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How One City Helped Pave the Way for Afterschool Systems Across the Country

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“If it weren’t for Hillary Salmons’s foresight, brilliance, and leadership, the out-of-school-time field would not be what it is today,” says Jessica Donner. Donner should know. She heads Every Hour Counts, a coalition of citywide organizations working to increase access to high-quality learning opportunities for underserved students. And who, exactly, is Hillary Salmons, apart from being one of the founders of Every Hour Counts? She is the now-retired founding executive director of the Providence After School Alliance (PASA), which since its inception in 2004 has provided Rhode Island’s capital city with a model system of afterschool programming–and inspired similar efforts in some 30 cities nationwide, according to one estimate.  PASA is an “out-of-school-time intermediary,” which means it coordinates the many moving parts and players (schools, program providers, nonprofits, and municipal agencies for starters) of a system to provide young people, whatever their family’s income, with plenty of opportunities after school and during the summer. Programs to stretch the mind and muscle range from coding to basketball, ceramics to horticulture, dance to volleyball.PASA’s approach emphasizes high-quality programming, attention to the needs and wants of particular age groups, and collaboration among the various system partners.    PASA has historical ties to Wallace. In 2004, the foundation, as part of a major initiative to encourage the development of the then-novel idea of an afterschool system, awarded a $5 million grant to help establish PASA. This followed an earlier planning grant–and preceded additional support from the foundation over the years. In Providence, youth faced significant economic and educational challenges. Then-Mayor David Cicilline, along with a team of local organizations and experts including Salmons, put their heads together to plan an afterschool enterprise that would meet the needs and interests of the young people in the city. What emerged with PASA was the <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/afterzone-outcomes-for-youthparticipating-in-providences-citywide-after-school-system.aspx">AfterZone</a>, designed specifically for Providence’s middle school students. Today, it serves 1,500 young people each year, giving them access to almost 100 programs in STEM, the arts, and sports, provided by 70 Providence organizations, teachers, and community-based educators. PASA has also expanded its efforts to include high school students. Salmons retired in 2021 after 17 years heading PASA. It’s a measure of her impact that for an event several months ago to mark the milestone, every member of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation–its two senators and two house members—prepared videos to thank her.  Among them was Cicilline, who, after the early PASA years, went on to serve seven terms in Congress. (He recently stepped down.) Some 17,000 children have been served by PASA since it was founded, Cicilline remarked, praising  Salmons’ “vision and fortitude” in helping to make that possible.  Salmons, he added, had been “part of one of the things I’m most proud of from my days as mayor.” We chatted with Salmons over Zoom recently to gain insights from her experiences working in afterschool, learn <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/hours-of-opportunity-volumes-i-ii-iii.aspx">why systems are important</a>, and find out more. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Wallace Foundation: PASA is one of the earliest afterschool systems. Can you talk about how it got started and how it grew? Hillary Salmons: Credit is due to The Wallace Foundation for inviting our city to develop a plan, but I think the way they conceived of planning was very smart. It had to be a very broad-based, public-private collaborative effort. They hired a local group, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, and they facilitated the planning process, which involved Mayor Cicilline, now head of the Rhode Island Foundation. He was critical to the planning process. At the time, Wallace felt that public-private systems really needed to have a leader, and our mayor was 200 percent behind a youth development mindset and strategy. He was an education-minded leader. He totally embraced the planning process and participated in a great deal of it, which I think motivated community nonprofit organizations that were serving youth and the child policy community. It was really an all-inclusive effort. Hundreds of people came to planning meetings, and we divided up into all sorts of groups to work on determining what age group to work with and determine where our assets were. What could we build off of? What did we have in the nonprofit sector, in the public sector that could be better linked together, and what does it mean to build a system? Then also, what does quality mean? There were a lot of young people involved in the planning process as well from the high school age group, and they were really saying that they would walk across the city for a really high-quality program, but they wouldn't cross the street for crap. Kids were really our customers. They were discerning about what was stimulating and what was not. The young people in middle school and high school were vociferous about that being an important element and agreed that high quality was the essential part of the systems-building effort. It took about six to nine months to plan. Middle school was where the greatest deficits are. I think that that's often the case nationally. When looking at the gaps of where the need was the greatest, we felt as if middle school was where the greatest deficits are. I think that that's often the case nationally.  High school groups tend to be in arts organizations and sports organizations. There seems to be more in communities around high school because high school youth require it and demand it, but middle school in our city had a deficit. We didn't even have intramural sports. Other than 15 or 20 kids playing basketball, very few middle school students were engaged in afterschool learning and hands-on experiences. That was an area to start, and that's where we decided to focus. That pre-planning, I think, is always key. There's no question, having a major financial investment from the private sector was huge. It immediately attracted a local private investor in Bank of America and soon to follow the Rhode Island Foundation. WF: Can you talk a bit about why systems are important? HS: It's mostly scale. The reality is the field is often a patchwork quilt of smaller projects, and it's easier for a little nonprofit to serve 150 kids, but to go to scale in a city requires systems. That is, I think, the biggest motivation. Also, systems force communities to think about: What are we doing for elementary, middle, and high school right up through the ladder versus assigning afterschool to just the childcare route. When you're thinking with a youth development lens, you're thinking about: What does it take for a healthy development of young people, and where are the opportunity gaps for low-income kids? Oftentimes, middle class and upper middle-class kids have access because their parents can pay to play . If you're thinking systemically, you're thinking across age groups. You're thinking across resources and maximizing them. You're thinking about interfaces with the public systems, and then you're thinking about the class divide and the opportunity gap. Who's getting it and who's not? I think when you're thinking systemically, you start thinking holistically about child development. What do young people need to thrive? The point of systems is to get you out of the patchwork like, "Well, we're doing a little apprenticeship program for high school age kids, and well, we got the childcare covered," versus what does the healthy development of our young people in the non-school hours look like? WF: Were there a couple of key obstacles the organization needed to overcome, and, if so, how did you do that?What do we do with $1 million in a town that doesn't have that much money? How do we maximize the investment? HS: The biggest factor in a deficit-oriented economy is distrust because all the nonprofits are competing with each other [for funding]. Their first thought was: Who's going to get all this money when it comes to town? So, we had to think about how to build trust. You've got to really have everybody be involved in the planning process. I was a big believer in being transparent about budgets. We had to show people that we wanted to collectively invest the money as opposed to it being a competition where some nonprofits get money and some don’t. What do we do with $1 million in a town that doesn't have that much money? How do we maximize the investment , and how do you trust that this collective effort will leverage more money?In the first few years, we helped groups that didn't get 21st Century Community Learning Centers money become partners on getting 21st CCLC money with us, and we helped scaffold them in managing a federal grant. The word got out that we were real allies and to be trusted. WF: What advice might you give other cities that are considering building systems? What advice would you give to those that already have systems underway? HS: What do you want to do if you want to replicate a PASA or a Boston After School & Beyond? I think the advice the Every Hour Counts community gives to cities is to try to get a major local philanthropy. I really do think a capital infusion is absolutely essential. If it isn't coming from a national foundation, it should come from a local corporation. Right away, whoever the intermediary is needs to start raising local dollars. Really thinking about mapping out what's the potential for collective public-private investment makes a lot of sense. Then who are the key players? It's important to get the nonprofit sector to really collectively advocate for it, to work with the state afterschool alliance, so there's an advocacy agenda. I also think getting youth involved is absolutely key because they're the customer. I also think getting youth involved is absolutely key because they’re the customer, and the customer can really speak their power to say what they want.  I think youth leadership and youth voice are really important. The best place to really start in designing a system is to design it with some of the youth advocacy or youth development organizations because I think when investors–public or private–see their customer constituencies actively involved, it changes the political dynamic. WF: Are there any other thoughts that you want to share about afterschool systems in the year 2023 and beyond? The mayor of Providence became very connected to the mayor of Nashville. And then the Nashville mayor wanted to replicate what Providence was doing. HS: I think how we got PASA where it is now was by working with our colleagues in the field. Early on, The Wallace Foundation was great at helping build an afterschool systems network through their grantees, and we planned together, and learned, and shared. Then when Every Hour Counts was created by us, we could share strategies, and we could really share secrets with each other and support each other. That became huge. The mayor of Providence became very connected to the mayor of Nashville. And then the Nashville mayor wanted to replicate what Providence was doing.  Having these cities collegially working together is absolutely key. The good thing about 2023 is that there's a group of cities through Every Hour Counts that are all seeing the academic and mental health crisis that COVID created. They can stand together to say, "What are we seeing? What do we think we should do? How do we react to this?" Because if you're going in alone as a little city, you don't have the big picture. How do we stay strong, and balanced and find the research and data that backs us up?  Again, having a collective that's using data, and is rooted in quality, assessment, and accountability around youth development and child development metrics is extremely helpful to cities who are trying to make a case that this is what they should be doing. I think staying on top of the customers’ (youth) priorities is what the field can do because it's close to the ground. The whole field is close to the ground. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Preparing%20to%20head%20north_HS.jpg" alt="Preparing to head north_HS.jpg" style="margin:5px;" />Hillary holds a “lookalike puppet” awarded to her by PASA for her years of leadership as she prepares to head north to NewFoundland, where she spends her summers in retirement. WF: You've devoted so much of your life to PASA. What does the next chapter look like for you? I'm going to play, and I'm going to be a kid. HS: I've retired, and I've decided to be a kid. I just worked my butt off for 40-something years. I'm going to play, and I'm going to be a kid. I have a house in Newfoundland where I live two and a half months of the year. I try to kayak, hike, camp, enjoy my grandchildren, and get out in nature. I'm playing, doing arts and crafts. I'm doing all the things you're supposed to do in the afterschool world. I play volleyball, and I ski in the winter. I am on a few boards. I'm on the board of my Unitarian church and am helping with a campaign for the Congress seat. I am on the board of a charter school. I'm doing a little bit of volunteering. That's like joining a club. That's like my student council club. My life is like the PASA menu of programs, and I'm trying it all. I think one of the greatest rewards is knowing that PASA is alive and well and is thriving , and that it is a systemic and institutional sustainable idea. All new staff, great leader. They're all trucking along, doing amazing things in the city, and serving so many youth really well. Top photo: Hillary Salmons tells us she has been able to enjoy many hobbies during retirement, including picking blueberries, enjoying nature, kayaking, camping, playing volleyball, and spending time with her grandchildren.

