Of working with almost all of you in this room. After school is such a special place. And make such a difference in the lives of the kids, the families, and the communities we serve. It is a huge ripple effect. The reason we have been able to save this program and expand the program is because of all of you. It is from the tremendous leadership and voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger down to some of the people not represented in this room, our staff working the lines every day. Creating dreams. Letting kids dream though streams. I wanted to thank you all. Letting kids dream those dreams. I wanted to thank you all. [applause] this panel, we have such an amazing array of talent. We really want to focus on preparing our kids for the workforce. And tying back to that creativity and entrepreneurial drive, how do we get our kids to see themselves with the jobs of the future . The jobs that we need here in america. It will be how we do make america great. There has been a lot of attention on the military. Homeland security. Growing our defense. To have a strong military, we need strong people in that military. I am really, really happy to have admiral brecher. Not only does military provide training for kids, but a great rear path. Career path. What are some of the recruiting problems the military is facing . What role can afterschool play . As we look at afterSchool Programs, if we run into people that dont believe making an investment in use is the right thing to do, let me offer you a slightly different lens. Ages 1725, 70 dont qualify to join the military. 71 . Bucketsinto three large , which is obesity, not completing high school, or having a criminal record. From the earlier panelist and Research Many of you have access to the afterSchool Programs go to the very root causes that create those areas. That is just meeting the minimums. In addition to that, as we talked about the changes that exist in the workforce is today, it is an increasingly complex world that the military needs to operate in. We also need youth coming in with higher and skills to go into technology ante complex workplace. After School Programs offer that opportunity for access. As so many have described, it is really the ability to dream. It is the ability to have access and see themselves in that workplace as a possibility and then a path to the possibility. If we dont make the investment, we are already experiencing the goal to use in recruiting for the military. Think of all of the other segments of the workforce that are affected. First responders, Law Enforcement, our trades. It is a very wide reaching impact that it just so happens the military has some data we can apply. This goes far beyond the military. It is really the future of the nation and is a National Security imperative. Thank you. [applause] clapp, please. As we think about other istors, obviously hightech one of the most exciting and challenging areas of new jobs in america. It is one of the places where our country is really excelling. I am so thrilled to have you here, michael. You, what dosk afterSchool Programs due to encourage students to learn about and prepare for the jobs in the hightech world . Michael it is an honor to be on such a distinguished panel. It is important. When you look at our industry, Internet Companies, these are very hightech jobs in all 50 states. We have a short following in the United States of kids graduating with the education in the stem fields particularly for computer coding and engineering and so many different jobs. I believe next are the shortfall will be almost 250,000 people short of u. S. Based students graduating with the skills they need to work for Internet Companies and hightech companies. Those jobs have to come from somewhere. By getting kids involved early, particularly middle school to show them a path forward. They are not the jobs of the present, but of the future. We have had the opportunity to work with afterschool allstars and bring some kids around to visit some of the Companies Like twitter and facebook and google and amazon and others. When you see these middle school kids walk around our companies and talk to the engineers and see and learn how they got there , they get to see a path forward and they say, wait, if i studied math, science, and i stay in school and i go to high school and college i could work at a work a great place like this and have a high paying job and have the teacher the future. It set the bar higher. They never would have been thought it was possible to work at one of these innovative companies. We partner for selfish reasons as well. We want these students to grow up in the United States and have a Diverse Workforce we are able to get domestically. We want to instill that an part of it is starting in middle school and part of it as being involved in afterSchool Programs because those three hours afterschool have a huge impact. We want be a part of it. Thank you. [applause] when it comes to afterschool, we all do our homework on research and data matter. It is the stories and the kids that drive us but having the research and data behind it really helps us make the case. Askr roberts, i wanted to about charlottes task force and the report on economic mobility. Mayor roberts that is why i have a copy of it. Right here. Important to have show and tell. A coming together of our city, county, Business Leaders, nonprofit leaders, around the opportunity gap that exists in charlotte and many major cities. We were actually