Based in public school buildings in six cities around the country, Beacon community centers have, for close to 20 years, offered a range of services to young people and their families when school is out of session. In 2007, as part of an effort supported by The Wallace Foundation to improve and expand out-of-school time (OST) opportunities for children and teens, the New York City Beacons embarked on an initiative to build up OST programming for a group in particular need of it: middle school students. This evaluation, the first of three funded by the city and Wallace, describes some of the early accomplishments of the initiative as well as the challenges it encountered, such as difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified staff.