The Initiative

Through the Afterschool Matters Initiative, the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) offers out-of-school-time (OST) professionals unique opportunities to expand their own research, evaluation, program development, and policy-making skills via the National Afterschool Matters (NASM) Fellowship Program and Afterschool Matters Journal.

Our Mission

We are a national coalition of leaders in the Out-of-School Time (OST) field.

Our goal is to foster health and well-being practices in afterschool programs nationwide, using science-based standards for healthy eating, physical activity, screen time, and social supports for these behaviors including staff, family, and child engagement.

We encourage OST leaders and program staff to explore the evidence-based Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) Standards.