Providing before and after-school care can be challenging. There never seems to be enough money, room, equipment, or staff to meet the growing demands for such programs. There are no easy answers to overcoming all the obstacles facing school-age child care but one solution many are looking to can resolve quite a few community collaboration.

Community collaboration involves identifying the needs of the program, identifying local players and possible contributors, and establishing strong relationships within communities. The goals of the community partners may or may not be the same, but partnering may help each member meet their own goals and, thereby, satisfying both groups. For instance, your program may need more games and toys for the children. A local church group may be looking for a service project. Their main goal may not be to increase the number of toys and games your program has but their toy drive may meet their goal of providing a community service project. This type of collaboration has no limits to the partnering that can occur for the common good of the community and your program. Here are a list of other possible collaborations you might consider:

• Partner with local schools, churches, or youth centers for space and/or shared equipment for your program
• Work with local Extension offices to provide parent education materials or provider training in childhood development
• Ask local businesses to contribute funding, materials, or mentoring opportunities for your school-age program
• Work with local community members to offer mini-programs (4-5 weeks before or after school) to students in the area of piano, karate, gymnastics, chess, or other sessions they might want to share free of charge or available at a low rate parents can afford.
• Offer a series of neighborhood open houses to introduce school-age child care providers to one another, to offer support, and to share resources.
• Bring in volunteers from the senior centers and train them to provide intergenerational programming to the children by tutoring, reading, or simply playing with them on a more one-to-one basis.
• Partner with businesses or professional parents to develop grants to obtain additional funding for your program

  The opportunities to collaborate are endless! Be creative. Meet with your teachers, volunteers, and parents and brainstorm as many ideas, connections, and players as possible. Then put these ideas out to the community and wait to be surprised how many resources and supporters you have in your own back yard.

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