Jenna Doleh

2023-09-19T04:00:00Z

Your source for research and ideas to expand high quality learning and enrichment opportunities. Supporting: School Leadership, After School, Summer and Extended Learning Time, Arts Education and Building Audiences for the Arts.

9/19/2023 5:53:24 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / How One City Helped Pave the Way for Afterschool Systems Across the Country it weren’t for Hillary Salmons’s foresight

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How Equity-Minded School Districts Run Afterschool and Summer Programs

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Wallace has some 50 active research studies across the foundation’s areas of arts, education leadership, and youth development. This blog is the second in an occasional series of conversations that Bronwyn Bevan, vice president of research, has been having with researchers Wallace has commissioned or awarded grants to. She recently talked with professors Valerie Adams-Bass, from Rutgers University, and Nancy Deutsch, from the University of Virginia, about a study they led for Wallace to understand how school districts that were taking strong steps to address equity during the school day were thinking about equity with respect to their afterschool and summer programs. Wallace has posted <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/expanding-equity-afterschool-summer-learning-lessons-from-school-districts.aspx">a brief</a> describing key points from their study. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Bronwyn: Before you talk about what your study found, can you please share how you defined equity in your research? <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/how-equity-minded-school-districts-run-afterschool-and-summer-programs/Valerie%20Adams-Bass.jpg" alt="Valerie Adams-Bass.jpg" class="wf-Image-Right" style="margin:5px;width:190px;height:253px;" />Valerie: We define equity as ensuring that every person has access to what they need to thrive. This is different from ensuring that every person has equal access to resources. Instead, it means that when making decisions about resources, you need to consider how existing disparities affect people's needs differentially. For example, designing programs for “all students” without attending to who has access to transportation to the programs and who doesn’t would not be an equitable approach. This way of thinking about recognizing and responding to disparities formed the backbone for <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/expanding-equity-afterschool-summer-learning-lessons-from-school-districts.aspx">the set of equity indicators</a> we developed that then guided the selection of districts in our study. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/how-equity-minded-school-districts-run-afterschool-and-summer-programs/Bronwyn%20Bevan%20-15.jpg" alt="Bronwyn Bevan -15.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;color:#555555;font-size:14px;width:200px;height:301px;" />Bronwyn: That's a great concrete example. I could also imagine, on a social dimension, it might involve recognizing, for example, who might feel “welcomed” in a space, and who might not.  Addressing that disparity might require more than a handshake to make a person who perhaps has felt excluded from a space, perhaps excluded across generations, to truly feel not only welcomed but as if they have what researchers Angie Calabrese Barton and Edna Tan call “a rightful presence” to be in and to make up that space. Equity would mean taking extra steps, providing meaningful social supports to ensure that a person truly experiences a sense of belonging. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/how-equity-minded-school-districts-run-afterschool-and-summer-programs/NancyDeutsch.jpg" alt="NancyDeutsch.jpg" class="wf-Image-Right" style="margin:5px;width:227px;height:227px;" />Nancy: We undertook this study because how districts operationalize equity in out-of-school-time spaces—logistically as well as socially—is so important. How do they ensure that all young people have an opportunity to thrive in and through the out-of-school-time space? Afterschool and summer programs clearly have the potential to increase equity and opportunity for young people, but unless districts are intentional about it, their out-of-school-time programs can end up replicating structures of inequity. “What was exciting about this study was documenting concrete actions that administrators and teachers could take to advance equity.” Bronwyn: Could you say more about that? Valerie: Particularly for young people who are not thriving in school, what happens in afterschool and summer may need to be different. What was exciting about this study was the opportunity to document concrete actions that administrators as well as teachers could take to advance equity—how they recognize disparities and provide resources and supports that address those disparities for full and meaningful student participation. Bronwyn: What are the kinds of things you look for when you are looking for equity in the district’s out-of-school-time space?  Valerie: I want to see a notable number of the afterschool staff members reflecting and knowing the community they're serving. Sometimes you see programs build pipelines by hiring students who have come through the district. Those districts are intentional and purposeful about who they hire. This can help young people feel welcome, recognized, and supported. Nancy: I want to see programs that celebrate and amplify students’ cultures. This can mean drawing on the strengths of the young people's families and community members. This can help young people feel that who they are and where they come from makes a contribution. “You look to see how programs listen to the community and to young people themselves and use what they hear to develop their programs.” Valerie: You look to see how programs listen to the community and to young people themselves and use what they hear to develop their programs. That can look like creating spaces to engage with families outside of the normal school day hours. Parents are working during those hours.  That can look like children’s circles, where students are invited to speak up about what they want more of.  Nancy: Equity also looks like opportunity. Do districts have positive, fun, and meaningful options in the summer? Some kids have parents who can afford to pay for summer camps and other enrichment activities. They're not sitting around doing remedial math. It’s by definition inequitable when some students get to choose how they spend their summers, and therefore how they grow and develop when school is out, while other students have no choice. We saw a mix in the districts we studied. Some were very focused on equalizing summer opportunities for particular sub-populations of students.  Bronwyn: So I am hearing you define equity practices in two ways.  One is where districts are identifying sub-populations of youth to provide them with enriching growth experiences like those their more affluent peers might be getting through their family and neighborhood resources.  The other is attention to the program experience so that they are affirming of young people’s identity—through staffing, through listening and program offerings.  It reminds me of education scholar Rochelle Gutierrez’s dominant and critical axes of equity—one axis is about access and achievement and the other about identity and power, and you need both. Were there differences in how districts thought about these two opportunity axes?  Valerie: It really varied by district; but I believe equity-rich districts that were doing the work did a little bit of both.  The key thing is that they were very aware of who needed what in their communities.  We had one large district that was focused on psychological and social services for all young people. We had another district that was offering the services, and they were providing multiple kinds of programs and thinking about how to make sure that young people were coming, and that the parents were okay with the program menu. Nancy: There was a lot of focus on access, including transportation issues and figuring out which schools should be providing [programming] and how to get kids there. There was a universal sense of “Okay, we can't be doing equity if we're not having equity of access.” Bronwyn: I hear you saying that you might have to start with access, which Gutiérrez would call part of the dominant axis of equity (“welcome to our space”), but the other axis, the critical one, would focus on providing meaningful experiences, where issues of power and identity may be salient (“this space is yours”).  In other words there may be logistical barriers, but what about social ones, the cultural ones? There’s a bus to the program, why is it that some students choose not to get on it? Valerie: We saw that it was important to know the community.  One district leader described how she tapped a staff person who deeply knew what the community wanted and excelled at the cultural translation.  She leaned on that person.  I would say bilingual or multilingualism also came up a lot in terms of communicating with the parents about the programming, especially when it was new. Nancy: In some districts, schools thought about what is missing in their standard offerings.  So, for example, in schools where arts programs had been cut, they offered them in afterschool or summer.  That led to something else that our study found to be crucial: partnering with community-based organizations. Bronwyn: Can you say more about that? Nancy: We saw some districts recognize that they didn’t have the expertise on staff to do culturally specific or responsive or advanced programming in a particular area.  But they recognized that there was an organization in the community that did it really well.  So they contracted with those organizations to provide programs. Bronwyn: I’m aware of other research that talks about the importance of partnerships with community-based organizations. Did you see the equity concerns of the districts get picked up by the partners? Valerie: Typically I think that the partners were aware of district equity efforts. But it really depended on how long the partnership had existed.  Nancy: Partnerships bring really important things to the table. But you don't always have that communication between the districts and the partners in terms of what's happening in the school building, what the expectations are out of the school building, or priorities of the district versus the program. So you often have decision-making happening at the district without necessarily the knowledge or input of the partners. Valerie: We also saw differences in terms of what was being measured. For example, a school district may have its own metrics for equity, for student achievement, and student mental health while the community partner has different metrics. They didn’t always speak the same language, and they didn’t refer to the same data or data dashboard. We kept thinking wow, this is such an opportunity to really, you know, tighten up equity if they could come together around measurement or indicators. Nancy: There was also silo-ing within districts. Even when districts had offices that ran the OST programming, it was usually separate from the office of DEI. So the person in the office of diversity equity, inclusion couldn’t answer questions about OST, and vice versa. There’s a huge opportunity for coherence there. Photos from top to bottom: Valerie Adams-Bass, Bronwyn Bevan, and Nancy Deutsch

Bronwyn Bevan

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2023-09-12T04:00:00Z

How Equity-Minded School Districts Run Afterschool and Summer Programs

9/12/2023 2:14:07 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / How Equity-Minded School Districts Run Afterschool and Summer Programs Providing access and the right experiences are two

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School/OST Partnerships Help Kids Thrive, Thanks to Pandemic Funding

