Ignite Afterschool

Calling All Program Directors!
What do afterschool and summer programs budget for STEM PD and Training? Help the OST field find out!
 Take this brief (7-minute) Program Director survey offered by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST)
 Contribute to important research on OST STEM PD and Training
 Link to Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ProgDirSurveyCostofSTEMPD

Thank you to everyone at Bemidji and across the Northwest region who joined us for the 2026 Bemidji Spring Convening | Ignite + MDE.

Your ideas, collaboration, and commitment to young people continue to strengthen afterschool and summer learning programs across our communities. Together, we're building stronger connections, sharing innovative practices, and creating more opportunities for youth to thrive.

Thank you for bringing your energy, expertise, and passion to this year's convening. We can't wait to see the impact you'll make back in your programs!

Read more on the barriers families face in new summer findings: aa3pm.co

New data finds that affordability is the top barrier limiting youth participation in summer programs. Nearly 4 in 10 parents cite cost as a factor influencing their ability to enroll.

Read more on the barriers families face in new summer findings: aa3pm.co

Read the brief: https://stemnext.org/ai-brief

Millions of young people spend their afternoons and summers in afterschool programs. These spaces are trusted, hands-on, and community-rooted. And they're one of the biggest untapped opportunities in our national AI literacy strategy.

Today, STEM Next released Building AI Literacy at Scale: Why Afterschool Matters Now, a new issue brief showing how afterschool and summer programs can deliver real-world AI learning at the scale this moment demands.

The building blocks are in place. What happens next will determine whether AI literacy becomes a shared foundation for opportunity—or another dividing line.

Read the brief: https://stemnext.org/ai-brief

As the school year ends, summer opens the door to experiences young people don’t always get during the school year. This is when they can try things for the first time, like building robots or coding an app to solve real-world problems.
These moments help young people build confidence, explore what they’re interested in, and start to see where STEM can take them.
That’s why we’re working with partners across the field, including the National Summer Learning Association, to help programs design summer experiences that connect to real career experiences and skills.
We recently shared tools and insights from STEM Next’s Career-Connected Learning Framework at NSLA’s Summer Planning Bootcamp. You can find all the resources we covered in the Summer Bootcamp
Resource Toolkit here: https://bit.ly/4nE3urm

As the school year ends, summer opens the door to experiences young people don’t always get during the school year. This is when they can try things for the first time, like building robots or coding an app to solve real-world problems.

These moments help young people build confidence, explore what they’re interested in, and start to see where STEM can take them.

That’s why we’re working with partners across the field, including the National Summer Learning Association, to help programs design summer experiences that connect to real career experiences and skills.

We recently shared tools and insights from STEM Next’s Career-Connected Learning Framework at NSLA’s Summer Planning Bootcamp. You can find all the resources we covered in the Summer Bootcamp

Resource Toolkit here: https://bit.ly/4nE3urm

Ready to grow as a leader and make a real impact in your community?
Join the Young Nonprofit Leaders Club (YNLC) and gain hands-on leadership experience, mentorship, professional development, and the skills to lead in youth-serving nonprofits.

Spots are limited! Apply today and take the next step in your leadership journey!
🔗 Register now: igniteafterschool.org/YNLC

Nationwide, parents of 24.6 million kids want a summer program for their child. However, roughly half of these children are missing out on the positive and engaging experiences summer can hold.
New data paints the full picture of summer program participation in America: aa3pm.co

Nationwide, parents of 24.6 million kids want a summer program for their child. However, roughly half of these children are missing out on the positive and engaging experiences summer can hold.

New data paints the full picture of summer program participation in America: aa3pm.co

Ready to grow as a leader and make a real impact in your community?
Join the Young Nonprofit Leaders Club and gain hands-on leadership experience, mentorship, professional development, and the skills to lead in youth-serving nonprofits💼

👥 Ages 14–18
💵 $115 stipend per session
⏳ Deadline: June 19, 2026
Spots are limited, apply today and take the next step in your leadership journey!
Registration Link🔗 igniteafterschool.org/YNLC