Rural After-School Child Care: A Demonstration Project in a Remote Mining Community

Abstract

Residents of rural northeast Nevada lack many of the social services available in the urban parts of Nevada and the nation. One of the services lacking in Battle Mountain, Nevada is quality after-school child care. The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and the Lander County School District collaborated to develop and administer an after-school program for at-risk elementary students, which addressed this need. The program was designed to provide an educational experience while at the same time providing students with some of the protective factors needed to help them lead more productive lifes. This paper details how the program was carried out and shows the results of the program's evaluation. In lean economic times, a collaborative effort such as this may be one way to address youth needs in rural areas. The result was increased community support for quality after-school child care.