs them. Through our support of afterschool networks in all 50 states, as well as key national education organizations, our grantmaking helps to inform policies, develop partnerships and shape practices that will sustain and increase the quality of local programs across the U.S.

Currently, our grantmaking focuses on three areas:

Building an Afterschool Infrastructure

Our grants support a national infrastructure of organizations dedicated to increasing the quality of afterschool programs for children, youth and families.

We make grants to:

• Organizations helping to strengthen the capacity of 50 statewide afterschool networks through technical assistance that will improve program quality and data collection practices.
• Nonprofit groups supporting the sharing of best practices, research and communication strategies throughout the network.

Fostering Afterschool Policy

Our funding supports efforts to inform the development of effective policies and partnerships to increase quality afterschool programs for children, youth and families.

We make grants to:

• National nonprofit groups that work to inform state, federal and local policies to increase access to quality afterschool and summer learning programs.
• Organizations that support strategic communications aimed at improving access to quality afterschool and summer learning programs at the local, state and national levels.

Improving Afterschool Quality & Innovation

Our grantmaking advances research and exemplary models that increase student engagement in learning and prepare students for college and career.

We make grants to:

• Organizations conducting research to identify the impact of quality afterschool programs on children, youth and families.
• National nonprofit groups with expertise in research-based practices that include: digital media and learning; science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); music and the arts; and service learning.
• Organizations supporting initiatives to test and expand research-based models/approaches in education and afterschool.