spurred by a report that came out that was done by harvard and berkeley that looked at generational poverty and the ability of folks born in poverty to move out of that poverty within a generation. Charlotte ranked the lowest of the 50 major metropolitan areas. We dont like being last in anything. What did that did was bring us the political will. The governor talked about bringing republicans and democrats together, we focused the entire community on changing that statistic. They looked at so many things it took two years. Somebody got very impatient with it taking two years. They wanted a blueprint for implementation and a scorecard, a way to actually make sure that things were being and lamented that implemented that were recommended. If you are going to change generational poverty, you have to focus on the young people. The three areas we looked at , collegey childhood and Career Readiness, and Family Structure and support. In all three of those areas after School Programs play a role. Is, is so interesting again, if you are going to change the opportunity gap, we are conscious as a community to look at the systemic barriers that children born in a tough neighborhood, with concentrations of poverty, one parent family, some of the systemic racial barriers that we have in our communities because of the way that we developed and because of racial segregation that was actually written into law in many communities in the country and in charlotte we discovered that. If you look at the wording for the afterschool component, expand access to quality out of school time that integrates academic support with career awareness, exploration, and preparation and connects more low so she atomic so shell economic students with access. You have time to do this in a seven hour school day. You connect that learning to what does it actually look like in a career. We have great things going on in charlotte. We need to help fund them better and coordinate them better. They are things Like Technology is missing. We have Technology Jobs that go unfilled. We try to find workers from other places. We have talent right there in charlotte. We have a group called Hip Hop University that students with technology through hiphop. It is fun. It is creative. All of that video and editing, that is technical. There is a lot that goes on there that kids are really good at learning. That is a way into a possible career. Whether it is media, technology, i. T. , software development. These are the kinds of things that we have to come together as a community to help implement and support. We are working with some of the area is mrs. To support that, to see that technology need. Microsoft has stepped up. We have other software companies, the largest bank in the country, bank of america has been a supporter. We need to continue to focus. What is interesting, as mayor, i actually have no technical responsibility for the schools. We have a school board funded by the state and county. The city focuses on infrastructure. I also get in front of a lot of people. I can be a convener. I know that our workforce is not going to survive or be a grow and thrive without focusing on kids. And on families and that support that after schools provide. That link to creativity, Career Readiness and awareness. I have talked a lot as mayor about how we bring people together to support our schools. The other thing i love about afterSchool Programs, they are very nimble, adaptive, creative, responsive. Muchchools have so curriculum, challenge, and so much policy challenge, but the after School Programs can fill in the gaps thickly. More quickly. We have helped mobilize the private and nonprofit sectors to fill in those gaps. Like the need for technology training, how can we remember and respond to 21st century challenges that will change every year. 20 years ago you didnt have social media managers for companies, now every company has one. Theyre going to be more jobs in robotics and things coming to the floor that we, as adults, cannot even foresee. Be opento help our kids to planning for and give them those critical connections. [applause] back to the get value of partnerships, but first, britney. We had a really wonderful discussion about your Afterschool Program. When we talk about pursuing your dreams, you didnt think you could pursue a career in our growing up. How did your Afterschool Program, gold crown, convinced and help you to follow your dreams . Britney i joined when i was 11 years old. I was a lonely kid in middle school. I didnt know anybody. My brother was in that program. I went after school and i found what i loved. I didnt realize i loved art until i wanted to go to college. I went to Community College and didnt know what i wanted to do. I was like, forensic science. That was not what i was passionate about. It was art. My coordinators help to mean get to that point to where i was like, i can do this. I can be a freelance illustrator no matter how hard and competitive it is. I can do it as long as i believe in myself. I know you talk to me a lot about how it was almost a family, your Afterschool Program. They definitely are. What do you think you would be doing now if you didnt have the fortune to get a gold crown. Britney who knows . I dont even know. Who do want of you to know, stop by later and make sure to see some of the postcards and art. As matt said, it is spectacular. I have been talking to her about hiring her myself when the conference is over. Britney i have stuff. Take it. S mayor mayor, do