The heart of a positive youth development approach is to ensure that young people are safe and supported to learn and to lead. Yet, genuine youth leadership in youth-serving systems and organizations is not nearly as common as it needs to be for youth-serving fields to realize their potential. One recent bright spot, highlighting the process and the power of supporting youth leadership was the recent study, From Access to Equity: Making Out-of-School Time Spaces Meaningful for Teens From Marginalized Communities, supported by The Wallace Foundation. Both the process of how this study was conducted and its results show the power of youth leadership to advance our field. I had the honor of hosting a panel discussion during this year’s Forum National Conference with two young people and two adults who worked together on this project to hear from them about their experiences and lessons learned. I’d love to share a couple of the reflections that I’ve carried with me from that conversation.

First, the process itself was a powerful one where young people intentionally took the lead, and where everyone’s expertise was valued and made a difference. Young people were able to contribute their experiences, knowledge, and networks. They brought unique insights into the opportunities and challenges for young people that can stand in the way of experiencing the benefits of out-of-school time programs. The adults had experience as researchers and contributed important structures to the inquiry process, like supporting the team in the development of the study design. All agreed that working together was more time-consuming than if they had done this work independently, but that the personal and collective outcomes were stronger because of this intentional partnership.

Second, the results offered insights into an aspect of program quality that is not always addressed in the youth development field – the intersection of access and equity. As the leader of the Forum’s Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, I know the quality frameworks that are widely used across our field focus predominantly on the experiences of young people within youth programs – but not necessarily on who is there in the first place. The research report highlighted financial, cultural, and other practical barriers that limited who had access to OST programs. Addressing these barriers is part of an ‘organizational quality’ approach that can create the conditions for true program quality. The Forum’s Weikart Center has created an Organizational Quality Assessment (OQA)[1] that can help youth-serving organizations reflect on structural opportunities and barriers that may stand in the way of ensuring that programs are accessible and high quality for all young people.

Finally, I continue to be struck by the ways that young people’s insights and perspectives can sharpen our understanding of the existing knowledge base. The research findings point to the importance of including access and equity as critical factors that shape program quality. As we continue to make progress in partnering more effectively with young people to create accessible and equitable high-quality programs, learning from the powerful insights of studies like this one can help guide the way forward.

[1] OQA is an update of a quality assessment previously known as ‘Form B’.