In 1994, the DeWitt Wallace-Reader Digest Fund made an unprecedented commitment to school-age care (SAC) by launching the MOST Initiative, a $6.5 million project aimed at systemic community-based change to improve the quality and quantity of out-of-school care for children. Designed in partnership with the School-Age Child Care Project at the Center for Research on Women at Wellesley College, one of the primary goals of the Initiative is to increase professional development opportunities for SAC providers. Three cities Boston, Chicago, and Seattle were chosen to implement Action Plans developed by a wide range of community stakeholders during a planning year. Here are some highlights of their staff development activities that you may wish to try in your area are:

• Develop community-based SAC course work for college credit and make scholarships available to interested providers.
• Collaborate with members of the youth development field to create an entry level training certificate for school-age, youth work, and residential staff.
• Host a state-wide SAC conference for providers, administrators and stakeholders.
• Initiate a mentor program whereby experienced providers receive a stipend and college credit for mentoring SAC/youth workers who wish to improve their skills.
• Develop training and support for incorporating arts programming in after school programs.
• Survey training needs and expand available trainings to include topics specific to middle school programming.

  The School-Age Child Care Project (SACCProject), staff have written a series of professional development papers, titled, Growing Together: Connections Between the School-Age Care and Youth Work Professions. They are available for free. Two other papers, Professional Development in School-Age Care: The Second Stage, and A Curriculum Framework for the Field of School-Age Care: Ten Key Elements for Higher Education Training, are in draft form and will be available soon.

  Want to be on our mailing list? Write, call, or e-mail us at:
  SACCProject/The MOST Initiative
  Center for Research on Women
  Wellesley College
  Wellesley, MA 02181
  (617) 283-2556
  mesposito@wellesley.edu

  Keep connected to MOST on the Internet:
  Visit the SACCProject on the World Wide Web at:
  http://www.wellesley.edu/Cheever/saccp.html.
  Discuss school-age issues on the SAC-L listserv.
  On Hands Net, access the school-age care folder under Children, Youth & Families/Early Childhood/Early Childhood Programs & Services.

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