DC TRUST Guide 1023 - Children & Youth Investment Trust ...

a f i e l d g u i d e t o
Best Practices and Indicators
for Out-of-School Time Programs
i n t h e d i s t r i c t o f c o lu m b i a
DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation

i n t r o d u c t i o n
Best Practices and Indicators for
Out-of-School Time Programs
How do you define quality in an out-of-school time program, and how is it evidenced in practice?
High-quality programs for children and youth are intentionally designed using best practices
measured against practical, identifiable indicators. The DC Children and Youth Investment Trust
Corporation (the Trust) believes that program improvement is an ongoing process that includes:
observing programs’ progress toward youth development goals, identifying strengths and
challenges and setting objectives and developing strategies to meet them.
The Trust developed this field guide as a resource that presents examples of the best in youth
programming, including programming in an especially urban environment. It incorporates the
learning of organizations and intermediaries across the country, the experience of Trust staff, and
the front line insights of dedicated providers in the District of Columbia. It provides almost 100
best practices and more than 600 indicators that illustrate what each practice looks like in
day-to-day operations.
The field guide can be used by any program, regardless of size, area of focus or years in existence.
The best practices are presented in four broad categories of program quality – relationships,
program content, community connection and organizational infrastructure. Whether used for
independent self-assessment or as part of the Trust’s more formal assessment process, this field
guide provides a wealth of ideas, information, and inspiration for program design or improvement.
1. Youth Development Philosophy and Low Student-to-Staff Ratio
The program provides positive interaction between youth and trained, caring adults
through a youth development philosophy and low student-to-staff ratio.
2. High-interest, Hands-on Activities
Youth are engaged in high-interest, hands-on activities that offer a balance of ageappropriate
programming that includes academic support, enrichment, recreation,
arts, job skills, college prep, etc.
3. Connections to Families and Community
The program has strong connections to local community with opportunities for
engaging parents and contributing to the community.
4. Organizational Infrastructure
The program is offered in a safe, structured, nurturing environment by a sustainable,
well-run organization.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Introduction: Best Practices and Indicators for Out-of-School Time Programs

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
INTRODUCTION
1
Youth Development Philosophy and Low Student-to-Staff Ratio
HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS • 4
STAFF SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT • 7
2
High-interest, Hands-on Activities
PROGRAM DESIGN AND PLANNING • 10
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS • 12
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT • 13
ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT • 18
SPORTS AND RECREATION DEVELOPMENT • 20
WORKFORCE AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT • 22
READINESS FOR POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION • 25
ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT • 27
3
Connections to Families and Community
CIVIC DEVELOPMENT • 32
COMMUNITY CONNECTION • 34
4
Organizational Infrastructure
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION • 37
SAFETY, HEALTH AND NUTRITION • 40
INDOOR AND OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT • 45
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & STAFF
47
DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation
1400 16th Street, NW Washington DC 20036 www.cyitc.org

1
The program provides
positive interaction between
youth and trained, caring
adults through a youth
development philosophy and
low student-to-staff ratio.

1
HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS
The main reason that young people cite for why they attend out-of-school time
programs is that they want an environment where they can build ongoing, consistent
relationships with caring adults and where they feel a sense of belonging to a group of
peers who accept, respect and appreciate them. Creating such a place of connection and
true caring is the foundation upon which we build after-school programming. To cultivate
healthy, positive relationships, however, we must focus on creating this environment through
our planning, communication and actions.
The following are key elements in creating an environment conducive to building strong
relationships:
1. Staff relates to all young people in positive ways.
a. Staff treats young people with respect and listens to what they say.
b. Staff appropriately greets each young person as he or she arrives at the program (e.g.
makes eye contact and addresses young person by name).
c. Staff intentionally interacts and engages with young people.
d. Staff maintains a consistent positive tone and manner in communicating and relating
with young people.
e. Staff communicates positive expectations for young people.
f. Staff does not disparage young people or discuss their problems in front of other young
people.
2. Staff responds appropriately to the individual needs of young people.
a. Staff provides activities and materials that consider the age range, special needs, interests,
learning styles and skill levels of young people in the program.
b. Staff is aware and respectful of the diversity of young people’s culture, religion, home
language and values of the family.
c. Program staff reflects the diversity of cultures among its young people and their
community.
d. Staff shows intentionality in putting young people together into teams or groups.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Youth Development Philosophy and Low Student-to-Staff Ratio / 4

e. Staff is able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of young people and intentionally
works to strengthen at least one area.
f. Staff demonstrates an awareness of young people’s individual situations in meeting basic
needs (e.g. food, clothing, hygiene, neglect or abuse).
g. Program collaborates with other community-based organizations to meet the needs and
realize the potential of its young people.
3. Staff engages with young people to help them learn and develop.
a. Staff works with each individual young person to set goals, and tracks his/her progress
over time.
b. Staff asks questions that encourage young people to become independent
critical thinkers and problem solvers.
c. Staff teaches young people skills and strategies to help them access information
and solve problems.
d. Staff creates opportunities for frequent discussions.
e. Staff provides learning and developmental opportunities that promote
youth voice and choice.
4. Staff encourages young people to make choices and to accept responsibility.
a. Staff gives young people opportunities for choice in program activities.
b. Staff supports and encourages young people’s initiative within the program.
c. Staff models and encourages critical analysis prior to making choices.
d. Staff communicates the process of its own decision-making, rather than just the dos and
don’ts.
e. Staff supports young people in making choices without taking control from them.
f. Staff provides opportunities for young people to take leadership roles.
g. Staff works with young people and youth to assemble documentation of work (e.g.
exhibits, performances, portfolios, and web-pages).
h. Staff guides young people in making informed and positive decisions for their personal
well-being and self-advocacy (e.g. health maintenance, sexuality, safety, education,
civic involvement, interaction with friends and family, career development and
entrepreneurship).
i. Staff encourages ownership of and group responsibility for program space.
5. Staff promotes positive social development between young people.
a. Staff provides consistent opportunities for young people to socialize and collaborate as
well as to engage in quiet or reflective activities.
b. Staff gives young people the opportunity to work towards or rotate through different
project roles and levels of authority and responsibility.
c. Staff provides young people with opportunities to better understand their peers through
the exploration of different life situations, viewpoints and cultures.
d. Staff provides the opportunities for team-building activities and group projects with its
young people.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Youth Development Philosophy and Low Student-to-Staff Ratio / 5

e. Staff models the acknowledgment of strengths and accomplishments of different young
people.
f. Staff encourages young people to look beyond their own individual perspectives and
feelings to cultivate empathy.
6. Staff uses positive techniques to guide the behavior of children and youth.
a. Staff neither uses corporal punishment with its young people nor withholds food/water
as punishment.
b. Staff does not tolerate verbal or physical violence or abuse and intervenes appropriately.
c. Staff consistently uses a method of conflict resolution within the program.
d. Staff recognizes and highlights positive engagement and behavior of its young people.
e. Staff is forgiving and does not hold past behavior against young people.
f. Staff helps young people understand the immediate impacts and subsequent consequences
of their behavior.
7. Staff and young people share an environment of consistency around rules.
a. Staff consistently uses and visually displays a contract of behavior with rules co-created
by staff and young people, with clear expectations and consequences for breaking the
agreement, as well as incentives for abiding by it.
b. Staff communicates confidentiality guidelines with young people and scrupulously keeps
the commitments of confidentiality it makes.
c. Staff clearly communicates a procedure by which young people can resolve conflicts
with staff.
d. Staff fairly and consistently applies rules with all young people.
e. Staff models abiding by the program rules.
8. Staff interacts and communicates with each other to model positive behaviors.
a. Staff interacts with each other in a respectful and appropriately professional manner.
b. There is consistent communication between staff to ensure program stability and
continuity.
c. Program provides a clear and established procedure by which staff resolves internal
conflicts.
d. Staff works to resolve major differences outside the presence of young people.
9. When appropriate, program provides mentoring opportunities through internal
and external sources (e.g. college students, volunteers, and older youth in the
program).
a. Adult mentors are trained and mentoring sessions take place consistent with research
findings concerning effective practice (e.g. screening, matching, training and staff
monitoring).
b. Expectations in mentorships are clearly communicated and set between mentor and
mentee.
c. Program attempts to select mentors who reflect the diversity of the program population.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Youth Development Philosophy and Low Student-to-Staff Ratio / 6