you see the multiple ways that afterSchool Programs can impact the students, families, and communities. Why are you a champion for these programs . Collect i am a champion because of the multiple ways that afterSchool Programs help and how they ultimately help the community. Fromry, we are different charlotte and other cities, we are literally rebuilding a community that has been hit by financial disasters, as a result of a reduction in industry. When you are rebuilding the a timety, while there is that you focus on adults, the primary focus has to be on the children. It is to provide opportunities for them and to really set a high bar. Typically, for us, our parents set the bar. I can remember in the seventh grade coming home and having my first report card of middle 2 bs. 4 as and i was satisfied that my dad looked at me and said, what about those 2 bs . From then on that was my focus, not to have the bs. Except in physics, where i would be glad with that. That is another conversation. I have an Afterschool Program for you. Mayor i still need it. The point is our children dont always now have those expectations. It is not that our parents dont love them, or they dont want to set those expectations, but there so busy trying to provide food, clothing, shelter. They have their own set of challenges. In the afterSchool Programs we can set expectation. We can provide additional exposure. We can provide opportunities to see things that you dont necessarily see on television. Are children watch an inordinate amount of television today. They watch many of the same things, videos, reality television. There is nothing wrong, governor, with reality tv, in context. They dont always see positive things on reality tv. Those horizons, and tap into, the mayor talked about the Hip Hop University, into their passions. They and girls club are developing a recording studio. We know that everybody has a rap career in their future. Ok, maybe it is not rapping, but it might be producing, it might be serving as a sound engineer. There are so many opportunities. A videographer. We really want to tap into that passion. We also want to raise the bar. Maybe it is not employment, but maybe it is becoming a food entrepreneur to deal with food deserts. We are doing all of those things that are afterSchool Programs in gary. Awesome. [applause] when you talk about this, in my 12 years and working with in the field, it is longer because i started when i was in college. Have reallyhere, we seen an explosion of Stem Learning in afterschool. It has been externally. Extraordinary. Go to this program, they have a thoughtful stem program to get kids excited about science, math, and engineering so their school work becomes alive and they can be ready for these jobs. Mayor and one of our organizations they have a civic organization. We have stem scouting for boys and girls. [applause] stem, i wanted to focus on partnerships. Partnerships are essential to everything we do. About ag we dont talk lot is when you look at 21st Century Community learning centers, a federally funded program for before and afterschool and summer, the average program has six partners working together to bring resources to our kids. All are alwayswe searching for and we really need that is incredibly powerful is the business voice. Michael, what advice do you have for all of us . Had we get more Business Leaders like you and your companies to speak out about the power of afterschool . Michael great question. I am amazed kids are on tv, they need to be on apps and on the computer. I dont know what theyre watching television for, that is terrible. Is the part of it business community. Certainly from Internet Companies, theyre working very hard to increase the diversity in their companies and make sure that we have the workforce we need so these companies can grow here in the unit states and healthy United States and help the economy and great more jobs. The jobs are there, they will be here as the industry grows. Of it, as i was struck by the conversation earlier with governors worsening or governor Arnold Schwarzenegger about giving the latter to students and showing them the path from middle school to high school to college onto a career in whatever they are passionate about, hopefully this some field and working for an internet company. The same thing is true for the corporate side, if they are investing in the schools in their community, many are, and making sure that they are having their engineers volunteer in creating opportunity where kids can come and visit the campuses and visit the companies and see and be and get inspired, that is the path. That is something that our companies are doing increasingly. We would like to see it happen in a broader section of Technology Companies and companies in the economy to invest in the community, start young with middle school kids. The involved with the afterSchool Programs. At the the kids Afterschool Program in gary, indiana, or charlotte, north carolina, might be the founder of the next great company. They might be an engineer at facebook or twitter, or snapchat here in southern california. That is what it is all about. Our companies are doing it, but we would like to see more. Mayor roberts, i will turn to you. You mentioned some of the business partnerships. Who are you working with in charlotte next . we have a number of initiatives underway that are correlating with our Task Force Report. One of the initiatives i started, since i became mayor was called charlotte