From Access to Equity: Making Out-of-School-Time Spaces Meaningful for Teens From Marginalized Communities

Posted by Wallace Foundation on June 25, 2024

This brief summarizes findings from Wallace-commissioned research about key challenges and promising practices toward equity in out-of-school-time (OST) programs engaging historically marginalized youth populations. This report captures the ideas and recommendations gleaned from a literature review and interviews with OST policy influencers, program directors, youth workers, and scholars across the nation.

Afterschool, summer and other out-of-school-time (OST) programs provide young people with a range of opportunities. Youth participants can build positive relationships with peers and adults, develop and hone academic and other skills, and engage in apprenticeships and other forms of intergenerational learning (Gutiérrez, 2008; Hirsch, 2006; McCombs, Whitaker, Yoo, 2017; McLaughlin, 2000; Nelson, 2016; Rogoff, Callanan, Gutiérrez, & Erickson, 2016; Vadeboncoeur, 2006; Vandell, Reisner, & Pierce, 2007.) However, there is a persistent and widening gap between the OST opportunities available to young people from low-income households and those available to their more affluent peers (Afterschool Alliance, 2020). Barriers such as program fees and lack of transportation disproportionately affect low-income families and families of color (Snellman, Silva, Frederick, & Putman, 2015). Additionally, in many cases, cultural norms of programs and unexamined biases of program and leadership staff may deter the participation of young people from historically marginalized communities in these programs (Baldridge, 2019).

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