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Almost every headline about young people today seems to mention the learning loss and mental health challenges created by the pandemic. For good reason. The latest <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/" target="_blank">National Assessment of Educational Progress</a> found that math, reading, civics, and U.S. history scores for students decreased, in some cases with scores lower than all previous assessments dating back to 2005. School attendance as well has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, with estimates that the percentage of students who were chronically absent doubled from 8 million pre-pandemic to approximately 16 million in 2022. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among youth is also alarming. The CDC’s most recent <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf" target="_blank">Youth Risk Behavior Survey</a> found that more than two in five high schoolers report feeling sad or hopeless, an increase of 50 percent since 2011, and the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf" target="_blank">U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory</a> raises the alarm about the epidemic of loneliness and isolation in the United States.   Decades of research demonstrate that afterschool and summer programs can help stem these losses. Moreover, pandemic relief funding has created a once in a generation chance to expand these opportunities for youth. Recognizing the value of afterschool and summer programs in supporting students’ well-being and academic growth, the federal government has provided upwards of $30 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to states and localities that can be used to create or expand afterschool and summer learning. <h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Programs a “second home” </h2>Because they focus on the whole child, afterschool and summer learning programs can offer enriching activities that engage young people in hands-on learning and encourage them to try new things. Staff are trained to help kids talk about their emotions, gain confidence, build healthy relationships, and heal from trauma. Research shows that kids who participate in afterschool develop strong social skills, get excited about learning, attend school more often, improve math and reading performance, and gain workforce skills. The data is powerful, but students help us put the benefits in even sharper focus. “My program became a second home for me,” says Madelyn Hinkleman, an afterschool student in South Dakota. “A place where my friends and I felt safe…where we go to discover who we were, take risks, and try new things.” <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/school-ost-partnerships-help-kids-thrive-thanks-to-pandemic-funding/YouthAmb_QuoteCard_MadelynHinkleman_Quote_home.png" alt="YouthAmb_QuoteCard_MadelynHinkleman_Quote_home.png" style="margin:5px;" /> Another student, Nekayla Stokes in Delaware, says she values “working with caring adults who encourage us to listen to each other, respect all voices in a room, and learn about different perspectives.” <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/school-ost-partnerships-help-kids-thrive-thanks-to-pandemic-funding/YouthAmb_QuoteCard_NekaylaStokes_Quote_caringadults.png" alt="YouthAmb_QuoteCard_NekaylaStokes_Quote_caringadults.png" style="margin:5px;" /> Millions of students like Madelyn and Nekayla are now thriving, thanks to those ARP investments. Some standout programs have included: <div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Experiential learning camps in Vermont, where youth learned how to use a compass and to identify wild edibles; </div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">STEM offerings in Bloomington, Illinois, where the school district teamed up with community partners like the Children's Discovery Museum, Illinois State University for Math and Science, and local Boys & Girls Clubs;</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Seattle’s $1 million investment in youth employment and paid internship opportunities.</div><h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Tapping (and mapping) federal funds</h2>But while strong examples exist, billions of dollars are still on the table. Of the $30 billion or so that can be invested in afterschool and summer, thus far just $6 billion has been tapped. To help spur more partnerships, the U.S. Department of Education created a special initiative, <a href="http://www.engageeverystudent.org/" target="_blank">Engage Every Student</a>, to help school districts, localities, and programs tap pandemic relief funds to support students after school and in the summer. The Engage Every Student Initiative partners offer technical assistance to those interested, and the Afterschool Alliance and National League of Cities have developed a <a href="https://engageeverystudent.org/interactive-map/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Updated%20ARP%20Map%20%20ARP%20blogs&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">map</a> featuring more than 300 examples of states, school districts, and local governments that have invested pandemic funds in programming for youth. These examples serve as inspiration and models for other communities, and they help demonstrate to policymakers the effectiveness and sound use of pandemic funds to support students after school and in the summer. As relief funding ends in 2024, showing demonstrated success will be critical to make the case for continued investments at the local, state, and federal level. <h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Look for community partners </h2>The strongest examples of pandemic investments in afterschool and summer are built around partnerships with existing community providers, build on the evidence base for effective programming, and utilize the principles of expanded learning including both academic and enrichment opportunities that help support the whole child. In Idaho, for example, an evaluation of out-of-school time programs made possible by COVID-relief funds found positive academic and social impacts. For example, 87 percent of families say the program helps their child succeed academically. More than nine in ten families say that their child enjoys attending the program and is gaining new experiences in it. In Tulsa, the school district developed a four-week summer program for 10,000 students in K-12 grades that offered a variety of activities including gardening, robotics, field trips, and academic enrichment. Students participating in the summer 2021 program showed gains in grade-level reading and math proficiency, respectively, on Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessments.If you have tapped into federal pandemic relief funding to expand, enhance, or develop a new afterschool or summer learning program that embodies partnership, whole-child support, and evidence based practices, we encourage you to tell your story and be included on the map. To be featured, share your example using the <a href="https://engageeverystudent.org/join-us/#pledge" target="_blank">Engage Every Student pledge form</a>.

Jodi Grant

2023-06-15T04:00:00Z

6/15/2023 2:29:24 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / School/OST Partnerships Help Kids Thrive, Thanks to Pandemic Funding But showing demonstrated success will be critical to

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Change Is Inevitable. Are Out-of-School Time Programs Ready for It?

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The out-of-school time (OST) sector provides many opportunities for staff learning and improvement, including webinars, newsletters, and professional conferences. These opportunities also provide time and space for networking, generating new ideas, and potentially using those ideas to change existing operations, practices, and strategies. But sometimes the ideas just don't take hold. Why is that? How could it be that the research- and evidence-based strategies that you just learned about didn’t work for your program?This could happen for any number of reasons, including lack of time and resources, staff resistance to new ideas, confusion from youth participants about the change, or misalignment with existing policies and practices. These are just a few examples that add up to a bigger piece of the implementation puzzle: readiness.The concept of “readiness”—or lack thereof—is often the culprit behind challenges in implementation.<div> </div><div><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcop.21698" target="_blank">Research</a> has described readiness as the product of an organization’s motivation and capacity to implement an innovation. We have spent the last two years building on this foundational work to explore what readiness means for OST programs, by diving deep into the literature and talking to OST practitioners and field leaders.</div><div> </div><div>One key takeaway from our work: Organizations don’t make change happen, people do. Organizations, and those who lead them, can create processes and practices that support implementation, but ultimately it is the practitioners, participants, and other key stakeholders who are essential to change management. These people are the ones responsible for implementation. In other words, all of these people need to be “ready” before any change can happen.</div><div> </div><div>We define readiness in OST as the overall willingness and capacity within an organization and its staff that enables change to occur successfully. More specifically for programs, this means: <ol><li>Having strong operations and procedures. This includes building a positive culture and climate, creating processes for collaborative decision-making, ensuring alignment with existing policies and practices, and having the capacity and plans for implementation. </li><li>Ensuring staff well-being. Programs should help staff develop self-efficacy and a growth mindset, as well as ensure staff feel that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to help facilitate change. </li><li>Keeping stakeholders, including young people and their families, engaged and informed. Programs should ensure they have input into decisions and an understanding of how these decisions will affect them. </li><li> Accessing specific resources, materials, and training that are unique to the specific and intentional change programs are making or new idea they are introducing. </li></ol>This last item in the list—gathering knowledge, resources, and materials—is often where organizations start, but it is only part of being ready. To be truly ready means attending to all four elements of readiness—the specific intentional practices, and the more general practices of operations, staff, and stakeholders. Our research shows that they are all equally important.If this feels like a lot to think about, don’t worry! We have learned that readiness is something that can be measured and built over time. We find peace in this idea because it gives us a starting place to engage in readiness thinking when starting something new. We have also used what we’ve learned to create a <a href="https://www.readytoolkit.org/" target="_blank">free, online toolkit</a> for OST leaders and staff to help support and develop readiness thinking. Users can create a free account, take a readiness assessment, and receive an automated report with readiness scores to gain insight into where they are more and less ready for change. The toolkit links to the many other resources and tools already available that may be used to build readiness. It also includes a growing number of <a href="https://readytoolkit.org/learn-more-about-ost-readiness/" target="_blank">readiness-specific tools</a> for those who are just beginning to think about readiness.It is our hope that by introducing the idea of readiness and creating tools and resources to measure and build readiness, programs can more smoothly engage with new ideas and ensure that they are ready to implement them. We encourage you to consider: Are you ready for change? </div>

Jessy Newman and Arielle Lentz

133

2023-05-02T04:00:00Z

Two researchers explain readiness, why it matters, and how OST programs can build and measure it

5/2/2023 2:17:31 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Change Is Inevitable Two researchers explain readiness, why it matters, and how OST programs can build and measure it

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Ensuring Access to Out-of-School-Time Programs and Using Federal Funds to Pay for It