next. By ourunded entirely Corporate Partners. One of the things i learned in dealing with city budgets is there is never enough. All of your colleagues on a Student City Council are struggling for the same dollars. I got impatient and i said i will single out the private sector and do it. Case you canhe make with employers when they see the pipeline of talent and they recognize there are gaps. Gaps in content, gaps geographically, diversity, social economic status, gender gaps, racial gaps. They really want to partner to change that workforce for them as well. With charlotte next, we started and say, parents do not know what opportunities are out there and they dont know what is low cost or no cost because the other barrier is having to pay for some of these amazing things. Karate inquire and ballet and all of these things, but i was able to pay for that. A lot of parents cannot. They also have transportation challenges. The first thing we notice is we dont have an intermediary, we do now, we didnt have an intermediary that would help parents connect with the information. That would help be a locator, a source so they know where their programs, what is the content, what is the adult, student ratio, some of the basic things they needed to know to connect the things already there. Charlotte next is going to start and be thatcator repository for all of these new programs springing up now that we have our Task Force Report that tells everyone, yes, you could do an Afterschool Program, and yes, it will make a huge difference in economic moat letting economic mobility. The next thing they will do is i grants because we have a number of folks realizing they need productive afterSchool Programs in challenge neighborhoods. They need seed money so we will have mini grants. Finally we work in professional development. A lot of folks try to connect the youth in technology did not grow up with technology, including me. We are all immigrants in the world of technology. If you can get twentysomethings teaching these courses, but you need the ability to build on the talent you have in the community and also train talent that is there. That is the third part of what charlotte next is going to do. We went to Corporate Partners who we know cared about education. We are a banking town so we have a number of banks involved. Where also the home for duke energy. We also have microsoft, ibm, a number of folks, software Companies LikeAvid Exchange and others that are working with our Financial Sector because they are coming up with Payment Processing and software that is tailored to the clients. All of these companies have a workforceconnect that , even starting in middle school. Charlotte next is starting with those middle school students. We talked about productive things for kids to do to keep them off the streets, our Police Officers are trying to connect their programs to middle school. If you start to lose a child aged well, it is hard to get them back at 15 or 16. You have to reach into the middle schools. The police program, keeping the kids from having that first jail experience so they do not repeat an offense so they stay out of that school to prison pipeline. The police chief is on board. It is a win, win, win. I feel for the folks who said it was hard to find funding because people are not as interested in kids. I had some pushback. I said as mayor, i care about kids and i want the schools to succeed. I got pushback, stay in your lane. I hate lanes. Breakout of them. Mayor that is what charlotte next is all about. Any funders out there who want to help me make this thing grow, see me afterwards. I am glad you brought up Law Enforcement, that is an incredibly strong ally and partner. Mayor freeman wilson, i wanted to ask come in gary, who are your partners . Mayor wilson gary we have a number of partners. To of premier programs are run by an extension of the City Life Program they had mentoring for boys as well as the foodbased program that i talked about, the urban farm program, which is run by a cdc called Faith Community partners. The ywca is a key partner. Scoutsuts, girls and boy have incorporated their programming into afterSchool Programs because that is important. Club are ad girls key partner. The city came together with the business community, you mentioned duke energy, we also have our energy partner. An effort to invest 5 million into a renovation of one of our School Buildings for the boys and girls club. One of the premier boys and girls clubs in the state. That has been a Key Partnership for us. Of course the city is a partner. We understand the importance of the city through the development, provision of our agriculture department. Other,ding program and even the summer programs. For summer feeding programs and the state is our newest partner. In fact i was on a call today were the state is coming in. Excellent. All the leveraging which is what makes these programs possible. Addition to your esteemed career in the military, you now work with an Afterschool Program and opened military Institute Charter school, what are some of the most impactful things you have seen . Why are you doing your work there . Admiral let me talk broadly first about military partners. To be strong,ry we need all sectors of the economy to be strong. The military has a very large civilian component. It as part of its workforce. To get its work done, if i look at the coast guard come apart of the department of homeland security, it is the only military peace, everyone elses civilian. To