Fall 2001

One of the more ambitious aspects of the Urban Health Initiative is the concept of "scale." The UHI seeks systemic change not in a neighborhood or section of a city, but throughout an entire metropolitan area. This raises a host of issues, not the least of which has to do with infrastructure.

Imagine, for example, the point at which The Youth Connection of Greater Metropolitan Detroit achieves the policy and funding changes necessary to expand after-school opportunities for all its kids. Who's going to handle the money, ensure quality, attract the on-going resources, and provide the training necessary to enhance all providers' capacity? Without such an entity, The Youth Connection's achievements as a change agent, and those of other UHI cities with similar goals, could be short lived.

With Detroit's Communities In Schools and Youth Sports and Recreation Commission as its partners, The Youth Connection is solving these problems with the establishment of the After-School Network.

"As we worked on our strategy to decrease youth violence, early sexuality and youth substance abuse through greatly expanded after-school opportunities, our evaluation team helped us realize there needed to be an infrastructure in place to do all the things we want to do," says Grenae Dudley, executive director of The Youth Connection. "Plus, we needed to answer the question of where new after-school resources would go to assure they get to where they should.

"The purpose of this network is to increase the quantity and quality of after-school programs in Metropolitan Detroit," says Dudley. "Additionally, our intention is to expand resources, standards and an accreditation process statewide."

Network membership will be open to all current or potential after-school providers. Through membership in the network, providers will be able to increase their own capacity to provide after-school opportunities. Network members will have access to training and other support services, and will gain greater community awareness of their services via the communication resources of the network. Plus, through the network, members will have access to additional financial, facility and human resources.

These members, for their part, will have to adhere or work towards standards set by the network, collect and provide certain data, and make a financial commitment to the network.

"An organized, collective and cost effective strategy to improve their capacity will be the most important membership benefit to individual after-school providers," Dudley adds. "Plus, the community benefits from an increase in the number of quality programs available to children. Parents will have an increased awareness of what quality services are and where to find them."

While individual members will continue pursue grants and other funding for their own purposes, the network will lead an effort to secure fiscal and policy support to sustain expansion of the after-school system for the long-term.

This effort will be supported by a communications plan based on The Youth Connection's current "Participate 3 to 8" campaign. This multi-faceted public relations and advertising campaign seeks to influence opinion leaders, the business community and policy makers to support the policy and fiscal objectives of the network. The campaign is also a means to increase parent advocacy for after-school programs, encouraging them to think about what young people are doing between 3 and 8 p.m. Plus, youth are a target of the "Participate 3 to 8" campaign, as it seeks to encourage kids' participation in the programs.

The Skillman Foundation, Mott Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are providing the initial funding to the network. The Youth Connection, Communities In School and the Youth Sports and Recreation Commission serve as coordinating agencies.

"Our partners are vital to this effort," says Dudley. "Communities In Schools has nearly tripled its presence in Detroit public schools over the past three years; the Youth Sports and Recreation Commission is, among other things, a valuable trainer strengthening the capacity of hundreds of providers."

Network staff will be housed by, and report to, The Youth Connection.
"Momentum for expanding after-school opportunities for youth in Detroit is building," says Dudley. "It requires collective thinking and garnering of resources. It demands that those that offer these programs be mobilized into providing enough quality programs to meet the need. That's what the network is all about."

Data Gathering Key to Network

In keeping with the UHI's expectation of being a data-driven initiative, The Youth Connection is working with its After-School Network partners on a sophisticated data collection and evaluation plan.

"Collecting data is critical to our success," says Grenae Dudley, executive director of The Youth Connection. "It represents power and influence; it will give us a basis for strategic planning and evaluation."

With the help of Detroit consultants Moore and Associates, the network will collect data from after-school providers and youth. Although the network is proceeding with educated estimates, this effort will more accurately identify the number of current providers, the capacity of current providers, the expanded capacity needed, the cost of participation and the costs to reach scale.

The evaluation component will look at context, process and outcomes. Some of the issues it will address are:

• Where are the providers located in relation to the need for services?
  
  
• What are the barriers to the recruitment of members and how could then be overcome?
  
  
• How effective is the network at garnering the necessary resources to sustain programs and services?
  
  
• Does the training meet the needs of providers?
  
  
• Is there an increase in the number of youth participating in after-school programs?
  
  
• Are the providers adhering to standards?
  
  
• Are there adequate resources to fund and sustain quality after-school programs?

Recently, The Youth Connection sponsored a study by the Institute for Human Services Research of, among other things, the cost of after-school programs in Detroit. Several providers participated in the survey that concluded that the average annual per child cost is $1,830, which compares favorably to average costs from around the country. That figure allows estimates of what the total cost would be to reach scale. For example, the cost for half of all kids in Detroit to participate in after-school programming would be about $183 million.