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Ask people about the book they remember most clearly, a movie script they could recite, or the weirdest song they can sing along to, and chances are they’ll name something from their adolescence. The tween and early teen years, for better or worse, can stick with us throughout our lives, determining who we are, where we feel we belong and where we want to be when we grow up.How can today’s adults help young people use these crucial years to become healthy, productive, and empathetic adults of tomorrow? One way is to offer meaningful and enriching out-of-school activities that provide safe spaces to experiment with new experiences, new interests, and new ways of relating to the world. Unfortunately, many young people lack access to such activities. <a href="http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/AA3PM/">A 2020 survey conducted by the Afterschool Alliance</a> found that there were 24.6 million children in the U.S. who were not enrolled in out-of-school-time programs but would be if such programs were available to them. For every child enrolled in out-of-school programs, according to the same survey, there were three who would attend if they could. Access is especially limited for youth from low-income backgrounds, many of whom may most need afterschool support while parents or guardians work multiple jobs to make ends meet. <a href="https://www.childtrends.org/publications/participation-in-out-of-school-time-activities-and-programs">According to a 2014 Child Trends survey</a>, 72.7 percent of households with incomes more than twice the federal poverty level enrolled children in out-of-school activities. For households making less than that, the number fell to just 43.9 percent, a 29-point difference. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/ensuring-access-to-out-of-school-time-programs-and-using-federal-funds-to-pay-for-it/Federal-funds-for-OST-ch.jpg" alt="Federal-funds-for-OST-ch.jpg" style="margin:5px;" /> Decades of Wallace experience suggest that a focus on systems—the coordinated efforts of entities such as departments of education, school boards, philanthropies, nonprofit groups, and intermediary organizations—could help change this picture and expand access to quality out-of-school-time programs. Efforts in cities around the country, including <a href="/knowledge-center/Pages/building-an-effective-social-and-emotional-learning-committe-dallas-vol2-pt3.aspx">Dallas</a>, <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/expanding-social-and-emotional-learning-boston-vol2-pt2.aspx">Boston</a> and <a href="/knowledge-center/Pages/learning-to-focus-on-adult-sel-first-tulsa-vol2-pt7.aspx">Tulsa</a>, point to elements of systems that could help more young people access the programs they need, including:<div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">An entity to coordinate the work of different groups and the resources available to them </div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Clear standards of quality</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Data systems that keep track of who has access to out-of-school-time programs, populations that may be excluded from them, the quality of services these programs provide, and opportunities to improve them</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Committed leadership from prominent officials such as mayors and county executives</div>Wallace has <a href="/knowledge-center/after-school/pages/default.aspx">several resources available</a> to help cities develop such systems. Among them are guides to:<div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Help <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/from-access-to-equity-making-out-of-school-time-spaces-meaningful-for-teens-from-marginalized-communities.aspx">ensure equity</a> in out-of-school-time programs </div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Use <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/framework-for-measurement-continuous-improvement-and-equitable-systems.aspx">data to assess their effectiveness</a></div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Identify<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/federal-funding-guide-for-summer-and-afterschool.aspx"> federal funding opportunities</a>, made available through the American Rescue Plan of 2021, that could help pay for the development of these systems</div>

Wallace editorial team

2023-03-21T04:00:00Z

3/21/2023 4:40:28 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Ensuring Access to Out-of-School-Time Programs and Using Federal Funds to Pay for It Resources to help develop and cover

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What Can Young People Teach Us About Out-of-School Time?

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“It's so important to think about the part that youth can play in shaping what an out-of-school-time or an afterschool program looks like.” That’s what Shelby Drayton had to say about the importance of including young people in out-of-school-time (OST) planning in Episode One of our new podcast series, <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/beyond-the-classroom-podcast.aspx">Beyond the Classroom</a>. Drayton is a senior program manager for UP Partnership, a San Antonio-based nonprofit that convenes partners in Bexar County to provide healing, access, and voice to local youth. The podcast series explores findings from a <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/youth-perspectives-on-designing-equitable-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx">recent Wallace-commissioned, student-designed study </a>which surfaced young people’s insights into how to improve out-of-school-time programs. Topics discussed range from how to make programs accessible and welcoming to supporting youth workers. Read on to learn more about each of the three episodes and the guests, or start listening <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/beyond-the-classroom-podcast.aspx">here</a>. <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/making-out-of-school-time-programs-more-accessible-epidode-1.aspx">Episode 1: Making Out-of-School-Time Programs More Accessible</a> Student researchers and OST practitioners discuss some of the most common barriers to participation in OST programs and what can be done to address them.Guests: Shelby Drayton, Senior Manager, UP Partnership Connor Flick, Student, Gatton Academy High School, KentuckyHost: Spandana Pavuluri, Student, duPont Manual High School, Kentucky <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/creating-programs-where-everyone-belongs-episode-2.aspx">Episode 2: Creating Programs Where Everyone Belongs</a> Student and adult researchers discuss various strategies for building a sense of belonging and inclusion in OST spaces, beginning with centering the youth voice in the program’s design.Guests: Spandana Pavuluri, Student, duPont Manual High School, Kentucky Syeda Tabassum, Student, Macaulay Honors College, New York Daniela DiGiacomo, Assistant Professor, University of Kentucky School of Information Science Sam Mejias, Associate Professor of Social Justice and Community Engagement, Parsons School of Design - The New School Host: Connor Flick, Student, Gatton Academy High School, Kentucky <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/professionalization-and-precarity-of-the-workforce-episode-3.aspx?_ga=2.241407618.1275959992.1678288819-1225651268.1678288819">Episode 3: Professionalization and Precarity of the Workforce</a> Researchers and practitioners discuss strategies for more effectively recruiting and retaining skilled youth workers. Guests: Bianca Baldridge, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard University Vanessa Roberts, Executive Director, Project VOYCE Deepa Vasudevan, Researcher, Human Services: Youth, Family, & Community Development, American Institutes for Research Sarai Hertz-Velázquez, Student, Wellesley College Host: Ben Kirshner, Professor and Program Chair of Learning Sciences and Human Development, University of Colorado BoulderListen wherever you get your podcasts.

Andrea Ruggirello

114

2023-03-14T04:00:00Z

Beyond the Classroom podcast digs into findings from a student-led study on improving out-of-school-time programs

3/14/2023 4:00:12 AM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / What Can Young People Teach Us About Out-of-School Time "Beyond the Classroom" podcast digs into findings from a student-led

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What Young People Want from Afterschool Programs