◆
STAFF SUPPORT AND DEVELOPMENT
An after-school program is only as good as the people who run it. Hiring youth workers
who enjoy and believe in young people and have the necessary skill sets to work with
them is each program’s responsibility. It is just as important, however, to cultivate and
support the talented and dedicated people that you hire. Career-furthering professional
development, the utilization of staff expertise and passion, meaningful recognition for
contribution, systematic and constructive feedback, meaningful roles in program design,
clear paths of ascent within the organization and other ways to make work more meaningful
and manageable not only increase program quality, but also strengthen staff commitment,
help professionalize the field, and create a new generation of OST leaders.
1. Program provides staff with the basic supports and policies needed to create
a sustainable professional work environment.
a. Program actively attempts to pay its staff at competitive rates and has a clear schedule
for raises and ladder for advancement.
b. When possible, program provides full-time staff with paid leaves of absence, sick leave
and provides back-up coverage to allow for staff absences due to health emergencies or
professional development.
c. Program provides staff with remuneration for time spent in program-related activities and,
when possible, for professional development.
d. Program provides staff with clear guidelines on organizational policies and procedures
and reviews these guidelines regularly.
e. Program ensures that staff is adequately trained and given the tools for successful
program operation.
f. When possible, program provides staff with private storage areas, adult restroom access,
and a quiet place where members can confer.
g. Program actively attempts to either insure full-time staff, offer them access to group
health insurance rates, or provide a health insurance stipend.
h. Program provides clear avenues for staff to air concerns and grievances.
2. Program offers a clear path for staff advancement and an environment for
professional growth.
a. Program provides written job descriptions to staff (paid, unpaid, substitute and youth)
and secures their agreement to them.
b. Program provides a minimum of yearly written performance reviews with additional
regular and documented opportunities for real dialogue around cultivating strengths
and addressing areas of challenge.
c. Program discusses changes in duties and responsibilities with staff before they are put
into effect.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Youth Development Philosophy and Low Student-to-Staff Ratio / 7

d. Program offers staff access to regular professional development and leadership training.
e. Program fills jobs from within when possible.
f. Program considers both merit and seniority when making promotions.
3. Program creates a professional culture where staff feels that its contributions
are meaningful and valued.
a. Staff has regular access to directors to discuss ideas.
b. Program provides opportunities for and encourages staff use of their individual interests,
experience and expertise.
c. Program regularly collects insights from staff on individual youth.
d. Program encourages group consensus on ways to interact with and engage young people.
e. Program involves staff in the process of program design, evaluation and refinement.
f. Program provides opportunities for staff leadership and increased responsibility.
g. Program gives staff opportunities to connect with colleagues in other programs to
exchange ideas and learn from each other.
h. Program provides an opportunity for staff to present at public events.
i. Program provides public opportunities for meaningful recognition of staff.
j. Administration informally acknowledges staff daily contributions.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Youth Development Philosophy and Low Student-to-Staff Ratio / 8

2
Youth are engaged in
high-interest, hands-on activities
that offer a balance of
age-appropriate programming
that includes academic support,
enrichment, recreation, arts,
job skills, college prep, etc.

2
PROGRAM DESIGN AND PLANNING
Intentionality in the design and planning of out-of-school time programming is another key
to after-school success. Research has shown that young people crave variety as well as a
structure in which variety can take place. Since our focus in after-school programming is
the whole child, a mixture of horizon-broadening experiences, engaging learning activities,
and meaningful opportunities for intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual, artistic, social
and personal development will engage and retain the young people we work with. And
while every out-of-school time program has its own genesis and objectives, we can all agree
that the thought that goes into what we offer has a direct correlation to what young people
get out of it.
The following are key elements in building strong programming:
1. Programming offers a structured mixture of different kinds of activities and
experiences.
a. There is variety in the program day beyond snack, free time and homework help.
b. Young people are active participants in both short-term activities and long-term projects.
c. Young people can articulate new things they have done and learned in the program.
d. Program provides young people meaningful opportunities for participation in
program design.
e. Program addresses fundamental academic and life skills and also promotes enrichment
and personal expression.
f. Young people get to work individually and in teams.
2. Programming intentionally creates an environment conducive to the human
development of its young people and treats them in an asset-based manner.
a. Staff communicates high expectations to young people and regularly acknowledges their
achievements and progress.
b. Program works to provide its young people with a sense of safety within its structure.
c. Program fosters a sense of belonging and membership.
d. Program provides opportunities for young people to achieve mastery.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 10

e. Program encourages a sense of spirituality and the act of self-reflection.
f. Program provides opportunities for young people to contribute and build a sense of
self-worth.
g. Program provides opportunities for independence and autonomy.
h. Program creates regular opportunities for its young people to meaningfully participate
in and give feedback on program design.
i. Young people can articulate their roles and responsibilities in the program.
j. Young people participate in reflection, discussion and presentation after some activities.
k. Young people and staff use vested language.
l. Young people can articulate how program activities connect to their visions of their futures.
m. Young people and staff engage in shared traditions and celebrations.
n. Young people work independently with varying levels of supervision.
3. Program creates an environment conducive to learning.
a. Staff communicates intentional focus of activities, making young people conscious
partners in their learning process.
b. Staff actively guides young people in learning through a step-by-step process.
c. Staff models and communicates enthusiasm about lifelong learning.
d. Staff is able to accommodate young people with different skill levels and learning styles.
e. Staff uses individuals’ strengths in addressing their challenges.
f. Staff encourages questioning and hypothesizing.
g. Staff models learning strategies and ways of problem solving.
4. Program makes intentional connections between its activities, the school day
and the world of work.
a. Young people and staff can articulate connections between things learned or experiences
in the program and things at school.
b. Staff creates opportunities for learning through "non-academic” activities.
c. Staff helps young people make the connection between skills and concepts that they
work on in the program and those they will need for the world of work and careers.
d. Themes and topics connect different components of programming.
5. Program includes daily opportunities for “free choice” monitored time, group
social interaction and fun.
a. Program design includes planned “free choice” time.
b. Young people show an understanding of “free choice” time.
c. Staff listens to young people on their choices regarding their suggestions for “free choice”
time and works to implement their input.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 11

Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 12
◆
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS
Activities are the heart and soul of out-of-school time programming. They are what our
young people get to DO at our sites. They are what draw them in. OST is the perfect home
for the kind of hands-on experiences and real life applications that children and youth need to
develop into successful adults, support their in-school learning, broaden their conception of the
world and its possibilities and improve their attitudes toward learning and toward themselves
as learners.
The following are key elements to establishing successful activities and projects:
1. Program schedule is flexible and offers the necessary stability, variety and
stimulation to meet the needs of young people.
a. Young people go through several activities or segments in a program day.
b. Young people are informed of the daily program schedule.
c. There is a smooth and clearly defined transitional period that takes young people into
the programming day.
d. There are opportunities for both group activities and individual work.
e. Young people move freely but orderly from one activity or segment to the next.
f. Young people can participate in both competitive and non-competitive activities.
2. Activities and projects promote the development of all young people in the
program.
a. There is an atmosphere of inclusion (e.g. accommodating skill levels, gender, native
language, physical ability and age).
b. Activities reinforce a positive sense of identity and self-worth.
c. Activities reflect the unique talents and interests of the young people.
d. Staff attempts to bring in young people who are reticent to join in activities.
e. Activities are designed to engage different kinds of learning styles (e.g. auditory-sequential,
visual-spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, etc.).
3. Activities and projects are intentionally designed for young people to develop
a wide variety of skills.
a. Activities support the acquisition of a variety of skills (e.g. academic, cognitive, life,
social, physical, leadership and creative skills).
b. Activities and projects are sequential with clear steps.
c. Young people are involved in hands-on learning.
d. Young people are involved in project-based learning.
e. Activities reflect the experiences and interests of young people.

f. Activities provide consistent opportunities for group discussion and personal reflection.
g. Program exposes young people to experiences not readily available within their
communities.
h. Program has goal sheets co-developed with individual young people.
i. Staff encourages young people to problem solve and models that process.
j. Staff communicates its own pertinent experiences as young people.
4. There are sufficient and appropriate materials to support program activities
and projects.
a. Materials are complete and in good condition.
b. There are enough materials for the number of young people.
c. Materials are age appropriate for the young people.
d. Materials are culturally and linguistically relevant.
5. Activities and projects provide opportunities for leadership development.
a. Young people get the opportunity to take on different roles within activities and projects.
b. Young people have the opportunity to design, initiate and implement their own ideas for
activities and projects.
c. Program has opportunities for autonomous group discussion and reflection.
d. Staff teaches young people to work in teams, sharing responsibilities and roles for
accomplishing tasks and solving problems.
e. Staff models the acknowledgment of strengths and accomplishments of different young
people.
f. Young people have the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the governance and
decision-making structure of the organization.
6. Program activities and projects are designed and documented for the long-range
benefit of both staff and students.
a. There is a way for young people to have meaningful input into their activities.
b. Young people can savor achievements and build portfolios.
c. Steps for implementing activities and projects are documented so they can be replicated.
d. Activities and projects are aligned with work plan objectives.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 13
◆
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
High quality after-school programs, especially those that provide academic enrichment,
seek to create connections with the curriculum and instruction offered by schools during
traditional school hours. It is crucial that programs do not duplicate but rather supplement
school day programming by using creative and relevant ways of learning that promote cognitive
exploration and growth. Such programs not only promote mastery of core skills, but also

help integrate them through the practical and engaging use of real-world skill
application and skill intersection. Such out-of-school time programming also works to build
young people’s skills in problem solving, communication, teamwork, reflection, perseverance,
resilience and conflict resolution.
1. Program activities include opportunities to expand comprehension, build skill
mastery, and also increase facility to analyze, synthesize and evaluate.
a. Activities are varied enough in their degree of challenge so that young people at different
skill levels and of different learning styles can participate, benefit and experience success.
b. Activities focus on developing critical thinking as well as subject mastery.
c. The steps in some activities are sequenced to help all young people move from basic
comprehension and understanding to using that knowledge to analyze, synthesize
and evaluate.
d. Program engages young people in thinking about how they learn and in forming an
understanding of which ways work best for them.
e. Program promotes and models problem solving and engages with young people in
discussing its value in academic, professional and personal situations.
f. Program promotes independent thinking and questioning within the media and messagerich
environments of contemporary life.
g. Program provides young people with opportunities to use their understanding of media
strategies to forward their own ideas and ideals.
2. Program staff intentionally aligns OST activities to DC Public Schools’
Learning Standards and connects OST skills to school and life.
a. Staff works intentionally to integrate educational opportunities into activities that
complement, support and enrich classroom-based instruction (e.g. interaction with teachers,
familiarization with DCPS website scope and sequence, navigating learning standards).
b. Staff selects program materials and teaching strategies that are sound, engaging and
intentional.
c. Staff actively assists young people with homework.
d. Staff actively engages young people in connecting skills and concepts used in OST
activities to life outside the program.
3. Program activities are relevant to the lives of its young people.
a. Young people can select from a variety of activities that are designed around their interests.
b Learning materials and resources reflect the culture of the young people in the program.
c. Learning materials and resources highlight a variety of practitioners, professionals and
role models.
d. Young people are able to discuss how programming has affected their lives.
e. Staff helps young people to find the connection between their interests and program
activities.
f. Program provides ample opportunity for discussion.
g. Program provides young people with the opportunity to explore their own interests
through reading and writing.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 14

