Since 2005, Jodi Grant has been Executive Director of the Afterschool Alliance, a non-profit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality, affordable afterschool programs.
In America today, 14.3 million children take care of themselves after the school day ends, including almost four million middle school students in grades six to eight. Just 6.5 million children are in afterschool programs, but the parents of another 15.3 million children say their kids would participate if a program were available. The Afterschool Alliance seeks to educate the public, the media and policy makers about the enormous potential of quality afterschool programs and how programs across the country are inspiring children and creating opportunities for them to succeed academically, socially and professionally. The Afterschool Alliance serves as a national voice for afterschool and provides resources and materials to more than 20,000 afterschool programs. It organizes national and local afterschool events including the organization’s signature event, Lights On Afterschool; conducts research on the need and support for afterschool; develops public service advertising campaigns with The Advertising Council; creates tools for afterschool practitioners; and connects afterschool leaders to national, state and local opinion leaders.
As Executive Director, Grant is overseeing all aspects of the Afterschool Alliance’s work, setting its goals and strategies for reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, and overseeing a team of top researchers who are developing a roadmap for achieving afterschool for all children. In just two years, she has enlisted powerful new partners including The Atlantic Philanthropies, Bright House Networks, T-Mobile and the MetLife Foundation.
Prior to joining the Afterschool Alliance, Grant served as Director of Work and Family Programs for the National Partnership for Women & Families. In that position, she worked to protect and expand the Family & Medical Leave Act, and was a member of the team that successfully defended the law before the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, she worked on Capitol Hill as General Counsel to the Senate Budget Committee and as Staff Director for a Senate Committee. Her legislative accomplishments include expanded support for the child tax credit, the Child Health Insurance Program and class size reduction. She also served as liaison to the National Governors’ Association, where she worked closely with Republican and Democratic governors.
Grant graduated from Yale University with honors in 1990 and was elected senior class president. She received her law degree from Harvard University, where she was elected class president (first marshall). As a student, she volunteered at an afterschool program. She currently serves on the Board of the Partners for Livable Communities and as a Trustee of America’s Promise. Grant, her husband and two children live in Bethesda, Maryland.