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<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-value-of-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx?_ga=2.116943174.1727170393.1677083209-1728090683.1676648512">Research has shown</a> that out-of-school-time programs are generally effective at producing the benefits for young people that they set out to provide–whether academic gains, enriching experiences, or homework help. But while there are numerous sources of federal and state funds available for afterschool and summer programs, they have seen consistently low rates of student participation. Take, for instance, the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, a part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides over $1 billion in funding annually for afterschool and summer programs for children in grades K through 12. Nearly half of the regular participants in the 21st CCLC programs attend fewer than 30 days a year.We know this because of a <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/7459d0266b83629b887ac324b4f8307c/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y" target="_blank">recent analysis</a> of the current 21st CCLC policy by Jane Quinn, a venerable figure in the world of out-of-school-time. <a href="https://www.childrensaidnyc.org/impact/stories/jane-quinn-leader-and-advocate-community-schools" target="_blank">An expert in afterschool and OST, she has more than five decades of experience</a> in the sector, having working as a social and youth worker for organizations including the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago, Girls Clubs of America, Children’s Aid—and as program director here at Wallace for seven years in the 1990s.Quinn is also, at age 78, a newly minted Ph.D. In fact, her findings about the low participation rate in out-of-school-time programs emerged from her dissertation for a doctoral program in urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. In her thesis, Quinn analyzes the strengths and shortcomings of the current 21st CCLC policy. She argues that the challenge of meager participation can be addressed by “listening to the voices of young people and responding to their desire for engagement and challenge in out-of-school time programs.” We sat down with her to learn more about this and other key findings in the study. Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Wallace Foundation: Your study found that nearly half of regular participants in the 21st CCLC programs attend fewer than 30 days a year. Why do you think attendance is so low, and what can be done to improve it? Jane Quinn: According to the U.S. Department of Education’s data–specifically, their Annual Performance Reports on the 21st Century Community Learning Centers–fully 45 percent of students deemed to be “regular participants” in these programs across the country were reported to attend fewer than 30 days a year.  This number is problematic for several reasons, including the fact that we know from <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-value-of-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx?_ga=2.116943174.1727170393.1677083209-1728090683.1676648512">prior research</a> that “dosage makes a difference,” meaning that higher program attendance has been shown to produce better outcomes. When we combine this information about low attendance rates with US DOE [Department of Education] data about the content of 21st CCLC programs, we can begin to surmise why these rates might be so low. The Annual Performance Reports show that two of the three most frequently offered programs in 21st Century Community Learning Centers are homework help and tutoring, suggesting that many of the programs have largely become “more school” and are operating in ways that are not consistent with what young people say they want to do during their non-school hours. Homework help is offered five times more frequently than mentoring–something young people do want–and tutoring is offered four times more frequently than leadership development. WF: Why is enrichment so important, and why do you think it is so overlooked?JQ: In the context of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers policy and program, enrichment should be considered important because it is central to the Congressionally mandated purpose of the program. However, the legislation never defines what is meant by enrichment, which has led to multiple interpretations, many of which seem off base to me. In the context of what we know about young people’s development, enrichment is critical because it starts with student interests and focuses on engaging young people in their own learning. Why is it overlooked in many schools and afterschool programs? Because most people don’t understand what the term means, and some have never seen high-quality enrichment in practice. Enrichment involves both pedagogy and program content. According to Professor Joseph Renzulli and his University of Connecticut colleagues, enrichment as a pedagogy consists of four elements: it is based on student interest; it uses authentic methodologies, such as project-based learning; it addresses issues that have no existing solution or “right” answer; and it results in culminating activities that allow young people to demonstrate what they have learned. This kind of pedagogy can be applied to a nearly endless array of content. The experts I interviewed had no problem naming the kinds of programming that they viewed as enrichment: book clubs, chess, debate, music, drama, dance, visual arts, robotics, computer programming, community service, sports, mentoring, and leadership development, among others. I believe that kids shouldn't have to be born rich to have access to enrichment. WF: Can you describe some characteristics of a good enrichment program?   JQ: Joseph Renzulli says that good enrichment programs are characterized by engagement, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Many years ago, before I became acquainted with his work, I wrote a column for YouthToday, in which I described a similar set of characteristics. Mine were engagement, exposure, and experience. By exposure, I meant that afterschool and youth development programs can introduce young people to new relationships that build their social capital, to new ideas that enlarge their sense of the world around them, and to new opportunities that feed their aspirations. More affluent children and youth tend to have these kinds of experiences built into their academic and at-home environments. I believe that kids shouldn’t have to be born rich to have access to enrichment.  WF: What are some ways the quality of the programs can be improved, and how should quality be measured?JQ: When conducting my dissertation research, I was rather astonished to find that the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers legislation and guidance said almost nothing about program quality, despite the great advancements over the past 25 years in the field’s definition of best practices. The field has produced well-documented guides, rooted in research, about the program factors that are associated with the achievement of positive results. In addition, we now have several quality assessment tools that program operators can use to examine and strengthen their own practice. One of the best tools, in my view, is the <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/vuFuC4x463i48x3cOFbHx?domain=forumfyi.org/" target="_blank">Youth Program Quality Assessment</a>, supported by the Weikart Center.  When assessing program quality, we want to look at a range of factors, including program content, health and safety, staff qualifications, youth voice and choice, and interpersonal relationships, including peer-to-peer and adult-youth interactions. WF: You were involved in the community schools movement from the early days. Can you reflect on where it was back then and how it has evolved?JQ: Well, I wasn’t there in the really early days—that would have been at the turn of the 20th century when John Dewey, the renowned educational philosopher, wrote a monograph entitled Schools as Social Centers (1902). He had the right idea then, and his work has influenced several generations of community school leaders. In 1998, John Rogers, a UCLA education professor, wrote a seminal paper on the history of community schooling in America, documenting that the current generation of community schools is the fourth such iteration of the work to foster strong relationships between schools and their local communities. My involvement in this current generation of community schooling includes two phases. First was my work as a program director at Wallace in the mid- to late-1990s, which helped to create the <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/findings-from-the-extended-service-schools-initiative.aspx">Extended-Service Schools</a> Initiative. And second, was my 18-year tenure as director of the National Center for Community Schools, a program of Children’s Aid. In my view, all of these early investments contributed substantially to the current community schools movement, which is demonstrating success in informing federal, state, and local education policy and in responding to the documented needs of students and families in what is now being referred to as the post-COVID environment. More than 100 districts nationwide have adopted community schools as a preferred reform strategy, and Congress recently authorized an additional $75 million for the USDOE’s Full-Service Community Schools program, which will provide incentives for additional districts to adopt this strategy. The first and most important is clarifying what is meant by enrichment WF: What do you think policymakers should consider if they were to reimagine the 21st Century Community Learning Centers?JQ: My research offers 10 lessons for strengthening the 21st CCLC policy and program. The first and most important is clarifying what is meant by enrichment —an element that distinguishes this program from other federal initiatives that focus on remediation and compensatory approaches. A related lesson is finding ways to address the participation rate problem. My sense is that, if programs were required and supported to offer genuine enrichment, rather than a steady diet of homework help and tutoring, young people would make it their businessto participate. And, in turn, outcomes would improve because young people would be engaged in activities of their own choosing.  Another consideration would be how to encourage the creation of authentic partnerships between schools and such community resources as youth development agencies, arts organizations, and science museums. And, since 21st Century funding is one of the few sources of public support for summer programming, the authors of federal guidance could consider placing more emphasis on encouraging and enabling providers to include summer enrichment in their 21st Century-funded programs. Policymakers should seize the opportunity provided by COVID’s disruptions of the educational landscape by re-envisioning the enrichment role of out-of-school-time programs in the lives of America’s children and youth.

