Afterschool Matters Spring 2000

Download the entire issue of Afterschool Matters Spring 2003 as a pdf. 61 pages.

Download individual articles as pdfs:

A Tale from the Youth Field: Using Stories to Understand Community-Based Youth Programs
By Sara Hill
A vivid portrait of a little girl, her mother, and their experience at a neighborhood agency demonstrates how stories taken from the field can illustrate the power of peer education and motivate staff toward more inspired educational after school programming. 8 pages.

The Power of Play: A Literature-Based After School Sports Program for Urban Youth
By Tom Zierk
A program that combines sports and literature can improve students’ reading, writing, and comprehension skills. What’s more, it promotes  children’s personal development and selfesteem, and forges a link between sports, literature, and their daily lives. 6 pages.

Creating an Agency Culture: A Model for Common Humanity
By Eileen C. Lyons
Children thrive individually when they feel part of a group. Thus every youth organization must intentionally create an agency culture that promotes positive values and relationships. Using social group work theory and her own experience as an agency director, the author proposes a Model for Common Humanity: nine principles that can guide the fostering of an agency milieu. 12 pages.

Making Learning Work
By Shirley Brice Heath
The worlds of business and youth-based community organizations share similar philosophies of creativity, collaboration and communication. Using research conducted at an urban youth theater program, the author demonstrates how young artists play organizational roles and act with a “sense of agency” comparable to that of the corporate world. 13 pages.

Naming Common Ground: Literacy and Community
By Jonathan Shevin and Chris Young
At a family service agency in the North Bronx, staff members have drawn a vital connection between community and literacy. The authors explain how their literacy program evolved from a basic tutoring opportunity into a curriculum using themes and information gleaned from the young participants’ immediate community surroundings. 6 pages.

Check it Off ! A Youth Development Approach to Staff Training
By Jessica Mates and Arva Rice
An effective youth development-based training program includes such key elements as building trust, engaging participants, and setting high expectations. This article presents practical suggestions and a useful checklist for progam planners. 3 pages.

Passion & Practice by Paul Whyte
3 pages.