THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION:
THE AFTER SCHOOL PROJECT
Organizing a Diverse Meeting of Minds

With $16.9 million in funds and three complementary programs in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's After School Project provides resources and technical assistance to help connect children and youth from low- income families with responsible adults and other role models after-school. Each program has a distinct approach and focus. As its annual conference approached, the After School Project's leaders turned to SM& to create a program that would draw media attention and appeal to a diverse audience of researchers, educators and child development experts from each of RWJF's three participating cities.

The SM& team and the committee from Boston's After School for All Partnership, the local organization that the After School Project supports, decided to leverage "Physical (In) Activity Among Low-Income Children and Youth," a report released by RWJF that shed light on a major cause of obesity among children and adolescents. The theme of the conference would be learning in after-school programs, with a special focus on the impact of physical recreation and sports on learning and development. SM& oversaw the entire planning process, bringing together all the disparate topical elements, participants and attendees.

Leveraging the childhood obesity trend helped create a conference that appealed to media and drew high visibility and high-impact participation, including a reception hosted by Boston's Mayor Thomas M. Menino; a full day of workshops with a panel composed of faculty from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, foundation heads, leading researchers and students; and a dinner and speaking program that drew prominent community leaders.