Youth Engagement in Out-of-School-Time

Abstract Information: In this multi-paper session, we are excited to bring together emerging and experienced out-of-school time evaluators who are collaborating with youth and their families on program design, innovation, and evaluation in the USA and internationally. We will discuss four projects that involved youth-focused program design and evaluation processes.
First, researchers will describe a project, implemented with Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA), to evaluate outcomes and processes of the Military Teen Ambassador program. This program is designed to build youth resilience and help cope with stress. Youth lead and are involved in the planning process and actively engaged with their advisors and BGCA staff. The mixed-methods evaluation of the program incorporated a large qualitative component that illustrated, using a relational developmental systems theory and structured evaluation framework, the developmental processes and outcomes associated with program participation.
Second, SeriousFun Children’s Network and Abt Global researchers will discuss a youth and family driven project to develop a theory of change and accompanying evaluation toolkit with camper and family input. SeriousFun Children’s Network camps and partner programs are designed for children with serious illness and their families. This work elevated the voices of camp practitioners, campers, and families through synthesizing existing camp documents describing family weekends, speaking with campers and families, and incorporating feedback into iterative versions of evaluation resources. The evaluation resources were specifically developed for the largely 18-24 aged camp practitioner audience.
Third, researchers from Tim Hortons Foundation Camps in Canada, will speak about how youth voice was incorporated in a multi-year program quality effort where youth from low-income backgrounds identified people, places, and things around camp that supported safety, support, interaction, and engagement for youth. Using the Weikart framework of program quality as the guiding conceptual framework for program quality, researchers asked youth at four Tim Hortons camp sites to engage in a “Camp Mapping” activity that then informed several evaluation activities and approaches. These activities and approaches were designed to explore youth perspectives of camp program quality and have evolved over time.
Fourth, researchers from Camp Fire will discuss a recent study where they explored the question: “What impact (if any) do gender-inclusive and gender-affirming measures have on young people, their caregivers, and their camp experience?” Camp Fire is an inclusive national youth development organization that believes young people of all genders deserve to have experiences in the outdoors. They engaged non-binary and gender expansive youth and their caregivers at two camps in an mixed-methods evaluation where they found that affirming spaces Camp Fire were associated with high levels of belonging, community, sense of relief, and joy during camp. Findings informed the expansion of gender affirming practices across camp programs.
All four presentations will touch on culturally representative and practical strategies to collaborate with youth as program developers, program improvers, and co-evaluators, sharing lessons learned and best practices, as well as some of the challenges faced. Following the presentations, we will answer questions and engage in interactive discussions to explore the relevance of this work for audience members.