Jenna Doleh

2023-02-24T05:00:00Z

An expert on out-of-school-time argues for focusing on vital enrichment programs rather than on homework help or tutoring

2/23/2023 8:37:56 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / What Young People Want from Afterschool Programs An expert on out-of-school-time argues for focusing on vital enrichment

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Study Seeks to Understand Adults Working with Young People Outside of School

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Millions of professionals and volunteers work with young people every day in the many settings where they play, learn and grow outside of the school day. To learn more about these youth-serving professionals, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is conducting a study, with support from Wallace. The study includes a national survey called the <a href="https://powerofussurvey.org/">Power of Us Workforce Survey</a>, in which the results are intended to ultimately better support the youth workforce and inform policy, practice and further research.In this Q&A, Deborah Moroney, a vice president at AIR, and Ann Stone, senior research officer at Wallace, reflect on this work. This post originally appeared on the <a href="https://workforce-matters.org/">Workforce Matters</a> website and is reprinted with their permission.The Wallace Foundation: What is the Youth Fields Workforce Study? Deborah: The U.S. Department of Education has challenged educators to <a href="https://engageeverystudent.org/">engage every student</a>. But who are the adults who are allies to, support and foster learning and development outside of the school day? While we know that those who work in youth fields play an important role, we lack the broader knowledge, context and holistic understanding of these individuals’ experiences and career pathways. The Youth Fields Workforce Study is a nationwide effort to fill that knowledge gap and gain critical insights into the people who make up these fields, where they work, what they do and what supports they need to continue engaging in transformative work with young people. WF: Why did the Wallace Foundation decide to invest in the Youth Fields Workforce Study? Ann: Over the years, we’ve heard anecdotal evidence that staffing has been a consistent challenge for out-of-school time programs. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated labor shortage it caused, only made things worse. For example, a <a href="http://afterschoolalliance.org/documents/Afterschool-COVID-19-Wave-6-Brief.pdf">survey by the Afterschool Alliance</a> found that the top two concerns among afterschool providers were finding staff to hire or staffing shortages and maintaining staff levels through health concerns and safety protocols.Given this, we felt it was important to learn more from the field itself about the state of the workforce. The challenge is not a trivial one. Skilled staff are crucial to fostering the <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-value-of-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx">many benefits </a>that afterschool and summer programs can provide young people—including new skills, exposure to new experiences, academic gains, awareness of career options, and life skills like persistence. These benefits vary, based on how programs are designed. But no matter what kind of program, we know that staff are central to creating positive relationships with young people, setting the climate, and sharing special expertise. Hardworking, well-trained staff play a key role in quality, and quality plays a key role in outcomes, so it’s important that this vital workforce is better understood—and supported. WF: What do you hope to learn from the results of the Youth Fields Workforce Study? Ann: The study is unusual in how thoroughly it seeks to incorporate views from those actually in the workforce. It will offer a window into who makes up the workforce, their career pathways, how they see their expertise and training needs, thoughts on job mobility, and retention. In capturing the lived experience of the staff who are forming relationships with youth, teaching skills and setting the climate, this study by AIR will not only help the field understand the challenge—but also suggest solutions. For example, understanding what motivates staff to stay in this field could be used to help attract new staff. This information should be especially useful since the pandemic, along with the influx of federal funding, have elevated the importance of afterschool and summer programming. Deborah: There are real and practical uses for the survey findings, which is timely because we know that this field is not immune to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/afterschool-programs-are-low-on-staff-leaving-students-unsupervised-and-underserved/2022/03">shifts in the labor market</a>. Our partners tell us they will use the survey data to make the case to expand access to programs for youth, prioritize professional development supports, and develop career pathways for adults. But we need the information first, and we need your help! If you are part of the youth fields workforce, share your story by taking the survey. If you support the youth fields workforce, help us spread the word by sharing the survey with your networks. The more people who complete the survey, the more we will know about the adults in the youth fields workforce, and the more we can all do to support them as they support all youth to thrive

Jenna Doleh

2022-12-08T05:00:00Z

12/12/2022 3:55:00 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Study Seeks to Understand Adults Working with Young People Outside of School Millions of professionals and volunteers work

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Creating a More Equitable—and Welcoming—Afterschool Ecosystem

