Where: Scranton, Pennsylvania

Who: Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, the mayor, school board members and 1,000 parents and students

Highlights: A "Battle of the Bands" event, built around the mayor's city pride initiative, attracted media attention and local policymakers, creating visibility for the program and strengthening relationships with officials.

Molly Quinn Philbin's BEST (Building Educational Success Together) afterschool program in Scranton, Pennsylvania hosted a musical Lights On Afterschool event in 2003. Philbin organized a "Battle of the Bands" at a newly opened high school, and invited students from neighboring middle school afterschool programs to listen and dance.

The visibility the event gave the program and afterschool in general was invaluable. "I think it was memorable for the officials who were there, and that it helped make the point about how important afterschool is in the lives of our children," she says. "And that's going to stick with them, I know."

THE PROGRAM

Each band performed its own arrangement of an original song called "Scranton, Come Back," commissioned by the BEST program to support the mayor of Scranton's "Restore the Pride" initiative.

Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll joined the mayor and several school board members at the event, along with representatives from the local JCPenney store, Junior Achievement, and Good Schools Pennsylvania. Approximately 1,000 parents and students participated. The lieutenant governor's and the mayor's participation helped generate widespread media coverage. JCPenney donated gift certificates as prizes for the participating bands.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Philbin's advice for staging such events: Beware the volatile combination of different age groups, different schools, and loud music. "I wasn't familiar with 'moshing,'" she says, referring to a dancing trend that involves dancers jumping onto other dancers. "We had to keep that contained - and that made me feel a little old! I ended up dividing the dancing time by age group, and pressing teachers and afterschool providers into service to keep things from getting out of hand."

On the other hand, she says, "It was great that the bands took the message of the city and put together their own arrangements. I think that was a powerful message. And I appreciated that the bands were all respectful of one another, and that the middle school students had a chance to see that behavior modeled."