Out-of-school time (OST) initiatives, defined as programs that operate in and out of school settings, serve young people, their families, and the communities around them. These initiatives are often created to close opportunity gaps that can exist for at-risk students and to meet the needs of previously assessed concerns for communities. For the…

This dissertation consists of two chapters that examine the impact of educational and positive youth development programs on students' academic and behavioral outcomes. In the first chapter, I evaluate the effect of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, a school meal provision allowing schools meeting the eligibility requirements to…

This dissertation examines a case of an international development initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the United States and implemented in North Macedonia. The specific initiative was a youth development program including a substantial career counseling component called the Macedonia Youth…

For over 100 years, youth mentoring has grown to be an evidenced based prevention strategy for youth, demonstrating positive youth outcomes through strong relationships with caring adults. While trusting relationships are the mainstay of the positive impacts achieved through mentoring, the difficulty in recruiting volunteer adults has not met the…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how young adult participants, who completed the Inspire-High School Program offered through a parochial school, describe the influences that their internal and external environments had on their ability to complete the program in the southern United States. This study used…

This dissertation is a multi-method study that engaged youth in a digital learning ecology called Literacy Scholars for Justice and focused on critical aesthetic textual interpretation. I employ a queer methodology as the dissertation study's overarching methodological framework. I collected data in a virtual learning ecology during a two-year…

Within our rapidly changing and growing global society, adolescent development into adulthood remains a pervasive issue that youth serving institutions and youth engagement practitioners across the world must address. While literature shows that there are numerous factors that contribute to the physical, mental, and social-emotional development of…

This qualitative single-case study applied social exchange theory to evaluate the impact of transitioning from traditional, in-person mentoring to virtual mentoring during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically from April 2020 to April 2021, within a youth mentoring organization. The study used semistructured interviews for data collection and…

Structured out-of-school programs (OSPs) can be contexts in which youth can be producers of their own positive change (Eccles & Gootman, 2002). However, despite a considerable body of research documenting the benefits of participating in OSPs, there is a lack of knowledge about how youth of color in low-income communities define positive…

Sport participation has been limited in marginalized communities due to socioeconomic factors such as access to facilities, cost of participation, and the overall lack of opportunity to engage in physical activity (The Aspen Institute, 2019). Sport Based Youth Development (SBYD) programs have been one avenue of providing sport and physical…

Volunteer engagement is critical to achieving the mission of volunteer organizations (Boone et al., 2002). Fogarty et al. (2009) found that 4-H volunteers are a mediating factor in achieving positive youth development outcomes and are responsible for teaching at least 50% of the life skills youth gain from participation in the organization. For…

This dissertation examines the impact of Skyhawks Sports Academy camps on youth participants' social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies using an intrinsic case study approach. The study utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were gathered through SEL competency surveys administered on the first and fifth days of…

In this dissertation, I examine how two major social programs in Kentucky--state-funded preK and Family Resource and Youth Service Centers--impact children's outcomes across the state, including racial, ethnic, and economic equity through elementary school. In each chapter, I will analyze how early childhood opportunities relate to outcomes…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how the organizational culture of the after-school program within the Inn Dwelling Comprehensive Youth Initiative (IDCYI) after-school program provided by the Inn Dwelling organization, which serves two communities in Philadelphia, PA influences student academic achievement. The sample…

This study explores the "Youth Leadership Experience" (YLE), (pseudonym) an afterschool experiential learning and leadership program for 9th and 10th-grade high school students from the midlands area of Columbia, SC. The study aims to identify and document the experiential learning and leadership practices at "Youth Leadership…