Building Beyond the Limits of One Funding Source
Public funding has expanded access to after-school programming for students across the country. But the limits of one funding source do not necessarily have to define the limits of the entire program.
Many working families need reliable, high-quality after-school programming even when their participation is not fully subsidized. Some are able to contribute toward the cost.
That creates an opportunity. Where funding rules permit, districts can coordinate public funding with family contributions, scholarships, and other eligible resources to serve a broader group of students.
This approach, often called braided funding, can do more than expand access. By bringing more students into the program, districts can build a stronger enrollment base for offering the variety of experiences that make after-school programming vibrant, choice-driven, and engaging.
San Bruno Park School District in California provides a useful example.
San Bruno Park: Expanding Capacity and Program Variety
San Bruno Park School District offers a compelling example of what braided funding can make possible.
The district is located in California’s high-cost Bay Area. Approximately 31.2% of its students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The district received state ELO-P Rate 2 funding to support out-of-school programs for low-income students. However, there is a significant portion of the student body that comes from dual-working families who don’t qualify for subsidies, but can pay for and desperately need dependable after-school programming.
Having multiple ways to fund participation creates complexity.
Families need to understand what support is available to them and be able to access it without navigating a confusing process. If receiving a scholarship depends on knowing that a scholarship code exists, obtaining that code, and entering it correctly during registration, some families may never complete enrollment. A funding option only expands access if families can actually use it.
There are important considerations behind the scenes as well. When districts work with third-party providers, they need to protect student privacy while ensuring that students have a consistent program experience regardless of how their participation is funded. Scholarship-supported students should not have to be identified or treated differently from family-paid students simply because the financial mechanics are different.
These details determine whether a braided model works in practice. Adding more funding pathways without carefully designing how families, districts, and providers interact with them can simply replace a financial barrier with an administrative one.
This is where thoughtful technology becomes an enabler.
San Bruno Park has used 6crickets to support free programs, family-paid programs, and scholarships within its broader expanded learning operation. The system is designed to make scholarship support part of the registration experience rather than requiring families to navigate a separate scholarship-code distribution process. This reduces friction for families and administrators alike while allowing districts to manage different levels of financial support behind the scenes.
The goal is not simply to digitize a complicated process. It is to design away complexity that families should not have to manage.
And when that complexity is reduced, the impact can extend beyond registration.
When more students can participate, a district has the opportunity to expand capacity and serve more families. A larger enrollment base can also support more program choices, creating greater opportunity for the variety and vibrancy that make expanded learning engaging for students.
When funding strategy and technology work together, districts can create the conditions for both greater access and better programming.
The Big Takeaway
Braided funding can be more than a financing strategy. It can be a program-building strategy.
San Bruno Park offers one example of the idea in practice: free programs, scholarships, and family-paid programs supported within a broader expanded learning operation.
But making those pathways available is only part of the work. The experience has to be carefully designed so families can access available support without unnecessary friction, students’ privacy is protected, and different funding pathways do not create different, segregated program experiences.
That is where technology matters. As Michelle Graham, the Director of Teaching, Learning, and Intervention at San Bruno Park School District, has shared: “Using the 6crickets platform has been a game changer for us and allowed us to expand the number of programs we offer and the students we serve.“
Contact
Interested in exploring how 6crickets can support mixed-funding models, scholarships, streamlined registration, and expanded access in your out-of-school time programs? Schedule a conversation!
info@6crickets.com | [Schedule a conversation]
Yours in Education,
6crickets Team
