Harris County Department of Education’s Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment, (CASE) for Kids, collaborates with philanthropic, corporate and civic partners to bring greater funding and better quality out-of-school time programs in Harris County. The vision of CASE for Kids is a connected community investing in opportunities for youth. We believe that together we can equalize access to learning and enrichment opportunities for youth in need. The mission of CASE for Kids is to strengthen, support, and sustain afterschool programs and out-of-school activities. CASE for Kids believes a quality out-of-school time program provides avenues for opportunities for youth to excel, explore and expand their horizons before school, after school, on weekends, and during the summer. A quality program provides a safe and inclusive environment, diverse learning opportunities, effective administrative strategies, collaborative relationships, and focuses on sustainability. 

The Partnership Project’s goal is to provide supplemental funding for comprehensive afterschool programs to promote social and emotional learning (SEL) skills, increased support of numeracy and literacy development for economically disadvantaged students between the ages of 4 and 12 or up to the age of 19 with a documented disability. In addition, supplemental funding will assist in program quality improvement and program expansion. CASE for Kids will provide funded projects with additional support for numeracy and literacy integration and SEL into academic and enrichment activities, as well as site-based assessment and coaching to improve overall program quality. Successful applicants will demonstrate the ability to provide comprehensive programming and utilize CASE for Kids’ funds as an additional resource to target students in need of academic assistance. 

The CASE for Kids Partnership Project is the result of collaboration between HCDE, the Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC), the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and awarded sites. HCDE commits local funds to supplement comprehensive afterschool programming. Both HCDE and the site-matched dollars activate a commitment of federal childcare funds for quality improvement for school-age youth through TWC. This allows HCDE to provide various resources to selected sites, such as site visits, training, and access to curricula and materials through a free lending library.