Tom Haggard, a resource development coordinator at Covington Partners, which works with Covington Independent schools to promote youth development, has been named one of 15 afterschool leaders from around the nation to serve as Afterschool Ambassadors for 2017-18 by the Afterschool Alliance.

Each Afterschool Ambassador will continue directing or supporting a local afterschool program while also serving their one-year Afterschool Ambassador term, organizing public events, communicating with policymakers and in other ways growing support for afterschool programs.

This year’s class includes 15 ambassadors from 14 states. More than three-quarters of the members of the new ambassador class have programs funded at least in part by the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative. Ambassadors’ programs also rely on support from state and local government, the business and philanthropic communities, and parent fees.

Each ambassador organized a major event for Lights On Afterschool, the Afterschool Alliance’s annual rally for afterschool. More than 1 million people participated in some 8,000 Lights On Afterschool events on Oct. 26 across the United States and at U.S. military bases worldwide.