Award Opportunity: MetLife Foundation Seeks Nominations for Outstanding Afterschool Programs at the Middle School Level

The Afterschool Alliance and MetLife Foundation will award five exemplary afterschool programs serving middle school youth with a $10,000 MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator Award.

Middle School Choral Directors: Nominate your afterschool choral program or a program that you think deserves this distinction. Submit nominations by May 15, 2012, to be considered for this initiative, now in its fifth year. Nominees are sought in four categories:

  • Afterschool and Digital Learning: Programs that have demonstrated success with leveraging digital technology to facilitate engaging learning experiences, enhance technical skills and strengthen critical thinking across core subject areas.
  • Afterschool and the Arts: Programs that have demonstrated success using the arts as means to strengthen self-confidence and self-expression, to build community, and to improve academic and skills development.
  • Afterschool and Parent Involvement/Engagement: Programs that have demonstrated success in creatively engaging parents to help them become more involved in students' learning both in and outside of school.
  • Afterschool and School Improvement: Programs that have successfully utilized School Improvement Grant funding to help promote positive change and improved academic outcomes in partnering schools.

The MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator Awards aim to identify potentially lesser-known, yet highly effective programs and the individuals running them. Nominees will be judged by the innovative nature of their approach and demonstrated effectiveness. Each of the five award winners will receive $10,000 for their program.

Programs that are selected as winners will be notified this summer, and are expected to keep their selection confidential until awards are officially presented in October. Winners will receive additional support (up to $1,500, plus media outreach assistance) to hold a Lights On Afterschool event to announce the award, and will be expected to provide information and quotes for award materials and news releases. Additionally, awardees and other notable nominees will be recognized in nationally-released issue briefs and the Afterschool in Action Compendium .

View online nomination form and additional details.

View information about past winners.

If you have any questions about the nomination process, please contact Research Associate Chris D’Agostino at cdagostino@afterschoolalliance.org or call 202.347.2030.