Recent Publications by Wendy McClanahan
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Creating Safe Spaces: Promoting Physical and Emotional Safety
While multipurpose out-of-school time (OST) organizations provide supportive environments for youth development and social-emotional growth, in the context of the arts, safety requires an approach that mitigates physical harm and creates an emotionally safe space…
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Building Bridges: Partnerships, Parents, and Pathways in Youth Arts
Multipurpose out-of-school time (OST) organizations partner with families to support children’s needs and gather input on programming. These organizations also collaborate with community groups to access resources, enrich content, and bolster sustainability. But because partnerships…
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Moving Beyond Popsicle Sticks and Googly Eyes: How Current Art Equipment and Technology Can Improve Arts Programming
In many multipurpose out-of-school time (OST) organizations, “art” supplies are typically markers, construction paper, and glue with googly eyes, with popsicle sticks thrown in for fun. But while arts- and-crafts activities have their place, they…
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Amplifying Youth Voice: Input, Leadership, and Agency in the Arts
While youth voice is important in arts-focused youth programming, many multipurpose out-of-school time (OST) organizations default to traditional crafts or adult‑designed projects. The result is limited opportunities for youth to make decisions, lead, or bring…
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Responding, Reimagining, Realizing: Out-of-School Coordination in a New Era
The Wallace Foundation commissioned Research for Action and McClanahan Associates to study how out-of-school time intermediaries (OSTIs) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and the role they could play in supporting communities moving forward. Citywide out-of-school…
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Virtual Approaches Hold Promise for Expanding Afterschool Art Programming
Four Boys & Girls Clubs implementing high-quality art skill development classes for tweens and teens experimented with five different virtual approaches that hold promise for expanding programming. This brief describes three approaches that reach young…
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Setting the Stage: Practical Ideas for Implementing High-Quality Afterschool Arts Programs
Youth benefit from involvement in the arts but youth in historically marginalized communities and under resourced communities often have fewer opportunities to engage in high-quality arts programming due to cuts in arts education that disproportionately…
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Afterschool Programs: A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act
Afterschool Programs: A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act reviews research from 2000 to 2017 and finds 128 afterschool programs with research that meets the requirements of ESSA’s top three tiers. Of…
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Afterschool Evidence Guide: A Companion to A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act
The Afterschool Evidence Guide, a companion to Afterschool Programs, provides detailed, individual descriptions of the afterschool programs with evidence that meets the research requirements of ESSA’s top three tiers. The guide also includes summaries of…
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Designing for Engagement: The Experiences of Tweens in the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Youth Arts Initiative
A 2013 Wallace-commissioned report pointed to 10 principles that small, high-quality, arts-focused youth organizations appear to share. Four years later, RFA’s investigation into Wallace’s Youth Arts Initiative showed that the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), a multi-faceted…
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Executive Summary: Raising the Barre & Stretching the Canvas
As part of an ongoing, multi-million dollar Wallace Foundation initiative to improve and expand arts learning opportunities for young people, the Wallace Foundation, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), developed…
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Raising the Barre & Stretching the Canvas: Implementing High-Quality Arts Programming in a National Youth Serving Organization
As part of an ongoing, multi-million dollar Wallace Foundation initiative to improve and expand arts learning opportunities for young people, the Wallace Foundation, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), developed…
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Out-of-School Time in Elev8 Community Schools: A First Look at Participation and its Unique Contribution to Students’ Experiences in School
In 2007, The Atlantic Philanthropies (Atlantic) made an investment in its first five community schools in the State of New Mexico. Over the years that followed, Atlantic invested in developing community schools in three additional…