Authoring Action (A2) is a youth-focused, arts-based, afterschool and summer program. A2's mission is "to transform the lives of youth and the world through the power of creative writing, spoken word, visual and media arts, film-making and leadership education that promotes positive systemic change." Using in-depth interviews, this study…

Parents increasingly view afterschool as important to the healthy development of children. Afterschool programs support healthy development. Parents of color and families with low incomes especially value afterschool's role in supporting healthy development. America After 3PM is a nationally representative survey of randomly selected adults who…

Leadership talent development has been identified as a priority in national and state standards for gifted education. However, leadership programs in schools are not always supported by mandates or funding in individual states and implementation is not always feasible within the constraints of local gifted service models. Although some research…

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…

In this article, we playfully revisit the same data scene, but from three different perspectives. We call these revisits "re-turns" to data. These "re-turns" draw upon moments with young boys playing at a makerspace located in a multiracial, working-class community. This idea of "re-turn" is not simply about…

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…

Research on recreational media use among youth indicates young people of color who spend more time with media may also be at higher risk for school disengagement and low personal contentment compared to their white peers. This puts these students in a position to be even more influenced by the themes and messages that abound in pop culture,…

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…

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…

The 2020 Pro-Kid Policy Agenda for California is the comprehensive roadmap at the state level to ensure that all children have the necessary supports to reach their full potential. California has an obligation to tear down the structural barriers to all kids, especially kids of color, from growing up healthy, safe, and ready for college, career,…

In order to ensure that middle school youth are on a path toward higher education and careers, an early introduction to the importance of continuing education past high school is necessary. The middle school years are a vital time to teach the importance of college and career readiness and the linkages to success in life. This issue brief…

With a growing number of school hours devoted to increased instructional time and physical education programs being scaled back in many schools, the afterschool hours are becoming increasingly crucial to ensuring the healthy development of the nation's youth. Additionally, with students spending the majority of their waking hours and consuming the…

Only 8 percent of children born into poverty graduate from college by the age of 25. Consider what that means for the estimated 500,000 New York City kids living in poverty. It is a fact: The better educated a person is, the better her chances of upward mobility. So when fewer than one in 10 children born into poverty reach their academic…

Nationally, women are greatly under-represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) postsecondary majors. Intersect race, social class, and gender, and low-income girls of color enter technology fields at a lower rate than White middle-income females. The authors created an after-school and summer program, CompuGirls,…