Skip to Content

Class of 2019-20

Class of 2019-20

Meet the 2019-20 class! The group will be on Furman's campus October 6 - 11, 2019. Click here to view the Schedule of Activities. 
 
The Riley Institute is proud to announce its eighth class of White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellows who, beginning in October 2019 will spend ten months studying afterschool and expanded learning policy and developing state-level policy plans in partnership with their State Afterschool Networks and the National Afterschool Alliance.

Sixteen leaders in the field of afterschool and expanded learning nationwide have been selected as White-Riley-Peterson (WRP) Policy Fellows as part of a partnership between the Riley Institute at Furman University and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

“I am so proud to welcome 16 more leaders to this outstanding program,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. “It is so important for young people to have access to high-quality academic enrichment opportunities during afterschool hours and in the summer – and we need policy leaders who can make that happen.”

The new class of WRP Policy Fellows brings the total number of program participants to 122 since the initiative was launched in 2012.

Photo Gallery: 
Through discussion of actual case studies led by policy change-makers, the Fellowship equips graduates with a real world understanding of the art and science of sound policy-making for afterschool and expanded learning. In the 10-month program, which begins in October, Fellows will study afterschool/expanded learning policy and are expected to complete the program with newfound expertise to help inform and advocate policies that support afterschool and summer learning opportunities for children across the country. They put these new skills to use by developing and implementing afterschool-related policy projects in their home states.

“Students who attend afterschool and summer programs are better prepared for work and life. They attend school more, make gains in reading and math, improve their grades and have higher graduation rates,” said Cathy Stevens, director of the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship.

According to the national Afterschool Alliance, over 10 million children in America participate in afterschool programs, but more than 19 million additional children would participate if programs were available.

The WRP Policy Fellowship is named for William S. White, Chairman and CEO of the C.S. Mott Foundation; Richard W. Riley, former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education under President Clinton; and Dr. Terry Peterson, National Board Chair with the Afterschool Alliance, Director, Afterschool and Community Learning Network, and senior fellow at the Riley Institute. 

Press Coverage

Furman University Press Release