In Providence, Rhode Island, nearly 70% of middle-schoolers were coming home to empty houses. It was the early 2000. The data was stark. The answer wasn’t just “more after-school programs.” It was a total rethink of how the city functions.<\/p>\n
Enter the Providence After School Alliance, or PASA.<\/p>\n
PASA didn\u2019t just run camps. They built an ecosystem. A coordinated learning campus where schools, city agencies, and nonprofits talk to each other. They treated the whole city as a potential classroom.<\/p>\n
This isn’t just local history. PASA\u2019s model has influenced afterschool efforts in over 30 cities. It proves that if you want to change outcomes, you have to change the structure around the kid.<\/p>\n
Before PASA, out-of-school time (OST) in Providence was a mess. Scattered. Uncoordinated. If a kid wanted to do STEM or art, they had to navigate a labyrinth of independent providers with no shared calendar, no transportation, and no quality standards.<\/p>\n
The spark came from two places: a Wallace Foundation planning grant and a newly elected mayor, David Cicilline, who was tired of gridlock. He saw OST not as an “add-on,” but as a high-leverage strategy. The question was bold: What if the city itself functioned as one big, coordinated learning system?<\/em> <\/p>\n PASA was born from that question in 2004. But here\u2019s the catch. PASA didn\u2019t become another provider. It became the boundary-spanning leader. The intermediary. The glue.<\/p>\n “We are not a provider. We are the organization responsible for aligning the ecosystem.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This distinction is vital. PASA focused on access, quality, and coordination while letting community groups do the heavy lifting of program delivery.<\/p>\n The signature move? The AfterZones.<\/p>\n Think of them as neighborhood learning “campuses.” PASA clustered a middle school with local youth-serving organizations. They shared schedules. They shared buses.<\/p>\n And they listened to the kids.<\/p>\n Youth voice wasn’t a checkbox. It was the design engine. The students were clear: they would walk across town for quality. But they wouldn’t cross the street for something boring.<\/p>\n The result?<\/p>\n Attendance went up. Math grades rose by about a third of a letter grade, according to a 2010 Public\/Private Voices evaluation. PASA was one of the first intermediaries to bake quality standards based on actual youth development principles into the mix. They even negotiated free transportation with the district bus service. That alone removed a huge barrier for low-income families.<\/p>\n By 2006, they had a standing agreement with city leadership. It wasn\u2019t tied to a single politician\u2019s tenure. It survived elections. That durability is rare in the nonprofit world.<\/p>\n Middle school is one thing. High school is another. The drop-off in teen programming was real. PASA refused to let the pipeline break.<\/p>\n Enter The Hub.<\/p>\n Launched in 2011, The Hub brought the AfterZone logic into high schools. Studios. Pathways. Mentorship. But it wasn\u2019t enough to just “be there.” The Hub had to be academically relevant.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where the All Course Network<\/strong> (ACN) came in.<\/p>\n Rhode Island created ACN as a statewide catalog of free, credit-bearing opportunities. PASA helped shape it. Suddenly, a project at the Roger Williams Park Zoo or a coding workshop at DownCity Design counted toward graduation.<\/p>\n It blurred the line between “school” and “learning.”<\/p>\n In one pre-pandemic example, students could earn ACN-approved credit while working with community experts. This was pioneering. It treated community-based learning as an extension of education, not an optional hobby.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t talk about PASA without talking about Hillary Salmons. Her path to this role was jagged, not linear.<\/p>\n At 18? She ran a summer camp in a fishing village off Newfoundland. It was her first taste of building trust in a tight-knit community.<\/p>\n Later? She was in Japan, mobilizing resources for refugee support in Southeast Asia. Then New York City during the Koch-era fiscal crisis. She worked alongside youth development titans, sharpening her systems instincts through initiatives like Beacons.<\/p>\n Salmons brought something rare to Providence: street-level credibility and political fluency. She could move between grassroots organizers and institutional funders without losing her mind. Or her message.<\/p>\n When she arrived, she had a newly elected mayor ready to back a massive, youth-led design process. 100+ stakeholders mapped assets. They designed the intermediary model. Salmons became the founding Executive Director.<\/p>\n Here is where it gets real.<\/p>\n PASA served 23,000+ youth. Its model spread nationally through networks like Every Hour Counts. But ecosystem stewarding is hard work. It\u2019s not just about running a good program. It\u2019s about trust, coordination, and constant cultivation.<\/p>\n The pandemic broke things. Not just physically, but structurally.<\/p>\n When schools closed, PASA pivoted hard into emergency response. Food distribution. Crisis support. Virtual pivots. They kept the lights on. But the strain was palpable.<\/p>\n Hillary Salmons retired in 2021. Ann Durham, who had been with PASA since 2012, stepped up. And it worked. Durham used Congressionally delegated funds (including $350,000 for STEAM camps) to stabilize the workforce. In 2021-23, PASA offered 820 free programs, serving 5,100 kids. They even went back to recruiting and training new providers who had closed during the pandemic slump.<\/p>\n But the leadership churn didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n In 2024, PASA was recognized as a Bank of America Neighborhood Builder. A nice nod.<\/p>\n In 2025? Ann Durham stepped down. Eric Gurna took over as interim ED.<\/p>\n Why interim? Because the organization is re-evaluating its core function. Direct service versus ecosystem-wide coordination. It\u2019s a delicate balance. When the number of community programs drops, do you step in and fill the gap? Or do you stay back and try to rebuild the network?<\/p>\n PASA is trying to do both. They are leaning into their local trust and city partnerships. But the question remains open.<\/p>\n PASA shows us that an after-school ecosystem<\/strong> isn’t a buzzword. It\u2019s infrastructure.<\/p>\n It requires: The funding story is messier. PASA has relied on a mix of Wallace grants, 21st Century funds, and city support. But public funding for intermediaries<\/em> \u2014the groups that stitch the system together\u2014is often overlooked. You can fund a program. Funding the glue is harder.<\/p>\n With leadership changes and an uncertain post-pandemic landscape, PASA is at a crossroads. They are pivoting back to their strengths. Reforging connections. But the need for sustainable, public funding for these boundary-spanning stewards has never been clearer.<\/p>\n Because if the system breaks, who picks up the pieces?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Providence, Rhode Island, nearly 70% of middle-schoolers were coming home to empty houses. It was the early 2000. The data was stark. The answer wasn’t just “more after-school programs.” It was a total rethink of how the city functions. Enter the Providence After School Alliance, or PASA. PASA didn\u2019t just run camps. 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The AfterZone Innovation<\/h3>\n
High School and The Hub<\/h3>\n
The Leader: Hillary Salmons<\/h3>\n
Sustainability Challenges<\/h3>\n
What We Can Learn<\/h3>\n
\n– Coordination over competition.<\/strong> The AfterZones proved that sharing space and schedules reduces friction for families.
\n– Youth voice as design.<\/strong> If the kids won’t cross the street, you have to move the program across the city.
\n– Academic integration.<\/strong> The All Course Network made out-of-school learning count. Literally.
\n– Political durability.<\/strong> Binding agreements that survive mayoral elections keep the focus on long-term impact, not short-term wins.<\/p>\n