Strong advocates are well informed about important policy conversations, understand how specific policies impact their missions, and have expertise and ideas for how policy can be best implemented. Whether you are looking to impact policy on the local, state, or federal level, the Afterschool STEM Hub aims to be a resource to help navigate that terrain.
Americans think about and respond to the topics of STEM education and learning in afterschool settings in patterned ways. Sometimes, this can undermine support for effective solutions, and cause people to ignore what advocates are calling for. It is crucial that we become aware of and familiar with these default patterns of understanding in order to accurately anticipate what our communications efforts must overcome.
Whether you're talking with a policy maker, a funder, potential community or school partners, or parents, there are common framing strategies that can help make a powerful argument for why afterschool and summer STEM matters. And by using materials from the Afterschool STEM Hub, your local advocacy efforts will harmonize with the efforts of advocates across the nation. In speaking a common language, we can amplify our voices, assure greater attention to these issues, and expand children's access to effective afterschool and summer STEM learning.
Check out our Advocacy Toolkit for resources and tools to help you and your team advocate for investments and collaborative efforts supporting afterschool STEM!
Please visit our About Us page to learn more about who we are.
Questions? Email us at stemhub@afterschoolalliance.org