About Us

The Central Texas Afterschool Network (CTAN) was established as a collaborative effort between private and non-profit organizations in the Travis County area that are committed to supporting providers that serve school-age children and their families during out-of-school time. 

CTAN promotes effective educational practices through resource sharing, networking, advocacy, research, assessment and evaluation, and collaboration among providers, families, and educational institutions.

Strategic Directions

• Fostering Local and Regional Partnerships and Memberships  
• Increasing Public and Professional Awareness of Afterschool in Central Texas  
• Engaging and Developing Afterschool Professionals to Ensure the Highest Quality Programs in Central Texas  
• Increasing Support for Afterschool Programs by Expanding Resources to Ensure Sustainability

Background

At the July 21st, 2000, Community Action Network (CAN) and Community Justice Council Public Safety Planning Retreat, children’s out-of-school time was identified as a critical issue in Travis County. After this retreat, interested individuals came together and the Central Texas Afterschool Network (CTAN) was formed. We organized around four main issues: accessibility, affordability, equity, and quality in out-of-school programs for the youth of Travis County. In order to broaden the base of support and bring more stakeholders to the collaboration, CTAN hosted "2001 Summit: A Meeting of the Minds."

The Summit was extremely successful and brought over 100 people from 52 different organizations together to discuss the issues of out-of-school programs. The energy and excitement generated at the CTAN summit resulted in the commitment of more than 60 volunteers willing to serve on one of four work groups addressing accessibility, affordability, equity, and quality. A steering committee was also formed to guide and monitor the progress of these work groups.

Click here for a graphic that provides a pictorial view of CTAN’s progress during its start-up period between 2000 and 2006.

Accomplishments

Since its inception, CTAN has accomplished the following:

• Created new funding opportunities totaling $550,000 for 1,500 school-age youth in Travis County
• Raised awareness of the need for more afterschool opportunities in Travis County, including 4 annual Lights On Afterschool! rallies at the capitol, with over 400 participants, and through CTAN’s annual Breakfast of Champions, which honors supporters, business leaders, policymakers, and volunteers in the afterschool arena
• Completed two mapping studies of low-income areas of Travis County , showing gaps in youth service throughout 12 zip codes.  The 2011 mapping study is available here.
• Developed a statement of Best Practices and created an accompanying quality self-assessment tool, in alignment with the National Afterschool Association’s accreditation program
• Collaborated with the organization Your Community Web to produce both a  printed and online searchable guide of afterschool opportunities, distributed to parents and schools in Travis County
• Partnered with United Way of the Capital Area and Ready by 21 to launch the High Scope Youth Quality Improvement System to increase program quality through-out the central Texas area.
• Conducted afterschool conference in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.  The targeted audience was program level youth workers.  Approximately 150 people attended each conference. The next conference will be held on February 18, 2012.