PASE's founding was based on a growing consensus among researchers and practitioners in the youth services field that community-level strategies were necessary to support young peoples’ healthy development and on the idea that a network of afterschool programs – a professional learning community – would be instrumental in promoting the importance of their work and supporting the continual improvement of their services. In the twenty years since then the afterschool field has grown in size, deepened in sophistication, and enhanced in quality.

While the critical need remains for high-quality afterschool programs for all young people – and in particular for young people living in poverty – new programmatic priorities continue to emerge, new resources to be developed, and promising practices to be identified. Keeping practitioners abreast of current trends and providing timely, responsive professional development offerings to emerging needs is of central importance to any professional network, and the afterschool field requires broad professional development services that are tailored to the unique needs of youth services professionals.