Community-based youth-serving organizations are often seen by participants and their families as safe and supportive environments with no stigma attached to participation. Many children attend community-based afterschool programs five days a week. In such an environment, trusted adults can consistently monitor the moods and behaviors of…

Until recently, youth practitioners learned how to support team building, maximize the participation of diverse groups of youth, and measure the desired effects of new strategies through experience, ingenuity, mentoring, and an occasional workshop. As research amasses about the critical role of staff quality in predicting positive outcomes for…

"Afterschool Matters" had the opportunity to talk with Sylvia Lyles, Ph.D., program director of the Academic Improvement Programs Group in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC. Sylvia works in the out-of-school time and school domains to keep educators' concerns front and…

Susan Ingalls, the Founder and Executive Director of Children & the Classics--a New York City agency that offers technical assistance, arts resources, and direct programming to more than two dozen Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in New York City--describes her experience of sitting in on various meetings where the topic of conversation…