The 30th Annual Lights On Afterschool Celebration - October 16, 2008 and Kickoff on September 16, 2008

Lights On Afterschool is celebrated nationwide to call attention to the importance of Afterschool programs for America's children, families and communities. In America, today, 1 in 4 youth - 14.3 million children - are alone and unsupervised after school. After-school programs keep kids safe, help working families and inspire learning. They provide opportunities to help young people develop into successful adults.

Lights On Afterschool was launched in October 2000 with celebrations in more than 1,200 communities nationwide. The event grew in 2001 to more than 3,600 events, and more than 7,500 in 2006.

This October, 1 million Americans will celebrate Lights On Afterschool! There will be a kick-off event this year at the New Mexico State Fair on September 16, 2008 from 2pm-6pm at the Kids Pavilion across from the big red barn. The theme for this year's Lights On event is "Go Green with Culture."

The idea behind this is that we wanted to celebrate the diversity within New Mexico and to let the rest of the country know that though we are many, we all say the same thing, "After School for All."

To kick off this event we are having a youth contest, asking youth to put something together that shows off what they do to "Go Green." We will also be asking Out-of-School Time Programs that have environmentally friendly programs to put up a table at the state fair to show off their programs.

The following link is to the contest flyer. Please take time to download it, print it and distribute to the youth in your program.

LOA Contest Flyer 2008 http://www.nmforumforyouth.org/documents/ostn/LOA_Contest_Flyer_2008.pdf

Sincerely,

Mike A. Lujan, Director
New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network
New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community

One more thing. We are hoping to use the messages the youth provide at the 2009 Legislative session as we move the Out-of-School Time forward in New Mexico. When you come to the Fair, please sign up to host a Lights On event in your community and receive a LOA kit. Last year we had 37 events across the state. Let's see if we can top that number this year.