Lessons Learned for Improving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion from Y-USA's Out-of-School Time Programs

From 2017 to 2020, Child Trends served as the evaluation partner for the YMCA of the USA's (Y-USA) Character Development Learning Institute (CDLI); through that work, we learned about efforts to improve DEI in afterschool, summer learning, camps, and other OST programs during site visits to more than 100 YMCAs around the country. In this brief, we summarize lessons learned from that research for OST programs seeking ways to be more intentional in their efforts to strengthen DEI

Children in Poverty: Trends, Consequences, and Policy Options

Outlines trends and factors in the U.S. child poverty rate and reviews research linking poverty and lower levels of child well-being, including educational and cognitive, social and emotional, economic, and health outcomes. Makes policy recommendations

Promoting Character Development in Youth Programs through Professional Development for Staff and Volunteers: Findings from an Evaluation of the YMCA of the USAs Character Development Learning Institute

This brief summarizes the results from Child Trends' evaluation of the Character Development Learning Institute (CDLI), drawing from interviews, program observations, and surveys of staff and volunteers from many of the 208 Ys that participated in the final phase of the CDLI (see Appendix 3 for a summary of Ys in each phase). Child Trends has served as the evaluation and research partner for the CDLI since 2017, when the CDLI debuted its framework for a small cohort of Ys in what they called the "Translate phase" (Redd et. al., 2017; Stratford et. al, 2018; Redd et. al., 2019; Lantos et al., 2019). The data presented here were collected from fall 2019 to spring 2020. Following a brief summary of key findings, we provide background on the CDLI, describe the study methods, and offer detailed findings on the outcomes of the study