Over the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted the daily lives of millions of Americans, and schools and students have felt these interruptions acutely. As schools return to normalcy, students, parents, and educators must now focus on the paramount challenge of learning loss, and strategies like afterschool, summer enrichment, and extended learning programs must be prioritized to meet this challenge. Through the Nashville After Zone Alliance (NAZA), Nashville’s Vision for Holistic Youth Development, and the Blueprint for Early Childhood Success, Nashville and community organizations work collaboratively to improve the learning experiences of the city’s youth. 

The City of Nashville recognizes the importance of these programs in not only remedying this learning loss but in ensuring youth thrive and develop to their full potential, and is driven to maximize out-of-school learning through afterschool programming. FUSE will partner with Nashville to build internal capacity and leverage public-private partnerships and resources to implement, scale, and pilot opportunities for youth across the city. The Executive Fellow will also identify opportunities to expand and/or improve early childhood education options. Through this work, FUSE will ensure all students from every neighborhood in the city have access to these high-quality educational experiences.