get the job done, Law Enforcement is a very big part of. Partner. We need all of the sectors to be healthy which is why in addition to the military program, mission readiness, which is over 600 retired military leaders is the network that allows us to leverage nationally and within the state to help work all of the afterSchool Programs in the investment in youth so we haven a healthy economy. I came from a family that strongly believed in education. I have four children out on their own now, think of this. Thank goodness. I want for other children what my parent children experienced. They are now in the jobs they dreamed about. One of whom is a teacher as a matter of fact. An 80 to gonever to on at Oakland Military Institute which is six12 grade. It is similar to the demographics you heard from ms. Garcia about the l. A. School district. It is part of the Oakland Unified School district, even though it is a charter school. We have about 700 children. 80 who are in the statefunded Afterschool Program in addition to the clubs that we have. We have a waiting list of over 100 kids waiting to get into the after school program. We have funded that through a series of partnerships. Theink, like many of commerce a had here, it is about talking to as our superintendent for morgan said, it is about listening to the children. What did they want, what are their dreams . How do we remove the barriers to allow them to realize those dreams . If they are able to do that, they will remain in school. Spend inhe dollars we other sectors like juvenile delinquency and other things, they will be in gauged in school. Engaged in school. When we look at our youth, it is about allowing them to come through the system, whether it is k12, kfour years, two years of college, credential programs, whatever it is they dream about, to come out the other end and be contribute in members of society and part of the workforce that we need in this nation for this nation to remain the premier nation of this. Nation it is. [applause] britney, an addition to being an illustrator, one of the things i mentioned earlier is what really makes her feel special are the people on the front lines. You go back and you mentor at the very Afterschool Program you attended. Can you share with us one of the more rewarding experiences you have had . Britney i do it because i am giving back to the program that gave me so much. I wouldnt be here without that program. I wouldnt be doing illustration. I wouldnt be here with all of you. I would not be advocating for afterSchool Programs. Who knows where i would be. I go back because they did so. Uch for me i was one of those kids and i want to see them succeed. The people there are care about those kids and want them to succeed. I want that for those kids as well. [applause] i know we are starting to get short on time. I wanted to give each of you a chance to give advice to all of us. We have several hundred people from all over the country. All of us are strong advocates for afterschool. From where you are sitting, what would your advice be for us. Particularly for all of you, brittany, as a student, how do we get more of you to support these kids . You whyrt with dont we start with you . Collect one thing that strikes me when i think about the opportunity Task Force Report is the conversation about supporting our youth and recognizing the barrier they have, by where they grew up, their Family Structure, things they have no control over. If we are going to succeed as a country, if we are going to end generational poverty, if we are going to give people a ladder up , we have to focus on kids, even from birth to the career. That it isrecognize not just the moral and the right thing to do, but it is part of our survival. If we are going to compete and survive as a country. If we are going to be able to overcome obstacles like climate andge and Racial Injustice so many things that we need the whole team together, confronting. Every child has a spark in them. Every mind is amazing. We dont know what it takes to unlock that mind. We dont have time during the curriculum day with all of the stress of reading, which is incredibly important, but the afterSchool Programs unlock those minds. We need every child to have amazing latter to that amazing spark of inspiration. We should not be excluding kids because of where they were born, what race they are, what gender. From any of these opportunities for a career. This report talks about the need for every child to have a life navigator. It is deeper than a mentor. It is a life navigator. The parents cannot always do that. Parents have a lot of stuff. Kids are not always listening to their parents. We all know that. I have two of them. If you dont have that safety net of all of those inspiring adults, those role models who are, whether it is sports, arts, academics, or robotics, they need those life navigators who really deeply care. That is what afterSchool Programs unlock. That is the opportunity. That is the step up they can give each and every child. Each and every child in charlotte and every city in this country deserves no less. [applause] mayor my advice would be that we need to understand the importance of having all hands on deck as we look to really grow, support, and protect the survival, quite frankly, of afterSchool Programs. What do i mean about by that . There is something that someone in every community from 880 can do to really bring a message home of how important these programs are. Whether you are talking