Rhode Island Afterschool Plus Alliance announces new research report on afterschool transportation

We heard from our members that afterschool transportation was one of the biggest challenges they face; and we heard from parents that transportation is a significant barrier to their children's participation in afterschool programs.  To begin to address this issue RIASPA contracted with Acadia Consulting Group to conduct research on the current situation with afterschool transportation and potential strategies to improve the situation. 

Key findings:

• A considerable investment in afterschool transportation is being made by afterschool programs, schools, and parents.
• For the most part, these resources are not being managed at a community or regional level.
• Without system level coordination, a significant amount of duplication and inefficiency exists in the current model.
• A dramatic increase in coordination and efficiency is needed in order to serve a greater number of students with current resources.

The "bottom line" is that the management of afterschool transportation resources is a functionality that is missing and sorely needed in Rhode Island.  The Providence  After School Alliance has developed as a model in this area, and we detailed their work creating more efficiencies with transportation through their collaborative work with the Providence School Department as a case study in the report.

During the course of this research RIASPA worked collaboratively with the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, who is charged with developing a statewide transportation system for all students over three years. Through our work with them they have agreed to include afterschool programs in Phase 3 of their project.RIASPA will also use this research to inform the work of a new legislative commission on afterschool transportation that was created by legislation submitted by RIASPA last session. The commission will be meeting this spring.

Download the executive summary of the report.

Download the report of the Special Legislative Commission on Afterschool and Child Care Transportation.