h. Program provides opportunities for participants to become competent and thoughtful
readers and writers.
i. Program activities promote skill development in reading and writing and highlight the
importance of these skills in life beyond the classroom and in effective communication.
j. When appropriate, staff models reading and writing strategies (e.g. written brainstorming,
outlining, active reading, questioning the text or author, chunking text, predicting,
paraphrasing, synopsizing, vocabulary building, differentiating between fact and opinion).
k. Program provides young people with opportunities for both group and individual reading
and writing.
l. Program provides young people with exposure to different formats and genres of writing.
m. Program provides young people with guidance in how to do a variety of both creative
and expository writings (e.g. poems, essays, testimonials, instructions, letters, biography,
sermons, marketing materials, business letters, speeches).
n. Program equips young people with opportunities to comprehend, interpret, evaluate and
appreciate a wide range of written texts.
o. Whenever possible, program provides a physical and visual environment that is text rich
and stimulates young people to read, think, express and explore.
p. Program uses rubrics and exemplary student work to help young people improve writing
skills.
q. Program attempts to connect reading and writing to activities that would not normally
be considered literacy-based.
4. Program provides opportunities for participants to become competent and
thoughtful speakers and listeners.
a. Program activities promote skill development in speaking and listening.
b. When appropriate, staff models speaking and listening strategies (e.g. active listening,
code switching, note taking, personal anecdote, vocal modulation, word choice, active
language, making eye-contact).
c. If resources allow, program assists non-native speakers in developing competency in
English and in their own languages.
d. Program provides young people with the opportunity to participate in and observe
various models of oral communication and discussion (e.g. presentations, debates,
interviews, speeches).
e. Activities highlight the role of speaking and listening to life beyond the classroom and
in effective communication.
f. Program provides opportunities for young people to read and respond to each other’s work.
g. Youth-led presentations offer young people the opportunity to both showcase and
practice speaking and active listening skills.
h. Program incorporates opportunities for oral presentation in other activities and projects.
5. Program provides opportunities for participants to develop mathematical
concepts, mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills.
a. Program provides young people with opportunities to estimate and calculate in order to
solve increasingly challenging problems.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 15

. Program interconnects separate math concepts and skills (e.g. measurement and geometry).
c. Activities provide a balanced emphasis on the recall of facts and formulas and the use
of concepts and problem solving.
d. Program actively engages young people in exploring, hypothesizing, analyzing and
applying mathematics in a real world context.
e. Program provides young people with math applications that correspond to practical
tasks and personal life (e.g. understanding interest rates, reading statistics and graphs,
managing technology, budgeting, balancing checkbooks, comparison shopping).
f. Program supports math understanding by using concrete learning materials, manipulatives,
appropriate measurement tools, as well as calculators and computers when possible.
g. Programs give young people the opportunity to demonstrate understanding of math
concepts through speaking and writing. (e.g. demonstrations, presentations, games and
contests, puzzles, riddles).
h. Program attempts to connect math skills and concepts to activities not traditionally thought
of as mathematical.
6. Program provides opportunities for participants to develop scientific reasoning
and skill building.
a. Program encourages questioning, hypothesis, research, experimentation and reflection as
means of finding solutions.
b. Program encourages young people to explore how things work.
c. Program engages young people in hands-on projects that involve inquiry.
d. Activities draw a connection between science and everyday life.
e. Program promotes a thoughtful relationship with our natural environment.
f. Program introduces young people to scientific innovators, their achievements and
processes.
g. Program provides and monitors a safe environment in which to do science.
h. Program provides adequate materials and resources for science activities.
i. Program attempts to connect science and inquiry skills to activities not traditionally
thought of as scientific.
7. Program provides opportunities for participants to connect social studies/
historical events and ideas to their current lives and visions of the future.
a. Program provides opportunities for participants to make a connection between their
own lives and other people, times, places and events.
b. Program provides opportunities for service learning projects and activism.
c. Staff draws connections from things that have taken place in the past to things going
on now.
d. Program encourages young people to consider events in historical, societal, and
cultural contexts.
e. Program helps young people explore and discuss what it means to be a member of a
community along with the rights and responsibilities that go along with it.
f. Program provides opportunities for young people to explore other ways of life,
value their own and consider connections between the two.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 16

g. Staff helps young people make the connections between historical events, contemporary
events and their own lives.
h. Program provides access to adequate materials and resources for social studies activities
(e.g. biographies, speeches, artworks, journalism, field trips to museums, documentary
film, and libraries).
i. Program attempts to connect cultural exploration to activities not traditionally thought
of as historical or social studies.
8. Program encourages participants to express themselves creatively and to
appreciate creative expression.
a. Young people are engaged in discovering and developing their creative potentials.
b. Activities provide opportunities for both individual and group creative expression.
c. Program promotes the exploration of different forms of creative expression and their
impact upon society.
d. Program promotes the exploration of the creative expression of a variety of cultures and
time periods.
e. Program provides avenues and events for young people to display and be recognized
for their creative expression.
f. Program provides opportunities for its young people to reflect upon and make meaning
of their experiences as audiences and as artists.
g. Program provides the opportunity to discover the intersection between different forms
of creative expression.
h. Program provides access to adequate materials for creative expression.
i. Program attempts to create avenues for creative expression in connection with activities
not traditionally thought of as artistic.
9. Program provides opportunities for participants to develop technology skills to
explore and express ideas, exchange information, solve problems and derive
meaning.
a. Program gives all participants access to and training in the use of relevant technology
(e.g. calculators, computers, educational software and the Internet).
b. Program guides young people in how to use technology to locate, manage and exchange
information.
c. Activities reinforce the responsible, safe and ethical use of technology.
d. Program helps young people recognize the icons and symbols needed to navigate
technology.
e. Program gives participants the opportunity to develop basic computer skills.
f. Program monitors use of the Internet and video games.
g. Program attempts to find ways for young people to use technology in conjunction
with activities not traditionally thought of as technological.
10. Program provides other tangible supports for cognitive development.
a. Program brings in guest speakers.
b. When possible, program connects different components into thematic units exploring
different aspects of a topic or issue.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 17

c. Program engages young people in pre-field trip preparatory activities and post-field trip
reflection and review.
d. When appropriate, eating times are planned as a learning experience and/or discussion
time.
e. Program provides the opportunity for participants to display their work in a text and
image-rich indoor environment that both stimulates thinking and celebrates achievement.
f. Young people are given consistent opportunities to teach or demonstrate on topics that
highlight their interests, talents, experiences and culture.
g. Program provides activities that promote both competitive and non-competitive cognitive
development.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 18
◆
ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT
Research has shown us that opportunities for young people to explore, express, analyze
and achieve through the arts not only contribute to youth development outcomes, but
also support academic and achievement outcomes. Just a few ways the arts bring learning
to life are: expressing a persuasive argument through the lyrics of a song, using geometric
principles to build a sculpture, practicing ratios through a scale drawing for a theater set or
getting insight into the values of another culture through researching and replicating their
iconography. Out-of-school time can provide the arena where arts as diverse as poetry,
painting, drumming, dance, storytelling, computer graphics, journalistic photography,
furniture design, hip-hop, opera, cooking, and comic book creation can broaden experience,
connect communities, encourage goal setting, foster critical thinking, teach discipline,
commemorate achievement, communicate ideas and even provide specific skill sets for future
careers.
The following are key elements to high-quality arts offerings:
1. Arts programming emphasizes the importance of art as a tool of self-expression
and exploration for all young people.
a. Programming encourages young people to express their feelings, explore their interests,
and assert and develop their ideas and unique identities.
b. Programming promotes skill development and, when programmatically appropriate, mastery.
c. Programming places as much emphasis on process as on product.
d. Young people are able to reflect on and communicate about the connection between
who they are and what they are creating.
e. Programming gives young people guidance and practice in talking about the meaning
and process of the art they make.
f. Program embraces mistakes as learning opportunities.

2. Arts programming emphasizes the importance of art as an avenue for connecting
communities.
a. Programming provides young people the opportunity to create collaboratively and explore
common ground.
b. Program takes young people on field trips to community arts organizations, museums,
events, readings and exhibits.
c. Program encourages family participation in planning and attending art experiences (both
within the program and field trips).
d. Program provides young people opportunities to create, perform and exhibit in a variety
of arts venues that connect to the community (e.g. libraries, schools, galleries, coffee
houses, festivals, talent shows, bookstores and events).
e. Program pursues opportunities for its young people to collaborate with peers enrolled
in other art programs/projects.
f. Program highlights the use of art as a tool for community awareness and social change
pertinent to its young people.
3. Arts programming includes different related styles, from a variety of cultures.
a. Programming explores the lineage and influences that relate to its art activities.
b. Activities teach young people the terminology, principles, steps and uses of their artistic
media.
c. Programming explores the significance of and uses of artistic expression in everyday life.
d. Program recruits and involves local artists, craftspeople and creative people of diverse
ethnicities and cultures.
4. Arts programming encourages teamwork, self-discipline and leadership.
a. Activities present and reinforce positive social skills (e.g. respect, collaboration, patience
and appreciation).
b. Activities promote goal-setting and planning.
c. Collaborative activities promote appreciation and strategic use of individual strengths
and talents.
d. Program intentionally connects the skills needed for success in art with those needed
for success in other endeavors.
e. Programming provides opportunities for peer-to-peer teaching and mentoring.
f. Programming incorporates opportunities both for instruction and self-directed learning.
g. Programming encourages additional practice beyond the program.
h. Programming guides young people in a way to assess their own work as well as a
constructive way to give feedback to others.
i. Programming promotes critical thinking, analysis and problem solving.
5. Arts programming promotes the arts as a tool for reinforcing and enhancing
lessons learned in the classroom.
a. Programming explores and promotes the applications of reading, writing, mathematics,
science, social studies and language skills within an artistic discipline, activity or project.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 19

