nvesting in quality programming for youth is vitally important—because of its direct role in children's social, emotional, and cognitive development, but also because of its more indirect role in providing benefits that extend beyond the participants, to society as a whole.

Data shows that children who are given access to out-of-school-time activities which are of high quality, which are designed and staffed by professionals, and which are based on youth development research enjoy a wide variety of positive outcomes ranging from school success to better health.

McKnight first started funding youth programs over three decades ago, with a grant of $1,000 in 1973 to the White Bear Lake Babe Ruth League. In the beginning this grantmaking effort was meant to ensure that young people had access to constructive opportunities in the summer months. Today our goals have evolved to encourage youth to build skills and forge productive relationships with family, peers, and community; to develop social competencies and positive values; and to form an optimistic sense of themselves and their future. Realizing these goals has remained a central and constant part of the Foundation's mission ever since.

In 1995, the Foundation formalized its youth grantmaking, creating our current support for youth enrichment during the out-of-school time. Every year since 1995, the Foundation has conducted an open call for innovative and ambitious proposals that aim to provide high-quality programming for youth during summer and after school. This program has made a total of nearly $30 million in grants, supporting 673 projects at 230 organizations.

In the first six months of 2007, we have approved 42 grants in this area, totaling over $2.7 million. These funds will support programs serving more than 6,500 children and their families.

fter 30 years of funding, certain characteristics of effective youth programs have surfaced through research and practice. Successful programs combine elements of support (caring relationships, high expectations, and continuity over time) with opportunities (to contribute, to learn, to develop values, to be socially competent, and to discover identity). They blend traditional enrichment activities—such as those that are artistic, recreational, or career-oriented—with more intentional strategies that respond to children's unique developmental and academic needs.

At McKnight, we also focus our funding on innovative program ideas and on youth with limited access to enrichment opportunities. We support high-quality programs and new approaches based on emerging needs and practices. Examples include programs developed for middle school youth who spend a considerable amount of time on their own and experience limited opportunities to engage in programs meeting their unique needs. The Foundation has also supported collaborative transportation projects coordinated among multiple organizations.

History: Research and a changing field

eliable data about out-of-school-time programming simply was not available in the 1970s. At the time, the thinking behind McKnight's early youth funding was based on the widely accepted medical model of social service—the concept that youth exhibiting certain social and behavioral problems were "sick" and needed to be "cured."

In practice, this approach addressed the prevention of problems rather than the promotion of positive development, and focused narrowly on negative behaviors such as drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and school dropout. Although well-intentioned, the approach never achieved demonstrably positive results.

Then, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the field started to change dramatically. Three major reports published around this time documented the need for radically new thinking about structured opportunities for youth.

First, The Forgotten Half, published in 1988 by the William T. Grant Foundation, alerted the country to the scarcity of opportunities for youth during nonschool hours. Second, in 1990 the Minneapolis-based Search Institute compiled its "40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents," a groundbreaking examination of concrete, common sense, positive experiences and qualities essential to raising successful young people. And finally, A Matter of Time: Risk and Opportunity in the Nonschool Hours, published in 1992 by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, concluded that "the nonschool hours are the proving ground on which young people test and master their own interests, thus developing the skills and confidence that promote the other three R's—resourcefulness, responsibility, and reliability."

A critical flaw in the premise of the medical model—that only youth with "problems" need access to quality programs—became apparent, and the prominence of this model began to erode. In its place emerged a more universal assets-based model, advancing the notion that in fact all children benefit from thoughtfully designed, high-quality out-of-school-time programs.

People were starting to understand that the ways in which youth, troubled or not, spend their out-of-school time have a tremendous impact on their social, emotional, and cognitive development.

McKnight's new direction

he discussion generated by this new crop of thought-provoking and ultimately groundbreaking research caused us at McKnight to examine whether or not our own efforts were achieving the positive impact that we hoped.

In October 1999, the Foundation commissioned its own report, "Afterschool Programs: An analysis of research about characteristics of effectiveness," which used independent research to identify the key attributes of effective after-school programs.

What we learned caused our youth efforts to take a new tack: McKnight's board of directors approved a new strategy for the Foundation's out-of-school-time support and started targeting our funding to youth programs that embody the emerging best practices of the field.

What this means specifically is that we support programs that:

• develop long-term relationships between youth and adults
• are responsive to the backgrounds and needs of children and families
• encourage exploration and build "real world" competencies
• provide active and creative learning opportunities
• foster leadership
• have well-qualified and trained staff with skills and knowledge in youth development
• have clear, strong, ongoing evaluation systems with high expectations for youth
• engage community partners in program development, planning, and delivery

This framework has led us into funding relationships with programs operating at every scale. These include local branches of well-known national organizations, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and the YWCA and YMCA; regional multiservice organizations, like Neighborhood House and the Southeast Asian Community Council, that engage children and their families on multiple levels; and smaller, more focused community-based efforts, like Youth Farm and Market Project, a year-round program that provides urban agriculture and youth organizing, and TVbyGIRLS, a media production program that engages girls ages 10 to 18.

These high-quality programs—representing only a fraction of the youth enrichment efforts that exist in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas—have been a testing ground for innovative program practice and research. They provide vital information to the field about the challenges and opportunities for youth work.

Just as a child's development is directly affected by his or her environment, out-of-school-time programs and the staff who design and run them are limited by certain forces beyond their control. So, in addition to supporting youth grantees "on the ground," McKnight utilizes tools to improve the out-of-school-time field from the top down.

These tools include strategic efforts to positively impact youth policy at the local, state, and national levels, and the funding of professional development programs that improve the training of youth enrichment staff. McKnight also convenes its out-of-school-time grantees on an annual basis, providing them with a forum for mutual support, information sharing, and networking.

Why youth enrichment matters to all of us

here is no doubt that the quality of the education system in our state is vital to the healthy development of our children. Our schools have always been, and will continue to be, the place where children learn many of the vital skills and knowledge they need to find their way in the world.

Much of children's development, however, takes place outside the classroom, away from the watchful eyes of parents, in time spent with peers, friends, or engaged in solitary activity. The quality and content of this time can mean the difference between an adult whose impact on society is positive and one who never reaches his or her developmental potential. (It should be noted that when designed thoughtfully and administered effectively, out-of-school-time enrichment programs complement and reinforce the learning and development that goes on in the classroom; the converse is also true.)

Thanks in large part to the investigative efforts of the William T. Grant Foundation, Wilder Research, the Rand Corporation, the Search Institute, and other like-minded organizations, we've come a long way since the 1970s towards understanding the importance of how kids occupy themselves during the out-of-school time. We now know, for instance, that kids develop more successfully when they are in an environment tailored to build on their assets rather than to focus on their shortcomings.

Similar to the early childhood field about 10 years ago, a groundswell of critical exploration is taking place today in the field of youth out-of-school-time programming. The reality is that the benefits of making these programs available to youth—as well as the risks of not doing so—remain under-researched.

What is clear is that, in order for kids to navigate successfully from childhood to adulthood, they need access during their school years to productive, challenging, and positive out-of-school-time activities, designed and staffed by professionals who are trained in, and committed to, the most effective ways of helping kids grow into healthy adults. McKnight is pleased to be among those supporting these types of efforts.

Related Links

McKnight Children and Families Program
The Forgotten Half and The Forgotten Half Revisited, The William T. Grant Foundation
40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents, The Search Institute
A Matter of Time: Risk and Opportunity in the Nonschool Hours, Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development
The After-School Corporation
American Youth Policy Forum
Chapin Hall
Child Trends
Kids Count
National Institute on Out-of-School Time
National Youth Development Information Center
Promising Practices in After School