📰 New Issue Alert! AfterSchool Today is Available from the National AfterSchool Association
The Spring 2026 issue of AfterSchool Today, the National AfterSchool Association’s biannual magazine, is now available. In celebration of Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week, we’re releasing this issue — The Power of Recognition — to highlight a critical truth for our field: recognition is not an extra. It is essential to a thriving out-of-school time workforce and the positive outcomes we strive to create for young people. Recognition goes beyond awards or appreciation days. It is about building environments where both youth and professionals feel seen, valued, and supported every day. Across articles and field perspectives, contributors examine how recognition shapes workforce retention, strengthens organizational culture, and fosters belonging. From everyday leadership practices to broader systems and policies, this issue highlights how valuing people drives stronger programs and a more sustainable field. This edition also celebrates the 2026 Next Generation of Afterschool Leaders, 30 emerging voices whose leadership, insight, and vision are helping shape the future of the field. Whether you are a practitioner, leader, partner, or advocate, this issue offers insights and practical strategies to help embed recognition as a core part of OST practice and culture. |