Helping Low-Income Urban Youth Make the Transition to Early Adulthood - A Retrospective Study of the YMCA Youth Institute

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley

Early adulthood is a pivotal 18–25 period in which young people build education, training, and resources for later occupations and income. Transitioning successfully from adolescence requires academic, cognitive, psychological, social, and technological skills, plus supports such as mentoring, civic engagement, and workforce readiness. Low-income urban youth of color face obstacles in out-of-school time (OST) opportunities, college readiness, and access to support networks. A pilot qualitative study examines perspectives of YMCA of Greater Long Beach Youth Institute participants and highlights perceived positive effects on life choices, higher education pursuit, and workforce entry, with implications for other high school OST programs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Background: Transition to Early Adulthood

Skills and supports required

Challenges for low-income urban youth

Pilot qualitative study

Program context and participation

Participant perspectives and outcomes

Implications for high school OST programs

Effective program components

Helping Low-Income Urban Youth Make the Transition to Early Adulthood A Retrospective Study of the YMCA Youth Institute Julie O’Donnell and Sandra L. Kirkner Young adulthood, typically deﬁned as between the ages of 18 and 25, is a critical period of growth during which young people acquire the education and training that serve as the basis for their later occupations and income (Arnett, 2000) . The successful transition from adolescence to early adulthood requires youth to have the skills and resources to graduate high school and then go to college or enter the workforce (Fuligni & Hardway, 2004; Lippman, Atienza, Rivers, & Keith, 2008) . To accomplish these tasks in advanced urban societies, young adults need a wide range of social, cognitive, psychological, and technological skills and supports: academic and critical thinking skills, a sense of purpose or a vision or plan for the future, social and interpersonal competence, knowledge of how to access college and ﬁnancial resources, social support and capital including mentors who emphasize the need for college and workforce skills, civic engagement, and workforce and technology skills (Hamilton & Hamilton, 2009; Lippman et al. , 2008; Warschauer & Matuchniak , 2010) . Low-income urban youth of color often face challenges in their transition to early adulthood. High school out-of-school time (OST) programs that promote positive youth development may help youth to better negotiate this period (Fuligni & Hardway, 2004) . However, little research exists on the long-term impact of such programson young adults. We conducted a pilot qualitative study to explore the perspectives of young adults on the effect of their participation in the YMCA of Greater Long Beach Youth Institute. Respondents indicated that the program positively inﬂuenced their life choices and their ability to pursue higher education and enter the workforce. Our ﬁndings suggest implications for other high school OST programs. JULIE O’DONNELL, PhD, is a professor in the School of Social Work at California State University, Long Beach. SANDRA L. KIRKNER is a research associate in the School of Social Work at California State University, Long Beach. Vulnerable Youth and the low-income youth (Gardner, Roth, & Brooks-Gunn, 2008) . Transition to Adulthood Such programs positively inﬂuence the healthy develop Both directly and indirectly, poverty can make the transi- ment of low-income youth by helping them to develop tion from adolescence to early adulthood difﬁcult (Berzin, diverse skills and support networks (Barr, Birmingham, De Marco, Shaw, Unick, & Hogan, 2006) . Low-income Fornal, Klein, & Piha, 2006) . OST programs that proyouth are at risk for low academic achievement and school mote education and instill a sense of belonging and comdropout, often because of family, school, and community petence may develop characteristics that help youth make challenges associated with poverty (Lacour & Tissington, the transition to young adulthood (Daud & Carruthers, 2011; Reardon, 2011) . Students from high-income families 2008) . Strong mentoring connections to positive adults can are ﬁve to seven times more likely to graduate from high also contribute to positive outcomes for vulnerable youth school than those from low-income families (Chapman, (Hines, Merdinger, & Wyatt, 2005) . OST programs that Laird, Iﬁll, & KewalRamani, 2011; Snyder & Dillow, 2010) . promote positive youth development maybe especially benLow-income youth are also less likely to have college readi- eﬁcial, since many aspects of positive youth development ness knowledge and skills (Hooker & Brand, 2010; Rod- overlap with college and workforce readiness (Lippman et erick, Nagaoka, & Coca, 2009) and al. , 2008) . However, research on the are much less likely to attend college long-term impact of positive youth (Kim & Nunez, 2013) . Once low- development programs, particularly income youth enter an institution of Participation in h

FAQs

Why is early adulthood considered a critical development period?

Early adulthood (about ages 18–25) is when young people acquire education and training that underpin later occupations and income. Successful transition depends on having skills and resources to complete high school and move into college or the workforce.

What kinds of supports and skills are described as necessary for the transition?

The document emphasizes social, cognitive, psychological, and technological skills, along with purpose for the future, interpersonal competence, knowledge of accessing college and financial resources, mentoring, civic engagement, and workforce and technology skills.

What did the pilot study of the YMCA Youth Institute find?

Respondents reported that participation positively influenced their life choices and their ability to pursue higher education and enter the workforce, leading to suggested implications for other high school OST programs.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley