History
In 2006, Heart House Dallas, a local afterschool provider led by Suzie Kiefer, received a grant to assess and research the various community-based and family-centered afterschool programs available in Dallas County. Their project, entitled Today’s Children: Tomorrow’s Communities 2006 After-School Program Assessment (1.1 MB), uncovered several key challenges facing the local afterschool industry:
- There are approximately 2,200 afterschool providers in Dallas County but no unifying agency to facilitate communication, learning or information exchange between the agencies.
- Despite the large number of providers, Dallas County only has enough afterschool spots to serve 64% of the children who require afterschool care.
- Dallas’ population is growing and by the year 2010, it is expected that Dallas County will need an additional 97,000 afterschool slots to meet the demand.There is no single listing of all local programs, making it difficult for parents to find a suitable program in their area.
Shortly thereafter, Janet Mockovciak, a Dallas Social Venture Partner, was introduced to Suze Kiefer in her efforts as a DSVP volunteer. Janet learned about the afterschool landscape in Dallas from Suzie, and together the women decided to start a professional network for local afterschool providers. In April 2007, Suzie and Janet hosted a Town Hall Meeting to officially launch Dallas AfterSchool Network.
Dallas AfterSchool Network's full-time employees, Terri Barnes and Tanya McDonald, started with Dallas AfterSchool Network as volunteers from the time it was started. Both women became full-time employees in 2009.