. Programming incorporates technology where appropriate and possible.
c. Activities explore historic aspects of an artistic discipline.
d. Programming views art through the context of the time period and events during which
it was created and makes connections to the cultural and social contexts of today.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 20
◆
SPORTS AND RECREATION DEVELOPMENT
Atrip down to the court, field or diamond is about much more than just basketball, football
or baseball when you’re a professional youth worker. Emotional, social and even
intellectual development can all be linked to physical activities. Participating in recreational
and athletic activities not only provides fun, promotes kinesthetic awareness, develops
physical coordination and the ability to work within a structure—it also gives young
people opportunities for skill mastery, the achievement of tangible goals, the satisfaction
of recognition, and meaningful membership within a group.
The following are key elements of successful sports and recreation programming:
1. Program offers individual, group and team activities.
a. Program offers both competitive and non-competitive activities.
b. Program provides opportunities for small group participation (e.g. catch, races, one-on-one,
Frisbee, jump rope).
c. Program provides opportunities for large group non-team activities (e.g. freeze-tag, step,
Simon says, hiking).
d. Program offers team activities.
e. Programs with teams provide young people with opportunities to showcase their abilities
as a team (e.g. tournaments, scrimmages, meets, games).
2. Program allows for and promotes the participation of young people with diverse
interests, objectives, preferences and physical and mental abilities.
a. Program provides opportunities for passive play (e.g. cards, board games, brain teasers
and puzzles).
b. Program offers activities that promote physical, intellectual and social development (e.g.
charades, chess, debate, weight lifting).
c. Program offers activities requiring varying amounts of physical exertion.
d. Program gives young people the opportunity to contribute activities, games and sports
to the group.
e. Program offers participants choice in and experience with different roles and responsibilities
within activities.
f. Program provides recreational programming that meets the needs of both genders.

3. Program offers both directed and self-directed activities.
a. Coaches are trained in the sports activities that they lead.
b. Program offers young people the chance to design and run activities.
c. Program offers young people the chance to participate in recreational activities with
minimum adult supervision.
4. Recreational activities cultivate character development.
a. Activities promote cooperation.
b. Activities promote team-building and the sublimation of personal glory for the good
of the whole.
c. Activities promote leadership.
d. Activities promote good sportsmanship and professionalism.
e. Activities promote determination.
f. Activities promote strategic thinking.
g. Activities promote mutual respect for all participants.
h. Higher skilled participants are given the opportunity to instruct, mentor and assist
participants with lower skills.
i. Program provides opportunities for individual reflection on and group discussion of
activities.
j. Program promotes the positive uses of losing and struggle.
k. Program values, acknowledges and celebrates improvement and effort.
5. Recreational program encourages skill acquisition and development and
promotes full participation regardless of skills and experience.
a. Program offers a range of recreational activities, from simple to complex.
b. Program offers guided skill development in its recreational and athletic activities.
c. Program offers a clear and communicated progression of activities based upon the
abilities of the participants.
d. Program staff plans and tracks participants’ progress through activities of increasing
intensity or difficulty.
e. When appropriate, program provides opportunities to explore recreational activities
unfamiliar to participants.
f. Program clearly communicates sport and game rules.
g. Program creates the opportunity for young people to develop a variety of skills and
techniques, even within one type of activity.
6. Program values and supports educational and developmental growth.
a. Program provides opportunities for mental engagement and learning (e.g. knowledge
of rules and strategies for a particular sport/game/hobby, knowledge and appreciation
of the history in a particular sport/game/hobby, biographical research, appreciation
and understanding of natural resources).
b. Program provides opportunities for reading connected to sport/game/hobby.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 21

c. Program provides opportunities for young people to build knowledge of the working
and care of their bodies.
d. Program celebrates the membership of its group and the contributions of all members.
e. Program provides opportunities for leadership.
f. Program provides opportunities for young people to learn the importance of good
nutrition and physical fitness and puts those concepts into practice with them.
g. Program provides activities that link the skills and values learned in sports/games/
hobbies to other aspects of young peoples’ lives.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 22
◆
WORKFORCE AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT
College is not the only productive path to the future. Some young people choose joining
the workforce after high school. Yet the distinctions between WORK and a CAREER
can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life and earning power that a young
person is likely to experience in the working world. In after-school programs, we can help
them understand and explore diverse paths into professional life. We can encourage them
to envision themselves in ways that they may not have considered. We can provide the
kind of mentoring that may not be available at home and bring families into the career
process to strengthen support. We can do our part to make sure that our young people start
out with the necessary skill sets and clarity to obtain meaningful employment that has both
a viable future and a natural connection to their talents and interests.
1. Program exposes youth to a broadening horizon of career possibilities.
a. Program guides youth in the exploration of careers that combine their skills and interests
(including those less obviously connected to their skills and interests).
b. Program helps youth identify emerging career paths.
c. Program helps youth access up-to-date statistical information on the compensation for
different types and levels of work, as well as the experience and/or education needed to
enter and advance in different fields.
d. Program provides a diverse and engaging array of guest speakers from different
professions and trades (including speakers from the immediate program community).
e. Program provides opportunities to participate in tours of various workplaces.
f. Program helps youth make the connection between skills used in program activities and
skills used in careers.
g. Program guides youth to research both traditional and non-traditional resources to achieve
career goals.
h. Program, when possible, offers youth meaningful, mentored, acknowledged and
compensated opportunities to work within the program itself.
i. Program helps youth understand that increased experience and training lead to greater
advancement and reward.

2. Program includes career awareness and career planning activities.
a. Program staff guides youth in strategizing, developing and maintaining career plans
(including the first steps they will need to take as they begin their paths).
b. Program activities and goals emphasize job retention and career advancement over
entry-level placement.
c. Program staff guides youth through self-assessment of personal interests and goal-setting.
d. When possible, program provides youth with access to career aptitude and preference tests.
e. Program offers both individual and group counseling sessions dedicated to career planning,
as well as the assessment of personal skills, abilities, and aptitudes and personal strengths
and weaknesses as they relate to careers and employment.
f. Program assembles and provides youth with the use of a job reference library (including
resources with which to explore the realities of a chosen career).
g. Program connects youth to workshops with professionals who communicate the steps
they took in achieving their work goals.
3. Program trains youth in both hard and soft job-readiness skills.
a. Program trains youth in understanding and completing job applications.
b Program trains youth in resume preparation.
c. Program trains youth in interviewing skills and strategies.
d. Program trains youth in job hunting, job keeping and strategies for advancement.
e. Program trains youth in effective self-advocacy in work environments (e.g. promotions,
salary increases, benefits, working conditions, hours, etc.).
f. Program trains youth in job behavior skills (e.g. appropriate attire, situation-appropriate
language, time and materials management and communication).
g. Program guides youth in exploring the impact of physical appearance on employability.
h. Program helps youth explore workplace cultures, structure and workers’ rights.
i. Program structures service learning, community service experiences and internships to
teach transferable skills.
j. Program staff models punctuality, preparedness and professionalism.
4. Program for older youth focuses on employer engagement.
a. Program works with local employers to offer job shadowing and connects youth to
these opportunities.
b. Program provides coaching during the learning stages of a new job.
c. Program connects youth to internships or jobs related to their goals and interests.
d. Where applicable, program teams with trade unions to offer apprenticeship or
pre-apprenticeship opportunities.
e. Program integrates vocational and academic curriculum.
f. Program engages employers in active roles such as steering committees.
g. Program gathers feedback and data regularly from employers for continuous improvement
(e.g. providing employers with assessment forms to submit for youth).
h. Program invites employers to provide instructional staff, training facilities and other resources.
i. Program encourages employers to act as mentors to the youth they work with.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 23

5. Program connects work and learning.
a. Program activities reflect the expectations that youth will meet in careers and work.
b. Program ensures that career and workforce materials and resources are adequate and
up to date.
c. Program provides a structure through which youth can progress in their attainment of
leadership and career skills.
d. Program creates participant-run projects that are, or simulate, actual business enterprises.
e. Program encourages growth of savings for participants (such as Individual Development
Accounts) to use for education and/or training.
f. Program connects youth to resources for education funding for when the program is
completed.
g. Program has systems in place to evaluate project sustainability.
h. Program provides opportunities for peer assessment of projects.
6. Program teaches youth life skills that enhance work.
a. Program provides opportunities for youth to learn to present persuasive points of view,
achieve consideration from others, influence agendas, procedures or approaches, and
argue in support of people, ideas and changes.
b. Program provides opportunities for youth to learn and practice the principles of negotiation
(e.g. work incrementally toward agreements, come to terms through the
resolution of divergent interests, turn conflict into partnership, find common goals).
c. Program provides opportunities for youth to develop skills in guiding and teaching
others (e.g. explanation, demonstration, coaching, answering questions, providing verbal
support).
d. Program provides opportunities for youth to learn to share knowledge and information,
listen and respond, pay attention to verbal and non-verbal cues, ask questions, paraphrase
and check for understanding/meaning.
e. Program provides opportunities for youth to build leadership skills and provide direction
to others around a common goal.
f. Program provides opportunities for youth to learn to be adaptable, to respond to different
situations and fill additional roles in relation to their scope of work.
7. Program helps youth develop the new basic skills needed for careers in
the 21st century.
a. Program provides opportunities for developing communication skills.
b. Program provides opportunities for developing collaboration skills.
c. Program provides opportunities for developing technological skills.
d. Program provides opportunities for problem solving.
e. Program provides opportunities to innovate (e.g. originate, generate, design and invent
new applications, ideas, relationships, systems or products, including artistic contribution).
f. Program provides opportunities for the synthesis of a wide variety of information.
g. Program provides opportunities for analysis, evaluation and reflection.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 24

