Toward More Equitable Outcomes - A Research Synthesis on Out-of-School Time Work with Boys and Young Men of Color

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Toward More Equitable Outcomes synthesizes research on out-of-school time (OST) programs supporting boys and young men of color (BYMOC), focusing on how scholarship has shaped program practices and policy debates. It contrasts early prevention and risk-focused framings with later approaches emphasizing assets and positive youth development. The synthesis highlights how effective OST work involves organizing and empowering BYMOC to improve equitable educational, economic, health, and life outcomes through culturally responsive services and systems change.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Background and Purpose

Definitions of “the truth” and research influence on policy

Evolution of OST Research Approaches

From risk and prevention frameworks

Toward assets analysis and positive youth development

Implications for Practice and Equitable Outcomes

Toward More Equitable Outcomes A Research Synthesis on Out-of-School Time Work with Boys and Young Men of Color Jon Gilgoff and Shawn Ginwright “We believe they have a lot of the answers within themselves,” says Keith Bennett of Detroit’s Flip the Script.This afterschool program offers academic support, leadership development, and guidance from positive male mentors to young men of color ages 11–15. At Male Leadership Academy, another program in the city’s West Side, youth receive similar services, including life lessons from peersand adults provided in a guest speaker component titled“Calling All Men: Truth Sessions”(Allen, 2009) . What is “the truth” about out-of-school time (OST) work with boys and young men of color (BYMOC)? How has the literature that documents the increasing public consciousness of this work influenced program centers and policy debates? Recent local and national attention on the crisis facing BYMOC has contributed many insights to this discussion. Although My Brother’s Keeper was not the first call to action on this issue, this White House initiative has raised awareness and re- sources, some of which have been directed toward developing and documenting efforts undertaken outside the academic day. This article contributes to a growing conversation by identifying trends in an expanding body of research on practices used to support BYMOC. As the field moves toward clearer recognition of what constitutes“effective” practice, afterschool professionals are playing an important role in empowering and organizing BYMOC to achieve more equitable educational, economic, health, and life outcomes. JON GILGOFF, LCSW, is founder and executive director of Brotherson the Rise, a direct service and systems change organization based in Oakland, CA. He has published in Newsday, The New Social Worker, and Afterschool Matters. His research focuses on how gender and culturally responsive services and systems change work to empower male youth of color and to catalyze more peaceful and just communities. SHAWN GINWRIGHT is a leading expert on African-American youth, youth activism, and youth development. He is an associate professor of education in the Africana Studies department at San Francisco State University. In 1999, he received his Ph. D. from the University of California, Berkeley. His research examines the ways in which youth in urban communities create equality and justice in their schools and communities. From Problems and Prevention to Assets analysis of the challenges facing BYMOC. They have helped and Advocacy to shift the “problem statement” away from individual cir Early OST research focused overwhelmingly on risk pre- cumstances toward greater understanding of how environvention (Dryfoos, 1990; Glasgow, 1981; Jessor & Jessor, mental stressors, structures, and systemic injustices dispro- 1977) . The underlying thesis was that behaviors of “at-risk” portionately affect BYMOC. youth, especially African-American and Latino young peo- Examples of early literature in this vein include Wil ple, could be understood as maladaptive responses to chal- son’s (1996) well-known study on how macro-level ecolenging life circumstances. The empirical study of problems nomic changes influence choices made by the poor. Wilson and pathology were thus deeply woven into the theoretical explained how a decrease in the availability of manufacturfabric of these perspectives. Numerous studies attempted to ing jobs, the migration of middle-class African-American explain high levels of drug use, school dropout, violence, families from inner cities to suburbs, and other structural early sexual activity, and other behaviors that jeopardize forces contributed to caste-like poverty, high unemployhealthy development among “at- ment, low levels of school success, risk” youth. In fact, during the de- and high rates of school suspension cade between 1985 and 1995, nearly Since the mid-1990s, as the or expulsion. Taking

FAQs

What does the document examine about out-of-school time work with boys and young men of color?

It synthesizes trends in research on practices used to support BYMOC and explains how this scholarship has influenced program centers and policy debates.

How did early OST research typically frame the challenges facing BYMOC?

Early work emphasized risk and prevention, treating “at-risk” behaviors as maladaptive responses to difficult life circumstances.

What shift does the document describe in later research and practice?

Since the mid-1990s, researchers increasingly analyze assets and positive youth development, shifting the “problem statement” toward environmental stressors and systemic inequities.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious