Our Impact

In New York City in 1998, more than one million kids attended public schools. Just 10,000 attended daily after-school programs that met every day until 6 PM.

Ten years later, in 2008, 140,000 kids -- a fourteen-fold increase -- attended daily after-school programs rich with new possibilities and exciting activities.

TASC was created to build an after-school system where none existed, and to encourage government to invest in sustainable programs that serve not a few kids here and there, but large numbers of kids. By showing it could be done in New York, we energized a movement to expand opportunities for kids from New Orleans to New Mexico.

For every dollar the Open Society Institute gave TASC in a challenge grant, we leveraged four times that amount to build a network of strong programs from the Bronx to Staten Island. We brought together schools with community organizations to operate programs, and made both stronger. We linked in great cultural institutions, and created a field of people who train after-school educators.

We helped 300,000 kids in TASC programs in our first 10 years, and millions more throughout the nation by sharing our models, technical assistance and lessons learned. With TASC programs as the model, New York City launched the Out-of-School Time initiative, the country's largest municipally-funded after-school system. New York State launched Advantage After School, which helps 30,000 kids a year, and New Jersey launched New Jersey After 3.

By commissioning an independent, multi-year evaluation of our programs, we set high expectations for program quality and accountability in a young and growing field, and established a track record for programs that get results.

When kids are shut out of after-school or summer opportunities -- because of their families' lack of means or a shortage in public investment -- vast potential is squandered. We have helped make the after-school approach to a richer and broader education an essential feature of school reform, and of transformation in kids' lives.