By - Kidtastic Pediatric Dental & Orthodontics

Due to increasing needs for dual incomes and nontraditional homes becoming more common, children often have to fend for themselves for a few hours after school each day. Thankfully, there are several programs offered throughout the valley which have activities to offer, whether your child’s a young athlete or artist. Here’s a list of a few youth centers in Phoenix and services they provide.

Phoenix Afterschool Center (PAC)
The City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department’s Phoenix Afterschool Center is a fun, supportive and educational place for children ages 6 to 13 to spend the after-school hours throughout Phoenix. Their recreation staff leads structured, age-appropriate activities that include:

Homework help
Educational enrichment which includes:
- Book Blast
- Baxter’s Clubhouse / Step Into Reading
- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum
- Guest presenters
Physical recreation
Weekly nutrition education programs
Social recreation and supervised free time where kids can play and socialize
Arts and crafts projects

For registration information, go to phoenix.gov/parks/teens/pac. You can also register in-person at any City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department community center.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix enables all young people, especially those who need them most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix offers affordable after-school and summer programs for 23,000 young people in grades K-12, that are designed to change the lives of young people in four key areas:

Fun With a Purpose
Academic Success
Be Great, Do Good
Healthy Choices

The Clubs are constantly evolving to meet members’ needs, so each Club has a unique schedule of programs. For more information, check out bgcmp.org.

AzCASE
The Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence is a statewide advocate and information resource for promoting high quality, affordable and accessible out-of-school time programs as an essential component in the positive development of Arizona’s youth.Their mission is to improve access to learning opportunities for all Arizona youth by serving as the pre-eminent source for professional development, advocacy and community capacity building in the out-of-school time community.

Their programs include: