JPMorgan Chase & Co. began a learning and evaluation practice of its summer youth employment program (SYEP) portfolio in 2022. At the time, the organization was providing grant support to 27 organizations that offer summer work-readiness training to young people between the ages of 14 and 24, including social service agencies, community-based…

This article is a revised and expanded version of my presidential address delivered during the 74th Annual Conference of the Literacy Research Association. Part biography and autoethnography, I discuss the need to 'trouble five dark spaces' that affect the literacy development of black male children and teenagers: (1) bounded research orientations…

The authors of this article represent an interdisciplinary team that includes a literacy teacher educator, a high school economics teacher, a community-based math educator, and a math teacher educator. Responding to the needs and building from the strengths of the local community, we co-designed with youth a community-based FLE workshop that…

During the summer of 2016, through a teen arts internship, the author conducted research on some of the contexts, narratives, and activities that shape artist identity formation. The teen arts interns spent mornings engaged in activities such as discussion, writing, and making art, with a focus on art as activism, and spent afternoons as teaching…

Planning ahead, arriving on time, taking initiative: these are some of the basics of professionalism. But for most young people, these job skills don't just develop--they must be learned and practiced. Many teens have traditionally honed these skills during a summer job--scooping ice cream, busing tables, lifeguarding. Such summer gigs have long…

The education landscape, both in and out of school, has shifted dramatically, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to digital learning. This shift has compounded the need for digital media literacy, a wide-ranging and often-changing concept that encompasses the competence to use technical equipment, intelligently consume and process information, and…

Dances and drum rhythms from African traditions have been integrated into summer camp activities in the United States as a response to the ever-globalized environments in which these camps are located and the diversity of the campers and teachers that they attract. This reflective article draws on critical reflections, observations and experiences…

Early childhood has long been known to be a formative time in a child's development-- a time when the brain produces more than 1 million neural connections every second during the first few years of a child's life. However, there are factors at the individual and community levels that impact the development process. In communities across America,…

This paper results from programming of Indigenous Logix: Mathematics|Culture|Environment (IndigiLogix). IndigiLogix's intention is to increase Indigenous students' love for mathematics as well as college access and success. Through IndigiLogix, it was transparent that the mathematics knowledge imparted to our Indigenous students derived from a…

Creative youth development (CYD) is a dynamic area of community arts education that successfully bridges youth development and arts education. CYD is an intentional, holistic practice that combines hands-on artmaking and skill building in the arts with development of life skills to support young people in successfully participating in adolescence…

Taking a comprehensive approach to wellness--which includes healthy eating and physical activity and extends to additional aspects of health, such as social and emotional skills and competencies--can provide the necessary supports to help healthy children grow into healthy adults. Afterschool and summer learning programs are well-situated to be an…

In this article, the author talks about a summer program at the African American Adolescent Male Summer Literacy Institute which aims to improve literacy skills of black male teens. The African American Adolescent Male Summer Literacy Institute is now in its fourth year at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC). Alfred Tatum, director of the…

Camp provides an opportunity for a child to have fun, learn and grow in a safe, nurturing, and enriching environment. Tucked away in the picturesque Catoctin Mountain Park in Western Maryland, The League for People with Disabilities has run a summer camp program for over 70 years. Camp Greentop, the campground, is part of the national park, built…

This article recounts the authors' experiences at the Authentic Voices of America summer camp for severely disabled youths who are learning to become more proficient at using computerized communication devices to speak. The five-day camp was founded by Jon Feucht, who also uses a device and continues to serve as its director. In the summer of…

California has long been on the cutting edge of social and political change. This trendsetting continues today on issues from addressing climate change to supporting immigrant communities to ensuring equal rights for all. But, when reviewing the grades of this year's California Children's Report Card, it is difficult not to ask the question: why…