about students like britney and little kids, who really benefit from the programs that we are all supporting. Were all fighting for. Whether you are talking about grandparents at home his grandchildren have the benefit of or who understand that if young people are involved in these programs, they are not breaking windows in the neighborhoods. They are not engaged in other activity that we would rather not see them do. We have to give everybody a task. Write a letter to the president. Write a letter to the members of congress. Show them, demonstrate to them how important these programs are. Lets increase the enrollment in programs particularly in the communities like ours that need them the most. There is something that we all can do. This is not a spectator sport. So often people are willing to ork about how terrible it is the president to try and balance the budget on the backs of children. Yes, it is terrible. What are we going to do about it . The last thing that i would say is, there is always common ground. And not going to sit here, i dont think any of you all believe that the president does not understand the importance of supporting young people. Is help him to do to help congress, to help those who make these decisions find out how they can do both. It is not either or. It is both and. [applause] lets come up with a way to help them find that win so we all win. [applause] thank you. Just a shout out to all of the panelists. What are the most powerful voices . Who are the most powerful voices when they come to you. I think we have seen a lot of them today. I dont know if there was one voice we could bring. Is there one . Is it really this is that everybody . It is the collective. It is the strength of the collective. I think it is the synergy of everybody finding me finding the win, win, win together and taking credit for it. We all want credit. We should. Of course for me being in washington, i have to say that one of the most powerful voices that we see are the kids. Brittany, that is why i am so happy you are here. As someone who was a student in an afterschool. As someone who has mentored in afterSchool Programs. What can we do, what should we do . Britney let them play. Let them discover what their passionate about. I never would have discovered illustration had i not been in that program. Let them play. Let them discover. After school does what schools cannot do. That is discover what theyre passionate about and learn things besides like academics, which is important. But i feel like all of the things that have helped me in my career and me as a illustrator and living life, i learned in afterschool. I did not learn them in school. [applause] admiral admiral i would say, our nation has built just been built on onto partnership and innovation. Lead to make sure those opportunities are out there for every child. This is an investment in our future. We cannot back off. We have to stay in the forefront and find the winwin. There are many paths to success, and that is what we need to teach our children. That is what we need to reinforce with our elected officials. [applause] collect jumping on jumping along with things Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly has a powerful platform and has been able model for so many. On thisngle person panel and watching at home has the same ability to influence people in their own network. That is one of the things the internet has brought. Each of us has our own social networks, friends, families, that we can take to. By doing that you can magnify your voice. We can all reach the 60 million or more people that the governor is able to, but in our own community. Do not just yell at the television. Right to your member of congress. I spent 12 years working on the hill, trust me, if you call your member of congress and you are from their community, they listen. If you write, they listen. If you never do, they cannot read your mind. That is the funny thing about tv, you can you lead it all day, they cant hear you. The only way is to engage in the process. Listen to what everyone has said. I hope everybody today could get on twitter and facebook because your voices are heard and the matter. I think everyone for what they k everyone for what they do. I want to thank all of the panelists. Thank you for coming here. And dont get angry at the tv and tweet, but do tweet. Tweets that we are sending today, they will make a difference. We can use our voices in every venue. Social media, tv cameras are here. Particularly person to person, just like the afterSchool Programs to build support. I have said this to some of you before, but i think that after School Programs are facing one of the greatest challenges we have ever seen. I think an attack on the afterschool budget is bigger than an attack on federal funding. An attack on whether or not there is evidence these programs work is in attack on everything we do in our states. The good news is, we have a lot of retention. That is notcans, republican, that is not democrats, that is 83 of voters across every demographic line oppose cuts to afterschool. [applause] so now, while we have this opportunity, and while we have this incredible summit at a spectacular time that we wish we were not facing these cuts, is a time to shine a light on all of the extremely things you are doing. Extraordinary things youre doing. The case forake after, but take it to the next leve announcer cspan, were history of full daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Announcer