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Can after-school programs foster positive youth development? New study has answers

Goodman, A. C., Ouellette, R. R., D’Agostino, E. M., Hansen, E., Lee, T., & Frazier, S. L. (2021). Promoting healthy trajectories for urban middle school youth through county-funded, parks-based after-school programming. Journal of Community Psychology.  https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22587 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Early adolescence is a critical time where risky decisions can lead to consequences, especially […]

American Rescue Plan Gives Out-of-school Time Programs Big Role in Pandemic Recovery

Featured Article by Stell Simonton, Youth Today With the latest COVID-19 relief package (the American Rescue Plan) underway, youths, and potentially educators & developmental professionals in after-school or summer program settings, will be provided with some financial relief.  This article encourages state education departments, local school districts, and school partnerships to be strategic about how […]

Tinkering Afterschool Program Demonstrates Moving Beyond Binary of Adult- Versus Child-centered Education

By Shirin Vossoughi, Meg Escudé, and Natalie R. Davis, Reprinted from Youth Today  Throughout our work in youth programs and critical educational spaces, we have witnessed how educators, mentors, and facilitators committed to liberatory learning often wrestle with the “pendulum swing” between adult- and child-centered education. Many of us come to youth work to struggle […]

8 Ways to Evolve Your OST Programs Online

By Shira Woolf Cohen, Reprinted from Youth Today This summer was filled with disappointments as each camp I had enrolled my daughter in — both day camp and overnight camp — were cancelled. All around the country, young campers’ hearts were broken. As a past camper myself, I felt these young people’s pain. Camps are […]

University/After-school Reading Partnerships Help Students Succeed

By Stacy Delacruz, Angie Smith and Shannon Tovey, Reprinted from Youth Today After-school programs provide a wide range of benefits for students, families and communities. According to Youth.gov, these programs can boost academic performance, promote physical health and provide a safe, structured environment for the children of working parents.  Ed.gov reports that a national evaluation […]