The report suggests the following steps national, state, and local policymakers and other key stakeholders could take to increase access to afterschool programming:

• Increase funding for afterschool programs to reduce barriers to participation, such as affordability and availability. 
• Remove barriers to access, such as transportation issues, that prevent participation in afterschool programs. 
• Invest in afterschool staff by incentivizing competitive wages; supporting paid professional development; and helping to establish more developed career pathways. 
• Help align programming to parents’ priorities by supporting community needs assessments and research, such as surveys, that gauge families’ interests. 
• Build program capacity by supporting intermediaries, such as city and county systems and collaboratives and statewide afterschool networks.