Connectivity creates the potential for action
The Barr Foundation invests in networks because it believes that changing the sector requires more than building the capacity of one organization at a time. In 2003, the foundation undertook a pilot project to build stronger and more cohesive connections among Boston’s after-school service providers. Building the Field of Dreams: Social Networks as a Source of Sector-Level Capacity in the After-School World captures the lessons learnt in this three year-long network-weaving process. A major learning is that building networks is not about building a rigid entity; rather it is about building connectivity among the players and the potential to take action.

(PDF)http://www.barrfoundation.org/usr_doc/Building_the_field_of_dreams_-_SML_Associates_-_Barr_2006.pdf

NWREL
Click here to read about lessons learnedl from Oregon after-school programs:  http://www.nwrel.org/request/jan99/oregon.html

Public/Private Ventures
Click here to download or purchase reports on after-school programs, including "Getting It Right: strategies for after-school success," published in 2005.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/youth/youth_publications.asp?section_id=8