Youth GO - An Approach to Gathering Youth Perspectives in Out-of-School Time Programs

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley

Youth GO presents a structured, developmentally appropriate method for gathering youth perspectives in out-of-school time (OST) programs despite common constraints in staff, time, and space. Grounded in youth participatory action research, it outlines a five-step process and provides implementation prompts for the Scholars Program. Drawing on an OST setting supporting academic success for youth in public housing, the article details strengths, limitations, and feasibility while addressing why youth input improves program accountability and service access.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Youth GO Approach

Context: Scholars Program and student needs

Youth GO: five-step process

Table 1: prompts for Youth GO implementation

Youth GO An Approach to Gathering Youth Perspectives in Out-of-School Time Programs Sara T. Stacy, Ignacio D. Acevedo-Polakovich, and Jonathan Rosewood Including youth in the development and evaluation of outof-school time (OST) programs has positive effects on youth, the organizations that serve them, and the communities in which they live (Checkoway et al., 2003) . Such involvement can improve young people’s social competence (Hubbard, 2015), foster leadership and engagement (Zeller-Berkman, Muñoz-Proto, & Torre, 2013), and empower groups (Berg, Coman, & Schensul, 2009) . Youth provide unique perspectives on their lived experiences (Checkoway & Richards-Schuster, 2004; Jacquez, Vaughn, & Wagner, 2013; Wong, Zimmerman,& Parker, 2010) . Their clear insights are valuable contributions to the development and evaluation of OST programs. For example, incorporating a youth council can enhance OST program accountability and drive program improvement (Hubbard, 2015) . Simply considering youth perspectives can not only improve OST service development and youth support but also increase service use and access (Kirby, Lanyon, Cronin,& Sinclair, 2003) . Despite these benefits, OST programs face challenges in incorporating youth perspectives. One is the perceptions of program staff, who may see youth as problems rather than resources (Checkoway & Richards-Schuster, 2004) or as less valuable or knowledgeable than adults (Langhout & Thomas, 2010) . Resource constraints are another SARA T. STACY is a doctoral student in the Ecological-Community Psychology program at Michigan State University and associate lab lead of the Community-AID Laboratory. Her work focuses on youth and community engagement in educational settings. IGNACIO D. ACEVEDO-POLAKOVICH, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University and the laboratory lead for the Community-AID Laboratory. JONATHAN ROSEWOOD is the diversity project coordinator at Lansing Community College. A graduate of Michigan State University in interdisciplinary studies in social science, he formerly served as director of the Scholars Program at Edgewood Village Network Center. challenge. Many approaches to gathering youth perspectives require significant capacity, staff, time, and space (Ozer & Douglas, 2013; Zeller-Berkman et al. , 2013) . Program staff and administrators may not know about approaches to gathering youth perspectives that align with their resources and are easy to implement. This article describes Youth Generate and Organize (Youth GO), a structured, developmentally appropriate approach to gathering youth perspectives designed to be implemented with the time and resources available inmost OST settings. The strengths, limitations, and feasibility of Youth GO are illustrated through its implementation in an OST program to support the academic success of youth living in public housing. Context Students in public housing face significant obstacles to their educational success including poverty and reduced access to resources (Bradley, Corwyn, McAdoo, & Coll, 2001; Currie & Yelowitz, 2000; Newman & Harkness, 2000) . Their parents sometimes report feeling marginalized from academic settings, a feeling that keeps them from being involved in their child’s education (Yoder & Lopez, 2013) . Thus, students who live in public housing tend to perform worse than others on academic achievement tests and other measures of educational success (Currie & Yelowitz, 2000; Newman & Harkness, 2000) . In response to these needs, the Edgewood Village Network Center in East Lansing, Michigan, developed the Scholars Program for middle and high school students who live in the public housing complex. The Scholars Program supports the academic success, high school graduation, and college admittance of its participants in three ways. 1.It responds to their current educational needs by providing supports such as homework help, tutormentors, and g

FAQs

What problem does Youth GO address in out-of-school time programs?

OST programs often struggle to incorporate youth perspectives due to staff, time, and space limitations, and because some staff may undervalue youth input. Youth GO is designed to work within these constraints while still collecting meaningful youth perspectives.

How does Youth GO relate to youth participatory action research?

Youth GO integrates components and principles from youth participatory action research to structure how participants’ perspectives are gathered, organized, and used within OST programs.

What does the Youth GO process include?

The article describes Youth GO as a five-step approach, including climate setting, generating, organizing, selecting, and a debrief & discussion stage.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanley