The purpose of the 2011 Rural Afterschool Summit was to educate and inform participants on the rural perspective in order to garner champions for rural after school programs.

The Summit highlighted the successes and challenges of rural after school programs, demonstrated the need for sustaining rural programs, and provided opportunity for participants to make recommendations to strengthen rural programs. The morning session highlighted different rural perspectives including the California Department of Education, administrator, practitioners, youth, and policy. The afternoon session gave participants an opportunity to have round table discussions on the definition of rural afterschool, allocation issues, transportation, and advocacy.