Child Trends

Adolescents have competing priorities during their after-school time, so program developers and evaluation researchers sometimes struggle to maintain consistent participant attendance. Child Trends’ new blog shares strategies that youth-serving adults can use to keep young people engaged throughout the duration of a voluntary after-school program. These strategies are drawn from the evaluation of Many Ways of Being, an innovative s*x education curriculum—developed by Equimundo and delivered by the Latin American Youth Center as an after-school program to adolescents ages 15-19—that has maintained an attendance rate of 73 percent.

Although our focus was on the MWB s*x education program, we think these strategies are more broadly applicable to youth-serving programs and evaluations and hope they can help other researchers and practitioners develop and refine strategies for keeping youth engaged in after-school curricula.
https://www.childtrends.org/publications/5-lessons-engaging-youth-participants-education-program

Researchers need strong enrollment numbers to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of their programs, but they often face challenges in recruiting youth into voluntary after-school programs. Child Trends’ new blog post shares five key lessons for recruiting and enrolling adolescents in voluntary programs, drawn from our evaluation of Many Ways of Being (MWB)—an innovative s*x education curriculum developed by Equimundo and delivered by the Latin American Youth Center as an after-school program to adolescents ages 15-19.

Although MWB is a s*x education program, the following strategies are more broadly applicable to youth-serving programs and evaluations, particularly in after-school settings. We hope they can help other researchers and practitioners develop and refine effective strategies for youth recruitment.

Strategies for Recruiting Youth for After-School Programs Read Strategies for Recruiting Youth for After-School Programs from Child Trends.

Young adult workers bring unique and valuable perspectives to challenges that employers face in attracting and retaining young workers, but many employers don’t effectively include their voices in decisions that impact the workplace. Child Trends’ resource provides strategies for workforce development program staff to help employers have open and productive conversations with young adult workers.

The Generation Work™ initiative—launched by the Annie E. Casey Foundation—aimed to connect America’s young workers with meaningful employment. One strategy Generation Work partnerships used was to facilitate opportunities for employers to connect with young adult workers to better understand their needs and perspectives.

Tipsheets for Workforce Development Program Staff to Prepare Employers and Young Workers for Conversations Read Tipsheets for Workforce Development Program Staff to Prepare Employers and Young Workers for Conversations from Child Trends.