Since 1989 the North Carolina 4-H Youth Development Department at North Carolina State University supported 4-H agents in developing after school programs for families and children. The primary objectives of the NC 4-H School-Age Care Program were to increase the availability of after school programs and improve the quality of existing after school programs.
To achieve these two objectives, the 4-H Department secured grant funds to hire school-age care staff to provide training and technical support to agencies. Grant funds were made available to NC agencies through a Request For Proposal (RFP) process. The primary goals of the grant funds were to allow agencies to establish new after school programs, expand the number of children served by existing programs, and to provide training to after school providers to increase their skill levels for working with children. The NC 4-H SAC staff members provided oversight to the RFP process to ensure that grant funds were expended according to the guidelines from the funder. Once grant funds were awarded, SAC staff members made site visits to evaluate the programs to ensure compliance with grant requirements. Agencies also submited monthly programmatic and financial reports to keep the 4-H SAC staff informed of program operations.
To ensure agencies understood the goals of the grant funds, SAC staff members conduct a orientation training with all grantees. These two to three day trainings cover all aspects of the requirements of the grant and provide programmatic training and curricula to assist agencies in their work.