8. Program helps youth develop skills in specific modes of communication.
a. Program provides instruction and opportunities in depicting information visually (e.g.
creating tables, graphs, drawings, sketches, icons).
b. Program provides instruction and opportunities to communicate information through
text (e.g. instructions, plans, proposals, memoranda, timelines, work plans, logic models).
c. Program provides instruction and opportunities in oral presentation (e.g. summaries,
debate, narrative, pitch, and anecdote).
d. Program provides instruction and opportunities in the use of communication technology
(e.g. word processing programs, spread sheets, PowerPoint, maintaining and troubleshooting
technical equipment).
9. Program helps youth develop skills with which to manage their work lives.
a. Program activities include the budgeting and management of finances, materials and
facilities.
b. Program guides youth in strategies and opportunities for the development of skills in
goal-setting and self-assessment.
c. Program guides youth in strategies and opportunities for the development of time
management skills (e.g. managing deadlines, creating timelines, prioritizing actions,
record keeping, punctuality, keeping on schedule).
d. Program guides youth in learning to develop contingency plans for activities and projects.
e. Program guides youth in strategies for materials management (e.g. binder creation, filing,
portfolio creation, sample selection and submission).
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 25
◆
READINESS FOR POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
Both the knowledge of and preparation for what it takes to “get in” and “stay in” the world
of higher education are skill sets that after-school programs can help young people
build, beginning as early as middle school. In OST we can help them figure out why they
would want to pursue education beyond high school, providing them with the exposure to
both college facilities and current students, guiding them as they navigate the steps and
cultivate the mindset to be ready for a life of learning after high school.
The following are key elements to encouraging readiness for higher education:
1. Program works with young people and their families to increase their awareness
about educational options beyond high school and their connections to careers
and quality of life.
a. Program acquaints young people with options in universities, community colleges, junior
colleges, professional academies, vocational training and the military.
b. Program exposes young people to a wide variety of careers and the educational
requirements for entering them.

c. Program fosters awareness in young people of the relative pay levels of different careers
and the educational paths to getting there.
d. Program promotes the realistic understanding of the relative costs and academic
requirements for admission into higher education.
e. Program provides young people with opportunities to visit college campuses and get
firsthand impressions of college life.
f. Program promotes youth and family understanding of how to maximize available
opportunities and resources to attain college admission.
g. Program promotes the realistic understanding of the difference between a high school
transcript that allows for graduation and one that makes a competitive college candidate.
h. Program provides young people with opportunities to talk with and question college
students or recent graduates, and encourages program staff to share their own
experiences in post-secondary education.
i. Program exposes young people to positive pop-culture portrayals of college life.
2. Program provides young people with a gradual familiarization of the mechanics
of the application process.
a. When appropriate, program acquaints young people with the different components of
a college application and provides guided practice in their completion.
b. Program provides opportunities for young people to assemble and create a portfolio of
writing and art, as well as documentation of OST projects.
c. Program works with young people on writing about themselves, their experiences and
opinions and crafting these pieces into a college essay or a personal statement.
d. When possible, program guides young people in the college interview process and gives
them opportunities to practice.
e. When possible, program guides young people in exploring financial support options
and how to access scholarships as well as other types of resources they will need for
post-secondary education.
3. Program works with young people to build and maintain their emotional readiness
for higher education.
a. Program staff models and promotes self-worth and group-worth in its interactions and
activities with young people.
b. Participants’ ownership language and the ability to articulate personal value within a team
reflect their understanding of self-worth and group-worth.
c. Program promotes an environment that values differences and identifies commonalities,
and exposes young people to diverse groups.
d. Program guides young people in developing skills in self-advocacy and knowing when
and how to use them.
e. Program promotes the exercise of self-control for the purpose of achieving a goal.
f. Program helps young people develop positive criteria for selecting friends in regards to
achieving a goal.
g. Program gives young people guided opportunities to make informed choices that take
into consideration personal preferences, interests and abilities.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 26

h. Program prepares young people for the realities of navigating college culture, environment
and curriculum.
i. Program promotes an awareness of process and fosters the understanding that worthwhile
things take time.
j. Program staff models, values and recognizes persistence and hard work to attain goals.
k. Program provides young people opportunities to discuss their future plans and strategies
with their peers.
l. Program helps young people prepare for, reflect upon and discuss new experiences and
their significance to their goals in higher education.
m. Program guides young people in managing stress.
4. Program promotes development of the soft skills needed for higher education.
a. Program promotes independence in working.
b. Program promotes goal-setting.
c. Program helps young people develop skills in time management, priority setting, financial
management and materials management.
d. Program guides young people in exploring how they learn best and creates opportunities
for them to claim and name their individual learning styles.
e. Program provides young people with guided as well as independent opportunities to do
research and synthesize that information.
f. Program provides young people with opportunities to break work down into steps.
g. Program creates opportunities for recognition and celebration of the accomplishment
of these steps and goals.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 27
◆
ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT
The dot-com boom may have come and gone, but in the marketplace of the 21st
century there are still more opportunities than most adults can imagine to create, grow
and profit from original business ideas. Entrepreneurship development not only offers young
people a fun experience that can provide a source of income and increase their feelings of
mastery and future, it also teaches the kinds of skills, processes and big-picture thinking that
easily translate to almost any other endeavor. With its emphasis on learning through doing,
after school is a natural arena for testing out what it takes to see a process from conception
through completion.
1. Program helps young people understand what it means to be an entrepreneur
and how to evaluate and build upon their own related skills.
a. Program facilitates discussion and identification of what an entrepreneur does, what it
takes to succeed, and how it fits into the business world.

. Program gives young people the opportunity to identify and access their own
entrepreneurial traits and explore ways in which they might be used.
c. Program explores types of “Social Entrepreneurship” and how their success is measured
in more than profit.
d. Program guides young people in developing a personal plan to build their entrepreneurial
strengths (e.g. practice pitching ideas, researching, organizing a team, prioritizing).
e. Program brings in working entrepreneurs to speak on their motivations, skills and
experiences.
f. Program uses the work of both better- and lesser-known entrepreneurs to illustrate its
instruction.
2. Program identifies habits of mind that are conducive to entrepreneurial success.
a. Program examines how to recognize market needs and turn them into entrepreneurial
opportunities.
b. Program analyzes how customer satisfaction is essential for success.
c. Program focuses on the process of problem identification and solution.
d. Program analyzes the benefits and methods of networking and mentoring.
e. Program explores the value of ethics in relating to employees, customers and business
partners, and examines ethical standards.
f. Program provides young entrepreneurs with the opportunity to role-play situations
where an entrepreneur must make a decision around business ethics.
g. Program helps young people make the connection between school performance and
interpersonal skills and aptitude for success as an entrepreneur.
3. Program enables young people to analyze customer groups and develop a plan
to identify, reach, and retain customers in a specific target market.
a. Program identifies the differences between marketing and selling.
b. Program explores the wide variety of ways that entrepreneurs get their message across to
prospective customers.
c. Program guides young people through the process of preparing a marketing plan for a
prospective business.
d. Program emphasizes the link between customer service and client retention.
e. Program teaches how to create customer surveys.
f. Program provides opportunity and instruction for young people in determining meaning
from data and statistics.
g. Program explores the role of test-marketing in product development.
4. Program enables young entrepreneurs to apply economic concepts when making
decisions for entrepreneurial ventures.
a. Program guides young people in the process of analyzing and listing “risk vs. benefit”
both in business and in personal life and examines the criteria for taking reasonable
risks.
b. Program examines the processes of partnering and outsourcing in production and
distribution.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 28

c. Program explores the opportunities, risks and demands of different kinds of business
ownership (e.g. sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations).
d. Program examines the differences between short-term and long-term profits.
e. Program explores the relationship between supply and demand.
f. Program explores the role of government and how regulations relative to taxes, employees’
social security, workplace regulations, health insurance, etc., affect entrepreneurs.
g. Program provides the opportunity to choose a hypothetical product, identify a buyer’s
market, and then determine how much that market would be willing to pay for the
product.
5. Program offers young people practical experience in developing the basic
financial skills that are required in business.
a. Program teaches the basics of personal financial management (e.g. checkbook balancing,
creating and implementing a budget, record keeping, financial planning and comparison
purchasing).
b. Program explores why keeping good records is essential to both business and personal
success (e.g. personal taxes, tracking monetary transactions, documenting communications,
collecting contacts, preparing proposals, grant compliance).
c. Program identifies various types of business records and guides young people in their
application.
d. Program teaches how to create formal business statements from business records and
how to analyze and use the resulting data.
e. Program guides young people in tracking personal expenses for a specific time period
and examining what they have learned from the experience.
6. Program teaches young people specific business skills particular to
entrepreneurship.
a. Program teaches how to research and estimate the cost of manufacturing a product.
b. Program teaches how to identify and estimate start-up costs for an entrepreneurial
endeavor.
c. Program teaches how to identify and approach varied sources of funding (e.g. family,
friends, personal savings, grants, bank loans, venture capital).
d. Program teaches how to read annual reports of businesses to determine profit or loss.
e. Program teaches about buying in bulk and wholesale.
7. Program gives young people the opportunity to develop a business plan/proposal
for an entrepreneurial venture.
a. Program explores the differences between vision (why you’re doing it), goals (what you’re
going to do) and objectives (the steps you’re going to take to get there).
b. Program guides young people in developing a vision statement for their ventures and
monitoring the achievement of that vision.
c. Program guides young people in the creation of a business plan.
d. Program helps young people understand the roles necessary for fulfilling their vision and
how to engage others who will fill those roles.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 29

e. Program teaches how to evaluate goal achievement and set both short- and long-term goals
within the frame of a timeline.
f. Program teaches strategies for team building.
8. Program gives young entrepreneurs the opportunity to analyze the effect of
cultural differences, export/import opportunities, and trends on an entrepreneurial
venture in the global marketplace.
a. Program helps young people explore how youth, as a target market, have been
approached, manipulated and exploited by businesses and entrepreneurs.
b. Program explores how to make predictions of trends.
c. Program examines the social responsibility connected to import/export.
d. Program examines the role of business in a variety of local cultures and connects it to
opportunity recognition.
e. Program explores opportunity recognition within our national culture.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / High-Interest, Hands-On Activities / 30

3
The program has strong
connections to local community
with opportunities for engaging
parents and contributing
to the community.

