Our namesake has seen several color changes over the years for many events and memorials. The Lighting of the Falls has seen green, orange, yellow, pink, blue, red, and purple. And this Thursday, October 28 they will be bathed in yellow.

Thursday, thousands of students will take part in Lights On Afterschool, a national initiative to celebrate the achievements of afterschool and draw attention to the need for more afterschool programs to serve the millions of children nationwide who are unsupervised and at risk each weekday afternoon.

The lighting on Thursday, according to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire, will draw attention to the many ways afterschool programs have stepped up during the pandemic to serve students and families and encouraged lawmakers, businesses, philanthropies, and others to increase funding and support for these programs.

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The number of kids who are involved in an afterschool program in South Dakota is impressive: 19,722. But that number could be doubled if more programs were available.

Rebecca Wimmer, CEO at Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sioux Empire says, “Learning doesn’t have to stop at 3 p.m. Like so many other afterschool programs around the nation, ours is partially supported by funding from the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative. Since its creation, it has provided funding to allow millions of children to attend afterschool. We need to grow this funding stream for afterschool and summer learning programs.”

You can learn more about Lights On Afterschool here.

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