A inter-faculty group, linking faculty members from a number of Harvard's schools, will research "larger, systemic barriers and solutions to increasing and improving afterschool programs."

PAER will also work with the Harvard Children's Initiative (HCI) and Phillips Brooks House--both programs that already work in the area of afterschool programming--to mobilize volunteers and coordinate training and assessment.

"We wanted to connect all of what we are doing and provide the resources to become more involved," said Lauren Louison, staff director at the Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs.

Harvard Medical School Brazelton Professor of Pediatrics Dr. Judith Palfrey, who directs the HCI, said she thinks the new initiative will be a significant step towards increasing the scope of afterschool programs in the city.

"There have been fabulous small programs all over the place," Palfrey said. "The idea of this partnership is to grow it to scale, and take what we know is good and make it available for a lot more people."

The exact details of how Harvard's initiative, as well as the larger Boston partnership, will be determined through discussions between partners and the community over the next several months after tomorrow's announcement.

"This really marks the beginning of six-month process where we'll do some serious planning," said Kathleen G. Traphagen, director of Boston's 2:00-to-6:00 After-School Initiative, which will coordinate the city's efforts. "The city will be a part of the process, and so will Harvard and the partners."