Last month we were saddened to hear the news of the passing of Bill White. Bill was a wonderful champion of children, youth, and families and believed deeply in the power of afterschool to change young people’s lives for the better. Just two days before he passed away peacefully, Bill was honored by the Council of Michigan Foundations for his leadership. 

With Bill’s leadership, a once-small federal funding stream of $1 million grew to more than $1 billion, due in large part to a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and the Mott Foundation. Today this program, 21st CCLC, now supports more than 1.7 million children and youth each year at more than 11,000 sites across our country. You can read more about his impact in a recent blog post from the Afterschool Alliance.

During that same week of Mr. White’s passing the 8th cohort of the White-Riley-Peterson Fellowship at The Riley Institute at Furman University was convening. Heather, our CAN Program Director for Policy and Outreach, was selected as a fellow for this cohort and is the fourth fellow from California. Honored to be a part of this impactful fellowship program named after Mr. White she shared some of her thoughts -  

“I will never be able to express enough gratitude for this opportunity and its impact. After the week at The Riley Institute I have more faith in the world, more conviction in my work, and a new network of amazing human beings dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth all across the country. Thank you to Bill White, Secretary Riley, Terry Peterson, all the staff and faculty of The Riley Institute and my other amazing fellows for their investment in this program and an experience of a lifetime! I hope to honor the legacy of Mr. White by continuing to work for high-quality afterschool opportunities for all the children and youth of California.”