SPONSORED CONTENT -- (StatePoint) Afterschool programs give children and youth a safe place to connect and learn after the school day ends, and research shows that programs boost students’ academic achievement and help them engage with their communities. They help children succeed in school and in life by providing homework help, mentors, healthy snacks and meals, exposure to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and other skills, college and career prep, and more.

That’s why a million people are rallying for afterschool programs at 8,000 events across the country this fall for Lights On Afterschool 2025, an annual celebration of afterschool programming. In Alabama, students and families enjoyed a spooky science lab with hands-on experiments, eerie activities, and hair-raising fun. In California, families joined a Dia de los Muertos celebration to honor culture, community and afterschool programs with a book giveaway, food trucks, arts and crafts, and student performances. In Idaho, students picked apples for a local food bank at an orchard. In Massachusetts, middle and high school students helped younger children at a Read-a-Thon.

For the second year in a row, superstar USHER is serving as honorary chair of Lights On Afterschool. From Niagara Falls to Washington’s Frederick Douglass Bridge to Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, and elsewhere, buildings, bridges and other landmarks were lit up in yellow and blue in October to show support for afterschool programs.

“Afterschool programs keep kids safe, inspire them to learn, and give working families peace of mind that their children are supervised and learning after the school day ends,” said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, the nonprofit that organizes Lights On Afterschool. “But three in four kids whose parents want afterschool programs for them are being left behind because their families cannot afford or access programs.”

A 2025 study commissioned by the Afterschool Alliance found that the parents of 29.6 million children, more than half the school-age kids in the country, want afterschool programs for their children – but less than 7 million are currently enrolled. Ninety-five percent of parents with children in afterschool programs are satisfied with the program their child attends.

Yet despite the high unmet need, Lights On Afterschool this year comes amid Trump administration cuts to federal educational spending and proposals to end federal support for afterschool.

To learn more about afterschool programs and Lights On Afterschool, visit afterschoolalliance.org.

“We need more funding from government at all levels, businesses and philanthropy to make afterschool programs available to all,” Grant added. “Every child deserves access to a quality afterschool program.”

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