Moving an Out-of-School Agenda:
Lessons and Challenges Across Cities
A Forum — April 12, 2002
Overview of the problem
No one is unfamiliar with the axiom that providing youth with quality and effective after-school programs is critical to their healthy development. What is less known are the systematic ways that cities can map program opportunities, design ways to engage communities to move from after-school programming to a big picture approach of out-of-school time, and the challenges faced across cities in helping to sustain effective programs for youth.
Relevant policy
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program was re-authorized under Title IV, Part B, of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The focus of this program is to expand academic and youth enrichment programs to children after-school. The 21st Century is one of more that 100 federal funding streams that can be used to support out-of-school programming for children and young people i.e., entitlement, formula/block, discretionary, and demonstration programs.
Forum summary
Merita Irby, Co-founder, the Forum for Youth Investment (FYI), described the Forum's Greater Resources for After-School Programming (GRASP) initiative. The GRASP project assessed the out-of-school time landscape across four cities-Kansas City, Sacramento, Little Rock, and Chicago-in an attempt to systematically determine the range of opportunities that exist for youth in each city and to deepen public will for out-of-school time programs. According to Joel Tolman, Program Coordinator, FYI, it was not easy. The data were incompatible and messy and program information was provided in many different formats. As cities began to untangle the data, they found the location of programs were not where young people lived, program opportunities were in short supply for older youth, and programs consistently neglected civic outcomes for young people. Moreover, only a small percentage of young people were enrolled in consistent and daily programs.
The GRASP project was also a way for cities to come together in an effort to outline key challenges and shape plans for overcoming those challenges. Across cities, a common set of tasks emerged as those most critical to improving out-of-school opportunities for youth: 1) ensuring coordination, collaboration and networking among those working with young people; 2) building a stable high-quality workforce through credentialing and staff development; 3) creating quality standards, assessments, and supports that result in effective organizations and programs; 4) developing the physical infrastructure of programs; 5) maintaining adequate funding streams; 6) engaging champions in the public and private sector; 7) committing to meaningful youth engagement in planning and participating in programs; 8) engaging the public and building their support; 9) developing planning and visioning processes to build alignment; and 10) strengthening mapping, monitoring and research systems to collect and analyze information about programs.
Renae Ogletree, Director, Chicago's Youth Services Division in the Department of Human Services, identified clear and common vision as a key aspect of successful city-wide work. She emphasized that community-based organizations and neighborhood constituencies, as well as top city leaders, need to be involved in shaping the vision and building out-of-school opportunities. Ogletree underscored the risk of undermining existing community-based delivery systems when top-down or outside-in mandates fail to recognize existing community strengths. In examining how programs engage youth, Deborah Craig, Executive Director, YouthNet of Greater Kansas City, emphasized the importance of a capacity-building network in increasing the quality of out-of-school opportunities. In the name of increased quality, YouthNet has led the charge for the development of program quality standards in Kansas City, facilitating a process in which young people and providers themselves came together to develop a shared vision of quality. Craig, like Ogletree, urged schools and public officials to look to community-based providers for expertise in supporting young people's development. Joan Wynn, Research Fellow, Chapin Hall Center for Children and Families spoke about the role of research in moving a city-wide agenda. She focused in particular on a current effort in Chicago, After School Matters, which aims to provide a ladder of out-of-school opportunities, including paid internships and opportunities to contribute, to a majority of the city's high school-age young people. In this and other efforts, the Chapin Hall has helped to frame project goals and focus, gather the data that drives the effort, and provide ongoing evaluation support.
In sum, the GRASP movement was a process to identify new ways of thinking about out-of-school time and offered cities a better way to provide program services to children and families.
This brief is from an American Youth Policy Forum held on April 12, 2002 on Capitol Hill, reported by Ming Shi Trammel.
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) is a non-profit, nonpartisan professional development organization that bridges youth policy, practice and research for professionals working on youth policy issues at the national, state and local levels.
AYPF's events and policy reports are made possible by the support of a consortium of philanthropic foundations: Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, General Electric Fund, William T. Grant Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Walter S. Johnson Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Charles S. Mott Foundation, Wallace Reader's Digest Funds, and others.