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One of the best parts of my job as director of research at Wallace is to interact with some of the country’s leading scholars and researchers studying our areas of work: the arts, education leadership and youth development. These folks are so committed to and insightful about their respective fields. It’s maybe no surprise that many of them worked as teachers, youth workers, artists and the like, before entering the research world, and that this is partly what drives their passion. Since I joined the foundation in late 2019, we have awarded 36 research grants, large and small, to 33 researchers, 14 of whom were first-time Wallace grantees. I thought it would be interesting (and fun!) to start an occasional series of interviews with some of them, as we publish their findings on the Wallace website. Kicking off the series with me is Bianca Baldridge, an associate professor of education at Harvard University. Bianca is <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/bianca-baldridge" target="_blank">a national expert</a> in out-of-school-time programming (OST), with a particular interest in the youth workforce. In 2020-2021, we commissioned Bianca, along with a group of her colleagues, to produce a rapid evidence review intended to inform Wallace’s future work in youth development. High level takeaways from that study are summarized in this <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/from-access-to-equity-making-out-of-school-time-spaces-meaningful-for-teens-from-marginalized-communities.aspx?_ga=2.110720197.1937604982.1650308769-375849283.1649958955">research brief</a>. In addition to a lit review and interviews with experts, their study involved a YPAR (youth participatory action research) project, where a group of older students designed and conducted a research study of their peers involved in afterschool programs, that you can read about <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/youth-perspectives-on-designing-equitable-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx">here</a>. This work also led to a series of podcasts, where youth researchers discuss key issues related to their experiences in afterschool programs and which will be released later this spring.This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Bronwyn: How did you come to focus on out-of-school-time? Bianca:  I came to this work because I was a participant in youth-work programs as a middle school student and started engaging in youth work as a staff member in high school.  As much as I loved these programs—as a participant and a staff member—and as important as they were in shaping my development, as a Black girl growing up in south-central Los Angeles, I was also troubled by the way programs were making assumptions about who I was. They tended to position themselves as saving me, and that kind of deficit positioning of me, which I consciously felt, was a problem. But I didn’t have the language to name it until I got to college and graduate school and began to study African American Studies and sociology. I started to see how my experiences, and the organizations themselves, had been shaped by the social and political context around them—the broader structures of power like race, class and social-economic policies. Bronwyn: Over the last several years the OST field has started to more explicitly name the “ecological dimensions” of learning and development—in other words, looking beyond the program to understand how it is situated within a broader context, and how that context shapes what is possible. But the social and political dimensions of that ecology are not often articulated. The focus is more on spaces and places and practices. Bianca: I’m glad you said that. Families matter, communities, neighborhoods, all of that matters.  And if those things matter, then within that ecosystem what’s happening? How do we not name those things?  Bronwyn: That attention to the broader structures of power that shape and constrain possibilities is what we call “a critical lens” in the research world. How do you bring that lens to the study of OST? Bianca: Afterschool spaces are important sites of learning and development, particularly for minoritized communities and communities that are multiply oppressed. My research agenda has been to think about how young people experience these programs: Black and Latinx young people or racially minoritized people in general. To understand the role of relationships within the programs—among youth, youth workers and staff members. And to try to legitimize and create scholarship that highlights the pedagogy as well as the philosophies of youth workers, as legitimate pedagogues and educators within the educational landscape.  Bronwyn: Can you say more about what you mean about youth worker pedagogy? Bianca: I find that youth workers often have a true pedagogy in the sense that they have a philosophical sort of understanding about teaching, about learning, about youth development, about engagement with young people, and you can see that in practice in how they actually engage. So how they teach, how they cultivate relationships and connect with young people and their families, how they spark interest and ideas and a love of learning that is not just about academics, but also just about the world in general. Bronwyn: It sounds like you’ve seen them recognizing the totality of the young person? Bianca: Yes. Youth workers can support youth academically, emotionally, socially and politically. They are really significant to “whole child” development. Youth workers are often placed in the position where they are supporting young people through their lives in school, neighborhoods and their families. Young people’s identities are complex and youth workers can be instrumental in nurturing all of who a young person is and who they are becoming. Bronwyn: There has been a lot of research on how social policies and structures affect teachers and schooling, but less on how they impact youth development or afterschool and summer programs. I know you’re currently writing a book about this. Bianca: Yes, my current research is thinking about how displacement and gentrification can lead to school closures or rezoning, which in turn can impact community organizations that have been committed to Black liberation or youth development within Black communities. Part of the premise for me is that community organizations in many ways can be the backbone of neighborhoods and communities, and I’m really struck with the question of what happens when afterschool programs can’t afford high rents. What happens when they’re moved out of neighborhoods, what happens to programming for young people? Where do they go? Where will they hang out, what will they do? For youth organizations that are committed to sociopolitical development or critical consciousness, I’m really interested in what they do and how they’re making sense of these transitions and displacement, and how they’re able to maintain a social justice, youth development approach in their work through this change. My new book links Black youth workers to the legacy and traditions of organizers like Ella Baker or Septima Clark, and projects how youth workers approach preparing young people to make sense of the world around them and to navigate a racially hostile, anti-Black world. It also addresses how they navigate anti-Blackness within their profession. How are they simultaneously taking care of themselves and also helping young people to negotiate the same social and political forces? Bronwyn: Your work has made me think a lot about how much our vision of the best out-of-school-time programs depends on youth workers who are profoundly giving: Giving love, giving respect, giving vision, giving support. But it’s not like there’s a bottomless well of giving if the system is not giving back to them. Your work highlights how the structures that suppress wages, limit benefits and sometimes tokenize youth workers can work to undermine the whole vision for what young people can gain from out of school time. Bianca: Yes. Because the burnout and the turnover are real. And youth workers are everywhere:  detention centers, museums, libraries, housing programs, afterschool organizations. I believe that programs and organizations, however they look, need to be able to meet the needs of the young people in their communities. But we need to think about the youth workers, or the people who care for young people, and find systems and structures that support them.  