3
CIVIC DEVELOPMENT
In our work with young people, we are not only growing future leaders, accomplished
artists, world-renown scientists, celebrated authors, brilliant mathematicians, amazing
engineers and architects, adept administrators, pioneering naturalists, remarkable teachers,
theorists, practitioners, doers, movers and shakers—we are also helping shape our next
generation of everyday, informed, invested and involved citizens. How young people come
to contribute to and improve the society in which they live will be the ultimate measure of
the success of our service. After school can provide ample opportunities for young people
to learn how to give back in a way that has personal meaning, to grasp the issues that
affect their lives, gain experience and understanding and navigate and change the very
systems and forces that govern them.
The following are key elements to promoting civic responsibility:
1. Program effectively encourages good citizenship.
a. There is evidence of an understood code of conduct.
b. Code of conduct is co-created by staff and young people.
c. Program encourages young people to think through choices and the associated
opportunities and costs of those choices.
d. Staff models cooperation and collegiality in their contact with young people and
each other.
e. Young people are singled out for acts of kindness, community and responsibility.
f. There is evidence that consequences for negative behaviors have been clearly
communicated to young people.
g. Young people seem comfortable in doing things for the good of the group.
h. Mistakes and not meeting goals are embraced as learning opportunities rather than
as failure.
i. Program encourages young people to explore coping strategies with which to
navigate social codes of conduct.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Opportunities for Engaging Parents and Contributing to the Community / 32

2. Program develops and provides opportunities for service learning and community
contribution.
a. Young people’s projects connect to the community at large (e.g. forums, councils,
newsletters and magazines, petitions, radio shows, panels, workshops, committees).
b. Young people’s projects are based both on community need and their own interests.
c. Service learning projects include opportunities for implementing diverse skills such as
research, needs assessment, interviewing, taking surveys, youth mapping and evaluation.
d. Staff and participants work together to create service-learning opportunities with the
needed planning, resources, relationships and reflection to be successful.
3. Program ensures that young people receive encouragement and
acknowledgement for the community contributions that they make.
a. Program staff documents the process and product of young people’s contributions to the
community.
b. Program schedules both annual and summer events for the recognition of young people’s
contributions to the community and invites families, teachers and community members.
c. Staff develops a youth recognition strategy that is tied to ongoing development activities.
d. Program communicates young people’s civic accomplishments in venues that are
accessible to the general public (e.g. ceremonies, newsletters, news stories, nominations).
4. As appropriate for their ages, program introduces young people to the structures
and systems that affect their community and how to navigate them.
a. Program provides young people with training around self-advocacy (e.g. voting, talking
to teachers, applying for summer jobs, family discussions, exercising their rights within
their communities and schools, standing up for their civil liberties).
b. Program provides access to information on protocols for self-advocacy.
c. Program provides opportunities for young people to practice self-advocacy.
5. Civic education, leadership development and citizenship activities link to issues
of race, ethnicity, economics and gender.
a. Program examines the need for and history of civil rights movements, both past and present.
b. Program staff does not model cultural assumptions and actively identifies and challenges
stereotypes in gender, ethnicity, race, age, religion, economic status and sexual preference.
c. Program draws connections between different kinds of discrimination and intolerance
past and present, at home and abroad and examines factors that contribute to them.
d. As appropriate, programs explore strategies for bridging the gaps that exist between races,
genders, ethnicities, religions and sexual orientations.
e. Program gives young people the services and supports to be able to address issues of
unfairness and intolerance in an atmosphere of safety.
f. While valuing individual and group identity, program also works to help its young people
identify common ground.
g. Program addresses the power of language in discrimination and unification.
h. Program helps young people examine the factors that contribute to discrimination and
intolerance.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Opportunities for Engaging Parents and Contributing to the Community / 33

◆
COMMUNITY CONNECTION
It takes a village to raise a child. And it takes a community to bring out the best in afterschool
programming. While young people are undeniably our focus, reaching out to
families, schools, libraries, law enforcement, recreation centers, local businesses, places of
worship, neighborhood organizations, policymakers and community leaders can only make
our programs even more effective. As well as creating the two-way connection between
young people and the communities that they live in, reaching out also helps promote an
asset-based image of youth and gives our young people an asset-based image of our
community. It gives our programs the kind of visibility and partnerships that help them
flourish.
The following are key elements to building strong community connections:
1. Program invites families (i.e. parents, relatives, extended family members,
caregivers and guardians) to become active partners in the life of the program.
a. Staff acknowledges and/or welcomes families when they come on site.
b. There is evidence of the program making meaningful opportunities for involvement to
parents (e.g. as program volunteers or administrative staff, workshop leaders, aides,
committee members, mentors).
c. Program creates opportunities and access to information for families to increase family
ability to advocate for the benefit of their young people and to learn how to navigate
the systems that affect them.
d. There is evidence that the program contacts families on a regular basis with information,
concerns and kudos for their kids.
e. Program passes along appropriate information from school and youth to families.
f. Program has methods of integrating family feedback into programming.
g. Program has scheduled times when families can confer with staff and director.
h. When appropriate, program creates opportunities for families to participate in goal-setting
for their young people.
i. There is documentation of events where families are involved.
2. Program embraces the culture of young people’s families and family culture.
a. Staff has an awareness of, sensitivity to and familiarity with the languages and cultures
of the families they serve and the communities in which they reside. Program makes sure
that families with language barriers have access to program information.
b. Program encourages young people to understand their cultures.
c. Program encourages young people to explore and share their home cultures with their peers.
d. Program organizes events that celebrate the families and the cultures that they come from.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Opportunities for Engaging Parents and Contributing to the Community / 34

e. When possible, program creates opportunities for young people to bring what they are
learning into their homes to involve their families.
f. Program makes use of cultural institutions and embassies here in DC in the exploration
of young people’s home cultures.
3. Program seeks and builds community partnerships and alliances.
a. There is observable or documented evidence of collaboration with other youth-serving
programs, community organizations and businesses.
b. Program management is able to explain the roles of community partners.
c. Program demonstrates ongoing efforts to access diverse funding streams.
d. Program creates opportunities to integrate local volunteers and interns into the program.
e. Program is involved in raising the awareness of their work within the community and
awareness of value of youth work and OST in general.
f. Program pursues opportunities to participate in and/or host community events.
g. Program staff facilitates relationships between young people and local public and
community agencies (e.g. police, fire, library, A.N.C., city government).
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Opportunities for Engaging Parents and Contributing to the Community / 35

4
The program is offered
in a safe, structured, nurturing
environment by a sustainable,
well-run organization.

4
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
Setting up and adhering to purposeful policies and procedures comprise the foundation
for growing, sustaining and evolving an effective program for young people. Clarity of
mission and targeted outcomes are as important to a program’s viability today as self
evaluation, collaboration and diversification of funding are to a program’s longevity tomorrow.
Working within a planned and realistic structure that has the ability to change and grow with
the landscape of out-of-school time is an important way that we can strengthen our
profession and help the young people whom we serve.
1. Program has systems in place to meet day-to-day challenges.
a. Program employs sufficient full-time, part-time and substitute staff that in case of staff
illness or emergency, an adequate staff-to-student-ratio (1:15 for ages 14-24/ 1:10 for
ages 5-13) can be maintained.
b. Program has a written plan for changes in child-staff ratios when level of risk in an
activity increases.
c. There is a system in place to ensure that staff has adequate experience, training and
desire to work with young people.
d. Program has documented procedures for tracking enrollment.
e. Program has documented procedures for tracking attendance.
f. Program has documented procedures for tracking levels of participation in individual
young people.
g. Program maintains enough information on other youth-serving organizations and
programs to be able to refer out and guide young people in their transition when they
age out, relocate or change their interests or needs.
h. Program staff collaborates on how best to understand and serve young people with
special needs in a group setting and makes provisions whenever such a young person
enters the program.
i. Relevant, subsidized, professional development training is provided both to administrative
and frontline staff.
j. At least 2 frontline staff and 1 supervisor have completed AYD (Advancing Youth
Development) and at least 1 program staff has completed training on the use of the
WEBSTARS data reporting system.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 37

