History

For many years, Rochester Area Community Foundation (RACF) has convened community leaders in an effort to support the advancement of high-quality school-age youth development programs, by championing accreditation, quality standards, and capacity-building to improve outcomes. 

In 2001, RACF formalized this support by establishing the Greater Rochester Afterschool and Summer Alliance (GRASA). The initial goals of the early founding members – RACF, United Way of Greater Rochester, Rochester City School District, City of Rochester Department of Recreation and Youth Services, and the Rochester-Monroe County Youth Bureau – included developing a community-wide common framework, principles, language, outcomes, and practices across youth development and OST.

In the following years, GRASA adopted and launched the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality’s Youth Program Quality Intervention (YPQI). This process has led to improved quality of programming across GRASA member organizations. Confident that the community was moving in the right direction, RACF added staff in 2016, to assist with GRASA’s continued development and growth. 

GRASA has remained engaged in much of the work described above, first as a committed group of volunteers representing funding, policy, program implementation and evaluation, and more recently as an intermediary, with the addition of an advisory board and a small paid staff. GRASA’s founding member base has grown into a network of more than 50 providers, community partners and supporters. Together, GRASA will continue to support OST providers that collectively harness the power of high-quality OST opportunities for every youth.