Bronwyn: The research you and your colleagues did for Wallace, and the research of the youth themselves, really got to how essential building a positive and inclusive context is, and that job is ultimately left to youth workers to create those conditions. Bianca: What blew us away was hearing directly from the youth about how students feel in those programs. They talked about feeling like things were cliquish or tokenistic. This goes back to what do these programs look like, what do they feel like, how are they organized, how are they structured? Not just anybody can run an inclusive OST program, not just anybody should run a program. I think allowing young people to share their firsthand experiences is just always, always, always sobering. Bronwyn: I totally agree. There’s been a lot of work done on the kinds of things you need to have in place for assessing or building towards quality programs, but it is outside-in, and not inside-out, in terms of what it actually feels like to be in that space.  Bianca: Yes. And I definitely want to be able to talk about the resistance and the triumphs and the celebrations, the ways in which organizations, youth workers and young people are able to navigate structures outside and inside of the programs. But I think it’s important to name those structures that can oppress and get in the way of the possible. We have to be able to name and understand them to be able to overcome them.

Bronwyn Bevan

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2022-04-21T04:00:00Z

Expert in afterschool programming ponders how we can better support youth workers and the young people they serve

4/21/2022 3:01:25 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Creating a More Equitable—and Welcoming—Afterschool Ecosystem Expert in afterschool programming ponders how we can better

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School-Community Collaborations Fuel Afterschool Success in California

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GP0|#b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211;L0|#0b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211|Afterschool;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

WF: The pandemic has had a significant impact on the out-of-school time sector. What gives you hope and what keeps you up at night? JP: In a state where afterschool programs are heavily run through schools, that meant so many kids lost access to these essential services while schools were shut down last year. Our providers around the state were the ones that were opening up learning hubs for homeless kids, for English learners, for kids whose parents had no choice but to be at work. All of the difficult circumstances we know that kids went through, our folks stepped in to make sure kids got their meals, Wi-Fi devices and, in many cases, they just found places and ways to serve kids creatively. We and our partners documented and communicated a lot about these amazing efforts and our field got some overdue recognition. The big investments we are seeing now are partly a result of what people saw our field do during the pandemic, but it was also a result of decades of hard work by leaders in our field that positioned us for this moment. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/School-Community-Collaborations-Fuel-Afterschool-Success-in-California/BACR-photo_IMG_3227.jpg" alt="BACR-photo_IMG_3227.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:269px;height:359px;" />In California, for example, on top of the <a href="/News-and-Media/Blog/pages/american-rescue-plan-five-things-state-and-district-leaders-need-to-know-now.aspx">federal investment</a> last spring, the state put in $4.6 billion in emergency COVID money just for expanded learning. Our half-a-billion-dollar investment in afterschool previously was by far the largest in the nation and now $4.6 billion was being pumped into this system, plus the federal money, and now even more state money that’s meant to be ongoing. I never thought I'd see a day when we got so much more investment than we even asked for. But we now have the opposite challenge, which is that there's so much money coming into the system all at once that there's little capacity to implement it effectively. We are very focused right now on trying to influence how  implementation happens based on everything we know from research and experience about quality, impactful program delivery. We are also very focused on documentation and storytelling. We must be constantly telling the story to policy leaders about the difference this investment can make for kids, so that we have a chance to sustain it over time. WF: If you could wave a magic wand and make one policy change to impact students and youth, what would it be? JP: One thing that remains a gap that I hope is going to shift, is how we're supporting our community-based program providers. In California, the massive investment of expanded learning funds is all going through school systems, so schools are responsible for implementing programs. I understand the instinct around that by our state leaders because we want these services, supports and opportunities to be aligned with educational outcomes. However, it creates a power dynamic around the resources that plays out in ways that aren't necessarily beneficial to implementing quality programs at the local level. In some places, our community-based organizations have much more experience and expertise at delivering high-quality expanded learning than our school systems do. Yet, it's up to the whims of the district around whether they're going to bring in a community-based partner and how much they're going to pay them or honor them for their time and work. I want to see a portion of this investment going directly to support our community-based sector. And then, aligned with that in policy, I want to see more teeth around what is currently an encouragement of districts to collaborate with communities in this work. Current policy articulates that community partnerships are important; it tells school districts that they should be including community organizations of all kinds in their planning and implementation which is a great step, but there’s no requirement. That's something else I think needs to change. Photos courtesy of Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin and Bay Area Community Resources

Jenna Tomasello

122

2022-02-09T05:00:00Z

Founder of influential nonprofit reflects on two decades of partnership and policymaking on behalf of children

3/14/2022 4:19:00 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / School-Community Collaborations Fuel Afterschool Success in California Founder of influential nonprofit reflects on two

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