k. For continuity of service, program has provisions for use of an alternate space if the
current site becomes unusable.
l. Program has documented weather and communication procedures.
m. Program has set and documented procedures for the arrival and dismissal of its young
people.
2. Program has documentation in place to meet day-to-day challenges as well as
emergencies.
a. Prior to beginning work, all staff – full-time, part-time, volunteer, substitute and youth –
are provided with written job descriptions, an employee handbook, and comprehensive
program orientation and are introduced to the other staff they will be working with.
b. Program maintains all required participant documents and can readily access them when
needed (e.g. signed parental consent forms, emergency contact information, administration
of medications, special dietary needs, transportation instructions, swimming permission).
c. Program maintains accurate, updated and accessible medical records on its young people
(e.g. medications, allergies, emergency contacts, etc.).
d. Program maintains a regularly updated list of phone and email contacts for families. And
young people and their families are provided with practical ways to contact the program.
e. Written policies and procedures are reviewed with staff on an ongoing basis (e.g. fire
drills, disciplinary procedure, confidentiality policy).
f. Program provides all staff with a phone/email contact tree, in case of emergencies.
g. Program documents and files succinct descriptions and steps for activities and projects,
so that substitutes can easily pick up where program staff has left off.
h. Program keeps confidential archive of information for at least one year after a young
person has left the program.
i. Program tracks the progress of young people after they leave the program.
j. Program conducts exit strategy meetings with young people leaving the program and,
when appropriate, with their families.
k. Program documents up-to-date personal and academic information on young people that
can be shared with program colleagues.
3. Program uses evaluation as a tool for continuous growth and improvement.
a. Program defines and documents specific outcomes that it desires for its young people,
what it will do to help young people achieve them, what indicators will show that
progress is being made, and how it will measure that progress.
b. Program shares evaluation information with funders and other stakeholders.
c. Program regularly involves staff, young people, families and other community
stakeholders in evaluation of the program through various means (e.g. surveys,
questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, meetings and town halls).
d. Program uses information from past evaluations to inform present strategies.
e. Program participates in group information gathering to further the youth-serving
community and the field of out-of-school time.
f. Program makes use of evaluation to generate promotional and fund-raising material
and to raise its visibility.
g. When possible, program engages external evaluators.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 38

4. Program has plan in practice for program oversight.
a. Program regularly reviews its administrative policies and procedures to ensure that they
are effective, fair and in keeping with the mission and goals of the program.
b. Program facilitates no less than an annual meeting with its board of directors.
c. Program board is composed by a diverse group of stakeholders and community leaders
outside of its administrative staff.
d. The board of directors is active in the day-to-day function, operations and life of the
program.
e. Program policies and procedures are readily available to the community (e.g. posted
at site, posted on website, in other languages).
f. All hiring, placing, promoting and terminating of staff is documented and supported.
g. All admission, exclusion or expulsion of youth within the program is documented and
supported.
h. Program implements and documents regular staff performance reviews.
i. Program regularly reviews materials and supplies to ensure adequacy.
j. Program reviews staff time-sheets for accuracy and pays staff in a timely manner.
k. Program uses volunteers and records their involvement.
l. Program has site budget and processes in place for the appropriate distribution of funds.
5. Program, staff, board, young people and families are clear on an articulated and
documented mission and purpose of the program.
a. Program develops and shares a strong mission statement that communicates how it
currently enriches young people’s lives and what its aims are for the future.
b. Program activities are consistent with its mission.
c. Financial management of the program supports its goals and mission.
d. All staff is provided and familiarized with how the program supports DC OST best
practices.
e. Staff, board, families and young people themselves provide input on how to achieve
program mission and goals.
f. Program solicits and documents testimonials from its young people and their families.
6 Program seeks sustainability.
a. Program actively seeks a diversified stream of funding from different sources (e.g.
government, foundations, business, and the private sector).
b. Program makes proactive provisions for expanding its work, outreach, location and
hours during the summer and, when applicable, during school vacations.
c. Program creates opportunities to showcase its young people and their accomplishments
to funders and local policymakers (e.g. newsletters, events, websites, flyers, evites,
collaborations, news coverage).
d. Program seeks and secures ongoing training in grant writing and other aspects of
organizational development.
e. Program creates a plan for succession in leadership and prepares emerging leaders to
take the lead in a way where continuity of program service will not be disrupted.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 39

f. Program actively partners with other organizations to achieve goals, secure funds and
raise consciousness about youth programming.
g. Program attempts to coordinate staff development activities with those of school and
community partners.
h. Program documents and archives the “how-to” of activities and projects (e.g. resources,
contacts, outcomes).
i. Program offers topics and materials that are relevant enough to engage and sustain the
interest of its customers.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 40
◆
SAFETY, HEALTH AND NUTRITION
There is little argument that safety must always be a high priority for all out-of-school time
programs. It can make or break everything else good that happens during the program
day and it is one of the prime developmental needs of young people. Safety, however, takes
thought and planning. Systems need to be in place and followed in order to create an
environment where learning, exploring and youth development can thrive. Attention to
details that as adults we often take for granted can ensure healthy conditions, adequate
nutrition, and a feeling of security for young people, their families and program staff.
1. Program protects the safety and security of young people at and around its site.
a. All program site entrances are either continually monitored or locked with a buzzer
system that requires voice identification for admittance.
b. Systems are in place to protect young people from harm when using site areas where
supervision is more challenging (e.g. hallways, playgrounds, rest-rooms, etc.).
c. Program monitors arrival and dismissal of young people and does not allow them to leave
with anyone who does not have approval to pick them up.
d. Parental sign-off is required for students who will leave on their own from the program.
e. Programs can identify where their young people are throughout the program day.
f. A consistently enforced code of conduct is publicly displayed and used to prevent accidents
or violent conflict.
g. Program provides young people with confidential avenues for informing the appropriate
adults if they don’t feel safe.
h. Program encourages young people walking or taking public transit home to travel together.
i. When possible, program has designated security personnel.
2. Program provides a safe physical environment for on-site activities.
a. There are no observable safety hazards in the program space, either indoor or outdoor.
b. There is a procedure in place for regularly checking the adequacy, safety and
maintenance of the indoor and outdoor program environment.

c. All indoor and outdoor program areas meet all applicable DC laws and regulations for
use of space and occupancy.
d. All toxic materials are kept in original, labeled containers which are inaccessible to
young people.
e. Hot water pipes and other sources of heat exceeding 110 degrees F that are accessible
to young people are equipped with protective guards or insulated to prevent contact.
f. All electrical outlets and wiring are covered.
g. Unsafe areas or areas under construction or repair are fenced off and inaccessible to
young people.
h. Hallways and exits are unobstructed and not locked to inside access.
i. Staff intensifies supervision for activities that can be potentially harmful to young people.
j. An adequately supplied first aid kit is always available and locatable both at the program
site and during trips off site.
3. Program protects the safety and security of its young people during off-site
activities.
a. Staff monitors whether young people are adequately prepared for outdoor climate and
temperature and informs families of what young people will need for off-site activities
(e.g. maintains supplies of sun hats, sun block and bug repellent).
b. Adequate water and snacks are either brought or accessed on all outdoor and off-site
activities, especially in summer.
c. When possible, staff is equipped with means of intercommunication when working
off-site.
d. Up-to-date emergency and medical information is readily available for each young
person during all off-site activities.
e. Parental permission is required for all off-site activities, and families are kept informed
of any requirements for safety.
f. Program solicits information on all physical and medical conditions, allergies and
psychological conditions on program intake and registration forms.
g. All staff are knowledgeable of their individual responsibilities during off-site activities
(e.g. communication, monitoring, medical, transportation, etc.).
h. Program establishes clear codes of conduct and behavior while off-site.
i. Program informs young people on the dangers and consequences of leaving the group
when off site.
j. Monitoring systems and check-off systems are in place to ensure staff knowledge of
young people’ s whereabouts just before, during and just after trips off-site.
k. Program establishes a safe meeting place in case a young person gets lost during an
off-site activity as well as phone contact for at least one staff.
4. Program provides safe transportation to off-site activities.
a. The operator of any vehicle transporting young people shall be 18 years-of-age or older
and possess a valid driver’s license and adequate insurance coverage.
b. Staff-to-young person ratios do not include drivers when off-site.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 41

c. Vehicles used for program transportation meet motor vehicle safety standards and have
adequate seat belts to cover each person in the vehicle.
d. All vehicles providing transportation to young people are fully insured.
e. No more than three people shall occupy the front seat of a vehicle.
f. The cargo area of a van or station wagon, or the back of a pick-up truck may not be
used for transporting young people.
g. Young people under the age of 13 may not be left unattended in a vehicle.
h. While in operation the doors to a vehicle transporting young people must be locked.
i. Vehicles transporting young people must have a basic first aid kit on board.
j. When in an active roadway, adults supervise young people boarding and exiting a
vehicle from outside the vehicle.
5. Program, staff and young people are prepared to handle emergencies.
a. Emergency plans and evacuation routes are posted and in place for young people as
well as staff to know how to know how proceed in case of an emergency (e.g. fire,
illness, accidents, gunfire, terrorist attack, etc.).
b. Families are given telephone contact and location information so that they may reconnect
with their young people in case of an emergency.
c. Family contact information as well as medical information for young people is kept in a
portable container on-site that can be easily accessed in case of an emergency.
d. A fire drill is held at least every 60 days.
e. At least one adult trained and up-to-date on CPR and First Aid is on site at all times.
f. Program has written permission from families to secure appropriate medical treatment
for young people during emergencies.
g. Every staff person in all programs knows the location of phones and emergency
equipment and how to use them.
h. All staff is instructed in security procedures and for dealing with emergencies.
i. Program maintains an adequate supply of drinking water and snacks at site in case of
an overnight stay.
6. Program ensures that both paid and volunteer staff creates a safe environment
and pose no security or health risks to its young people.
a. Prior to their contact with young people in the program, all paid and volunteer staff is
screened for prior criminal records, child protective service findings, and other improper
conduct.
b. Prior to their contact with young people in the program, all paid and volunteer staff are
tested and cleared for Tuberculosis on an annual basis.
c. Program reserves the right to drug test paid or volunteer staff if they are suspected of
being under the influence while working with young people.
d. Staff is trained in a documented form of conflict resolution and implements it to manage
conflicts between young people.
e. Program has established procedure and clear communications for staff to follow if they
have concerns about other staff’s interactions with young people.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 42

