UNESCO established the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) to encourage the development of learning cities. By providing technical support, capacity development, and a platform where members can share ideas on policies and best practice, this international exchange network helps urban communities create thriving learning cities. The…

Cities around the country are building systems that seek to make the most of public and private resources to provide widespread, high-quality, out-of-school time opportunities. Local officials are leading these efforts because participation in OST programs not only benefits young people but also the cities in which they live, with the potential to…

This executive summary describes highlights from the report, "Building Management Information Systems to Coordinate Citywide Afterschool Programs: A Toolkit for Cities." City-led efforts to build coordinated systems of afterschool programming are an important strategy for improving the health, safety and academic preparedness of children…

The National League of Cities (NLC), through its Institute for Youth, Education and Families, produced this report to help city leaders, senior municipal staff and their local partners answer those questions as they work to strengthen and coordinate services for youth and families, particularly for those cities building comprehensive afterschool…

In cities and towns across America, millions of children and youth get out of school by mid-afternoon but have neither a safe, supervised place to go nor a structured or engaging activity in which to participate. Because the hours between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. are when young people are most likely to be affected by crime or to engage in risky…

Camden, New Jersey, a city of 80,000 located directly across the Delaware River from center-city Philadelphia, is, by any index of urban decay, one of the nation's most distressed urban centers. While severely ineffective, the city houses the essential building blocks of future recovery: branches of four colleges and universities and two major…