Advocacy
Affinity Group Charter
January 15, 2015

Purpose: Create community buy-in for quality out-of-school time (OST) experiences for Kalamazoo County youth, ages 5 to 21.

Goals

1. Create brand identity for OST sector in Kalamazoo County.
2. Create messaging for OST sector in Kalamazoo County.

Definitions

1. Community
   1. OST sector (2^nd shift)
   2. Parents
   3. Youth
   4. Funders
   5. Policy makers
   6. K-12 education system (1^st shift)

2. Quality
   1. Use Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) developed by David Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality to define quality and guide quality improvement process.

3. OST experiences
   1. Before, after school programs
   2. Summer programs
   3. Sports outside of k-12 system

Messages

Quality matters.

We are committed to quality.

We are all in it together.

We seek to build collaborations and collectively impact the lives of youth.

We have high expectations for ALL youth.