(FLINT, Mich., Oct. 13, 2025) — The Flint Center for Educational Excellence is proud to join the Afterschool Alliance and thousands of afterschool programs for the nation’s showcase of afterschool programs: Lights On Afterschool! on Oct. 23, 2025.
“Afterschool programs provide the fun and safe environment that youth need to explore new things, build meaningful connections, and reach their full potential,” said Ava Jackson, Chief Program Officer for the Flint Center. “In October, the Flint Center is helping to shine a light on the vital role of afterschool programs in our community through a variety of
Lights On Afterschool! activities and events at our Thrive Afterschool program sites.”
Lights On Afterschool! celebrates the achievements of afterschool students and draws attention to the need for more afterschool programs to serve the millions of children nationwide who are unsupervised each weekday afternoon.
Some 24.7 million U.S. children not in an afterschool program would be enrolled, if a program were available to them, according to a survey of nearly 1,500 parents commissioned by the Afterschool Alliance and conducted by Edge Research in May and June of 2022. That is the highest number ever recorded. Unmet demand for afterschool programs is significantly higher among Latino and Black children (at 60% and 54% respectively) than children overall (49%). Cost is the top barrier to enroll, cited by 57% of parents as a reason for not enrolling their child.
The Flint Center’s Thrive Afterschool program overcomes the primary barrier to afterschool program enrollment by providing a free, innovative, evidence-based curriculum that offers Flint kids a balanced blend of enrichment activities with academic interventions that promote success in school.
The program is delivered to students in K-12 through two age levels; Thrive On is an elementary school initiative that provides enriching activities aimed at boosting school attendance, improving academic achievement, instilling self-efficacy, and fostering family engagement. Thrive Up is the secondary school counterpart, catering to middle and high school students.
“If you ask the question, does Thrive Afterschool program actually make a difference? The answer is yes,” said Ann-Marie Faria, Ph.D., CEO and Founder of Harmony Research, LLC. “Students in the program came to school more often, got more out of their school experience, and had improved academic outcomes compared to their peers who did not participate in Thrive Afterschool,” she added.
To date, 3,533 students have been served in Thrive Afterschool programs. In the first year the Flint Center began delivering afterschool programming through Thrive On and Thrive Up, data shows that students who participated in the program had better attendance than their peers who did not. For every two weeks spent in Thrive Afterschool programs student school attendance increased by 1.3 percent.
Additionally, students in the Thrive On and Thrive Up programs performed better on district interim assessment tests than their peers who did not. Specifically, there was a statistically significant and positive relationship between participating in afterschool programming and student performance on the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) district assessment, according to the Thrive Afterschool Summary of the First Year (2023-2024) report by Harmony Research, LLC.
While students participating in afterschool interventions started the year on pace or slightly behind their peers who did not participate, by winter 2024 they were outperforming their nonparticipating peers. Students who participated in afterschool intervention also had higher NWEA scores at the end of the school year than their peers who did not.
The Thrive Afterschool events for Lights On Afterschool! celebrate the impact of Thrive Afterschool programs on the lives of Flint kids and families and highlight the need for expansion of afterschool programming nationwide. Evening celebrations at Thrive Afterschool schools invite parents to join their students in family-oriented fun focused on the power of afterschool programming. Upcoming celebrations include a family paint-your-own-masterpiece experience, glow parties, a fashion show, two-generational events featuring games and make-and-take activities. Site celebrations will be held:
- Oct. 16 – Freeman Elementary, FCS (Flint Community Schools)
- Oct. 16 – Holmes STEM Academy Middle School, FCS
- Oct. 17 – Durant Tuuri-Mott Elementary, FCS
- Oct. 20 – Brownell STEM Academy Elementary, FCS
- Oct. 22 – McMonagle Elementary, Westwood Heights Schools
- Oct. 23 – Dailey Elementary, Beecher Schools
- Oct. 23 – Doyle-Ryder Elementary, FCS
- Oct. 23 – Eisenhower Elementary, FCS
- Oct. 23 – Flint Cultural Center Academy
- Oct. 23 – Potter Elementary, FCS
- Oct. 23 – Southwestern Classical Academy High School & Accelerated Academy High School, FCS
The Flint Center for Educational Excellence is building an educational ecosystem that works for all Flint kids by providing programs, research, and advocacy that ensure Flint kids, their families, schools, and communities thrive. We accomplish this through a cross-sector partnership to create a cradle-to-career support network connecting people, ideas and resources in tangible ways that strengthen our community through the power of collaboration. To learn more about the Flint Center, visit theflintcenter.org.
