The Foundation supports research to understand and improve the everyday settings of youth ages 8 to 25 in the United States. Settings are defined as the social environments in which youth experience daily life. These settings include environments with clear boundaries such as classrooms, schools, and youth-serving organizations and environments with less prescribed boundaries such as neighborhoods or other settings in which youth interact with peers, family members, and other adults. At their best, these settings embed youth within a network of engaging activities; ample resources; meaningful relationships with adults and peers; and opportunities for academic, social, emotional, and identity development.
Improving the quality of after-school programs is the Foundation's current Action Topic. After-school programs serve several distinct purposes. Some are meant to improve educational achievement while others emphasize keeping youth safe, developing youth talents and interpersonal skills, or meeting the child care needs of working parents. While research shows that some programs can achieve these goals, it also suggests that the typical program needs to get better. We fund studies of how after-school programs affect youth. We also support research on attempts to improve these programs. Finally, we support activities meant to strengthen the communication among researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in the after-school field.