f. Program establishes rules for staff around physical conduct with young people and how
to manage emergency situations where physical contact may be needed.
g. Staff are oriented in how to recognize signs of child abuse, emotional disturbance and
drug use, as well as in how and when to report concerns and refer to outside expertise.
7. Program site is a healthy and sanitary environment.
a. Garbage is removed from the facility each day and from the facility grounds at least once
per week.
b. Removal, clean up and disposal of leaded paint, chips, dust and debris shall be accomplished
in a manner that avoids dispersal of dust in debris into the environment.
c. Heating, cooling and ventilation levels in indoor space are kept at a comfortable level. If
facility air conditioning is absent or malfunctioning, multiple fans are used with the priority
being the young people, not the staff.
d. No smoking is done where young people are present or where food is being prepared.
Tobacco products are not allowed at program.
e. Adequate lighting is provided for young people to be able to see clearly.
f. Adequate supplies are maintained for hand-washing, hand-drying, hand sanitization and
surface clean up, with at least one working sink for every 30 young people.
g. Program supplies signs for instruction in hand washing at all site bathrooms as well as a
covered trash can for the girls’ bathroom.
h. Adequate supplies are maintained for toilet use and cleaning, with at least one working
toilet for every 20 young people.
i. When possible, high noise activities are separated from non-participating young people
and there is a regular quiet space available.
j. Indoor areas are kept clean on at least a weekly basis, and eating surfaces are cleaned
before each meal or snack.
k. Staff attempts to protect young people from communicable disease by separating youth
who become ill during the program or come to the program sick.
l. Staff uses appropriate hand washing or gloves when serving food.
m. Program stores food in accordance with USDA standards.
n. If possible, in programs where food preparation is involved, staff have training in sanitary
food handling.
8. Program provides adequate nutrition, promotes awareness of healthy eating and
uses snack and mealtimes constructively.
a. Program asks families to supply them with information on any food allergies that their
young people may have, and this is taken into consideration in food selection and
preparation.
b. In a program that operates for 4 consecutive hours, a snack which meets USDA Child
and Adult Care Food Program guidelines is provided.
c. Drinking water is available at all times.
d. The amount and type of food offered is appropriate for the ages and sizes of young
people, and supplementary snacks and second servings are made available to those who
may not be getting adequate food outside the program.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 43

e. Program provides snacks and meals on a consistent schedule and, when possible, posts
menus for young people, parents and families.
f. Food may not be withheld from a young person as an act of discipline or punishment.
g. Food focus is on healthy eating and drinking that includes fruits and vegetables and not
on foods and drinks that are high in sugar, fat or which are heavily processed. Staff
models these choices while working with young people.
h. Program educates young people on nutrition (e.g. posting a nutrition chart, cooking
classes, informative discussions, product comparisons, gardening, obesity awareness, etc.).
i. Staff engages young people during snack and mealtimes times and, when possible,
uses the time for discussion, individual recognition, community building and exposure
to new things.
j. When possible, some meals at program relate to areas of cultural exploration.
k. When possible, some meals and snacks take place at small tables that promote small
group discussion.
9. Program refers to or offers health resources for its young people.
a. When appropriate, small group discussion and instruction on healthy sexuality, AIDS,
STDs, birth control and pregnancy is offered to young people.
b. When appropriate, small group discussion and instruction on drug and alcohol abuse is
offered to young people.
c. When appropriate, small group discussion and instruction on domestic violence and
violence in communities is offered to young people.
d. Program can provide active contact information for mental health and social service
referrals when young people have issues and crises that are beyond the program’s scope
of expertise.
e. Program can provide active contact information for pregnancy and sexual health referrals
when young people have sexual or health issues beyond the program’s scope of expertise.
f. Programs are able to refer older youth to adult resources around housing, banking and
budgeting, parenting, education, transportation, employment and counseling.
10. Program provides opportunities for health education and awareness.
a. As appropriate, activities include instruction and guided as well as peer discussion on
sexuality, pregnancy prevention, sexual health and the role of sex in relationships.
b. As appropriate, activities include instruction and guided as well as peer discussion on
substance abuse and addiction.
c. As appropriate, activities include instruction and guided as well as peer discussion
on violence.
d. As appropriate, activities include instruction and guided as well as peer discussion
on sickness prevention.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 44

Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 45
◆
USE OF INDOOR AND OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT
Creating an indoor and an outdoor environment that is safe, structured, stimulating and
sustainable is often a challenge in settings where space is shared, rented or even
borrowed. Yet, within the parameters of our control it is vital that we make the space that
we have for young people a space they want to come back to and a place where they feel
ownership. While standards of safety are mandatory, there are creative ways to make the
best of less than optimal space situations and outside resources that can be identified and
used to enhance our services.
1. The program’s indoor space meets the needs of the program and its young people.
a. There is adequate room and appropriate space for program activities and adequate
materials for the number of young people to be served.
b. Program insures that indoor space is clean, safe and free from health hazards (e.g.
broken furniture, exposed wiring, exposed hot water pipes, unsecured toxic materials,
broken glass, etc.).
c. The space is arranged so that staff can monitor all activities at all times.
d. The space is arranged to make activities accessible and enjoyable to young people with
special needs and follows the ADA guidelines for basic emergency preparedness.
e. Program space, materials and equipments are well maintained and in good working order.
f. In programs where only common space is available, it is consistently set up into discrete
sections which are conducive to different kinds of activities.
g. In programs where only common space is available, the effort is made to create visual
and acoustic buffers and that activities requiring quiet are not in proximity to activities
creating noise.
h. There is adequate and convenient storage space for equipment, materials, and personal
possessions of young people and staff.
i. Program has contingency plans for dealing with excessive heat (and other facility
emergencies).
2. Program space is conducive to student ownership.
a. Young people access appropriate materials and put them away themselves with ease.
b. Young people have a say in arranging materials and equipment to suit their activities.
c. When possible, the decoration of program’s indoor space reflects the interests of its
young people.
d. When possible, young people’s work, accomplishments and creations are prominently
displayed in program space.
e. In space that cannot be decorated, program documents young people’s work,
accomplishments and creations by other means (e.g. cases, portfolios, fold outs, scrap
books, videos).

f. In shared space, program clearly communicates to young people the limitations of its use.
g. Young people and staff are cooperatively involved in clean up and in setting up and
taking down equipment.
h. When possible, program space includes comfortable furniture and floor covering and
provides a place where young people can experience quiet time.
i. When possible, young people have meaningful input in posted rules and policies
regarding the use of indoor space.
3. Outdoor program space meets the needs of young people.
a. Each young person has the regular opportunity to participate in outdoor activities, subject
to weather conditions.
b. When possible, dedicated program outdoor space is not accessible to the public.
c. When in use, outdoor space accessible to the public is continuously monitored for safety
by program staff. (See “Safety, Health & Nutrition” section).
d. Outdoor space is free from health hazards (e.g. broken glass, rusty metal, splintered
wood, etc.).
e. Outdoor equipment is in good repair and, when possible, safety matting is in place
under and around equipment.
f. If program does not have access to its own dedicated outdoor space, then nearby public
space is identified, planned for and utilized.
g. When possible, playground equipment is suitable for young people of different sizes and
abilities.
h. When possible, outdoor space is large enough to allow young people to engage in large
muscle group activity (e.g. running, jumping and climbing, etc.).
i. When physically able, staff participates with young people in outdoor activities.
j. In inclement weather, indoor space is identified and used for physical activities and games
which are modified for an indoor environment.
k. Young people and staff are cooperatively engaged in bringing out and putting away
outdoor equipment.
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Organizational Infrastructure / 46

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This compilation of best practices and indicators for after-school programs in DC is the product of many
minds and many sets of experiences. The process benefited from the wisdom of other cities – Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Denver and Chicago to name a few – and was shaped by generous input
from a wide range of after-school practitioners across the District of Columbia. They include:
Stacey Stewart of Arena Stage
Carl Thomas of Capital Educational Support
Stephen Berry of Capitol Hill Computer Corner
Alexe Nowakowski of City Dance
Gail Oliver of the Columbia Heights Youth Club
Christopher Page and Cora Clark from Community Preservation and Development Corporation
Xavier Johnson of Covenant House Washington
Joe Davis of Digital Success
Katrina Hochstetler of DC Scores
DeAngelo Rorie and Shana Savage of Heads Up
Rachel Gwaltney and William Masson of the Higher Achievement Program
Andria Hollis, Maya Mimms and Kim Singer of Kid Power- DC Inc.
Fred Rogers of LINK
Timothy Jones and Juanita Cammon of Martha’s Table
Eshe Armah from the National Cathedral School
Tasheen Stallings and Gary Johnson-Bey from National Organization of Concerned Black Men
Kristian Whipple and Marvin Coote of New Community for Children
Robert Simon of Nomis Youth Network, Inc.
Joe Angel-Babb of the Shakespeare Theatre Company
Claude Elliot of Step Afrika
Estafani Rondon of WAVE
Mazi Mutafa of Words, Beats & Life
Patrick Torres of Young Playwrights’ Theater
Ragasten Paul of Y.O.U.R. (Youth Organization United to Rise) Community Center
TRUST STAFF
Several members of the Trust spearheaded the project, including:
Peter Guttmacher
Carol Strickland
Ed Davies
Krsna Ellsworth
Shanita Burney
Syreeta Evans
Broderick Clarke
Jose Dominguez
Lynn Pinder
Meeta Sharma-Holt
Michael Warmstein
Field Guide to OST Best Practices / Acknowledgments & Staff / 47