Click below to learn more about the Co-Chairs at the mass.gov site; site will open in a new window.

Senator Thomas McGee, Co-Chair

Representative Marie St. Fleur, Co-Chair

Message from the Co-Chairs

Children and youth across the Commonwealth need our help and support to become caring and productive members of our society. And our work could not be more timely or urgent. Massachusetts has nearly 1.3 million children and youth; more than 850,000 are ages 5-14 and more than 400,000 are ages 15-19. Nearly 14% of them live at or below the poverty level and over 80% are without access to safe and enriching opportunities when they are out of school. As we continue to debate what children and youth need to become productive adults, it is clear that we need to closely examine how we support their healthy development in and out of school.

To find out what children and youth need, the Special Commission is charged to develop recommendations on how best to define, "coordinate, expand, finance and improve accessible, affordable and quality out-of-school time programming for school age children in all settings" across the Commonwealth.

As Co-Chairs of this Special Commission, we welcome your input as we work together with our 36 members to craft proposals on how best to support the future success of our children and youth. In addition to the Commission meetings about this critical issue, we intend to hold public hearings across the Commonwealth. We are aware that not everyone will be able to attend and invite you to use this website to obtain information about our work and to communicate with us about your issues and concerns. We look forward to your comments.