Our Work

Eighty percent of a child’s waking hours are spent outside the classroom, and students who participate in out of school time (OST) programs are better prepared for strong futures. High-quality OST, which includes afterschool, summer, and enrichment programs, provides applied learning opportunities that help kids develop critical life skills as well as nurturing peer and mentor relationships that accelerate academic learning and prepare youth for postsecondary success. As of 2020, only 20% of school-age kids in Texas participate in summer programs and only 15% participate in afterschool programs, both of which provide more learning opportunities and drive equity in a system that often fails to adequately serve those most in need.

We have to do better by and with our young people to build a future we all can be proud of.

In fall 2023, TXPOST embarked on its 2023–2026 strategic plan to reflect the needs of youth and OST programs and providers across Texas. TXPOST is committed to fostering and facilitating strategic collaboration and public investment to:

• Drive equity and create opportunities for marginalized youth;
• Promote whole child development within and beyond the sector; and
• Support OST professionals in their own career journeys.

OST is closing the opportunity gap so that, together, we can build communities where every child in Texas is supported and fulfilled. Learn more about our key work and strategies below.

TXPOST will generate and sustain connective tissue between individual ecosystem components both through our own relationship-building efforts at the state level and also through capacity-building and training efforts more locally.

• Facilitation & Resources: Create a forum of communication and dissemination of ideas and resources that represent a diversity of interests in the policymaking process. The network must have the ability to propose recommendations and channel influence in meaningful ways by providing access to key decision-makers.
  • Convene TXPOST stakeholder groups who have influence in their own circles and communities, including the Business Advisory Council, Youth Council, and Intermediary Collaborative.
  • Deepen relationships with key Texas Education Agency (TEA) personnel.
  • Generate resources to facilitate effective local partnerships.
• School Linkages: Make intentional linkages to education partners to support the development of school-based/school-linked afterschool policy.
  • Cultivate relationships with key education associations (eg, TASA, TASB, Educate Texas, Texas 2036, Raise Your Hand Texas).
  • Work with TEA to define “Community Partnerships” for grantees across multiple programs and funding streams.
  • Continue to build a comprehensive database of OST programs across Texas.
• Healthy Ecosystems: Build, model, and measure effective partnerships within broad and diverse ecosystems of support for families and kids.
  • Identify key stakeholders in whole child systems of support at the state level and cultivate relationships.
  • Disseminate stories of TXPOST partnerships and the resources they generate.
  • Revise, refine, and expand our quality standards to reflect a tiered understanding of quality, including program, organization, and system tiers.

TXPOST will reimagine how we build and reinforce quality systems to generate greater access to high-quality OST programs across the state.

• Trainings & Support: Foster a system of multiple pathways for training and technical assistance that will ensure high-quality programs across the state are initiated and meet the needs of a diverse population.
  • Expand our resource portal—myTXPOST—including a resource vetting process, vendor marketplace, job board, and events calendar.
  • Inventory training and technical assistance offerings across the state to facilitate additional access and broader dissemination.
  • Pilot a collaborative technical assistance model with an intermediary partner.
  • Expand our training and technical assistance portfolio based on the needs of the field and TXPOST’s expertise and relationships.
• Evaluation: Develop a statewide system of evaluation that includes self-assessment and continuous improvement strategies and rigorous impact evaluation.
  • Develop a statewide quality framework that reflects the state’s diversity while creating a more universal way of describing high-quality OST.
  • Develop a survey item pool cross-walked with commonly used quality standards to generate statewide metrics to measure program quality and/or youth outcomes and impact.
  • Build out additional TXPOST tools for evaluation that accompany our quality standards and other TXPOST activities.
• OST Network: Initiate a support network for program developers and providers that also includes the dissemination of best practices.
  • Develop a capacity-building series for OST programs to prepare to be state/federal grantees or subgrantees in partnership with TEA.
  • Outline and implement outreach strategies to identify, engage, and build relationships with OST programs in Texas that leverage communications protocols and build or reinforce TXPOST resources.
  • Explore opportunities for informal and collaborative support networks including office hours and communities of practice.

TXPOST will ensure that more programs have access to more resources to support diverse, high-quality experiences for Texas kids in OST settings.

• TXPOST Sustainability: Secure additional funding for continued support of the network structure.
  • Champion a budget rider to support network operations.
  • Pursue technical assistance contracts with individual clients.
  • Pursue technical assistance/capacity-building contracts with state agency clients.
• New Funding: Establish a base of sustainable funding for school-based/school-linked OST programs that is available through coordinating state and local funds and other public and private sources: increase funding for school-based/school-linked OST programs at state, regional, and local levels.
  • Champion state-level public funding at the legislature, including budget riders, grant programs, etc.
  • Advocate to make OST eligible for additional federal funding streams (eg, CCDBG & TANF) in Texas.
  • Explore opportunities for a school-age license.
• Fund Stacking: Establish a base of sustainable funding for school-based/school-linked OST programs that is available through coordinating state and local funds and other public and private sources: explore opportunities to coordinate funding with existing education and other resources.
  • Work with TEA to identify and partner with intra-agency projects and programs (including Communities in Schools, Community Partnerships, and Extra-and Co-Curricular) to generate cohesiveness and continuity for fund recipients.
  • Maintain, update, and expand fund mapping efforts through a budget rider and a partnership with the Children’s Funding Project.
  • Develop resources to promote sustainable practices for funding coordination at programmatic, organizational, and systems levels.

TXPOST will ensure our sustainability to grow and expand our impact.

• Brand: Continue to build brand awareness through strong, consistent communications with all stakeholders.
  • Revise and refine our vision.
  • Develop organizational values.
• Team & Operations: Invest in people, technology, and infrastructure to expand team and operational capacity.
  • Develop and implement team policies, collaboration guidelines, and evaluation systems.
  • Refine team recruitment, onboarding, and retention practices and policies.
  • Improve and streamline internal financial and HR systems.
• Development: Secure necessary funding and board support to ensure ongoing operations and sustainability.
  • Raise requisite funding for short-term operations and long-term sustainability.
  • Ensure a sustainable Board of Directors by assessing and addressing board health.