Mott Foundation awards Riley Institute $200,000 grant for afterschool education

MARCH 22, 2012
By Erikah Haavie, Media Relations

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Fifteen leaders in the afterschool and expanded learning fields nationwide will be selected for 10 months of specialized policy training as part of a new partnership between The Riley Institute at Furman University and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

The Riley Institute is using a $200,000 grant from the Mott Foundation to establish the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship, which will bring educators together with the goal of developing national policy leaders for afterschool and expanded learning opportunities.

The fellowship is named for William S. White, president and CEO of the Mott Foundation; Richard W. Riley, former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education under President Clinton; and Dr. Terry Peterson, National Board Chair with the Afterschool Alliance and a senior fellow at the College of Charleston.

“Providing more quality afterschool and summer learning opportunities for our young people is one good way to help more of them catch up, keep up and get ahead,” Peterson said.  “We need more young leaders at all levels across America to be able to design these policies so that they work well for local children and families.”

White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellows will spend a week on campus during October 2012 in an intensive workshop before returning home to create a policy plan that addresses the opportunities and challenges facing their state’s afterschool and expanded learning communities.

Throughout the year, Fellows will also participate in a series of online sessions and small-group conferences before presenting their individual policy plans in the spring of 2013.

Fellows will be chosen from nominees drawn from a broad national cross-section of individuals and entities who work closely with the state Afterschool Networks and/or the Afterschool Alliance.  Nominations can be made through May 4, 2012.

“As national discussions continue to take place about how best to prepare our children for success in college, careers and life, the leadership and expertise developed through this program will ensure afterschool and expanded learning opportunities remain a part of that national conversation,” said White, president and CEO of the Mott Foundation.

The Mott Foundation, established in 1926 by an automotive pioneer, is a private philanthropy based in Flint, Michigan.  Since 1935, the Foundation has been committed to supporting community education initiatives. In 1998, it began one of its most high-profile collaborations by partnering with the U.S. Department of Education on the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, which today serves more than 1.6 million children and youth in more than 10,000 afterschool programs in rural and inner-city public schools.

The Richard W. Riley Institute of Government, Politics and Public Leadership is a multi-faceted, non-partisan institute affiliated with the Department of Political Science at Furman. Named for Riley, a 1954 Furman graduate, the Institute is unique in the United States in the emphasis it places on engaging students in the various arenas of politics, public policy, and public leadership.

For more information, visit riley.furman.edu/afterschool or contact Cathy Stevens in the Riley Institute at 864-294-3265 or cathy.stevens@furman.edu.