It’s All About Connections:
Teens Talk About Their OST Experiences in COVID-19
Amy S. Crumbaugh, MA, Senior Director of Research & Policy
Lydia Preuss, MA, Research & Evaluation Specialist
Tony Raden, PhD, Chief Impact Officer
Research has caught up to what practitioners have long known — that adults and their relationships with young people are key for supporting learning and development. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how these relationships look, but it underscores the important role adults play in not only supporting young people’s learning and development, but also helping to buffer the effects of stress and trauma. Although schools closed in the spring, out-of-school-time (OST) providers worked throughout the summer to maintain connections and help ensure that youth were as emotionally and socially healthy as possible.
Last year, After School Matters (ASM) provided nearly 19,000 Chicago high-school teens (approximately 90% Black or Latinx) with high-quality, experiential learning opportunities to develop their talents while gaining critical skills for the future. ASM teens participate in hands-on after-school and summer programs in the arts, communications and leadership, sports and STEM. When Chicago’s citywide shelter-in-place order was issued in March, ASM instructors and staff scrambled to reach enrolled teens and jumpstart planning for a robust remote-engagement strategy to provide youth with vital connections that seemed to matter more than ever before.
Due to the abrupt transition to remote engagement in the wake of the pandemic onset, instructors and staff prioritized maintaining contact with teens to provide positive support, plus informal remote learning. ASM fielded multiple online surveys to capture teens’ needs and experiences, trying to gain actionable insights on how to preserve and reinforce the critical, core elements of safety and positive relationships for ASM youth, especially for Black and Latinx youth who have been disproportionately impacted due to current and historical inequities.
Enrolled teens reported how frequently they communicated with their program peers and instructors, and also completed a validated scale of perceived stress and questions about their experiences. Preliminary analysis indicates that increased connection with peers and instructors positively correlates with teens identifying their program as a safe space for processing what they are going through and feeling supported in safely coping with difficult emotions. Furthermore, contact with instructors or peers at least several times per month seems to be a tipping point (or minimum dosage threshold) for teens to benefit — teens who reported connecting at least several times per month were significantly more likely to identify their program as a safe space, or agree that their program helped them cope than teens connecting once per month or less frequently.
Relationships with peers and caring adults are foundational to teens’ feelings of safety within programs, bolstering their ability to cope safely and process their experiences during a crisis. These findings suggest that fostering emotionally supportive, virtual program spaces for teens is possible, and practitioners should aim to connect with youth consistently to optimize social and emotional benefits.
Policymakers also have a vital role to play in supporting practitioners and ensuring equitable access to high-quality, OST programming for youth. As our nation continues to confront the devastating impact of the pandemic, education supports for teens and youth-serving nonprofits must be prioritized in pandemic relief packages, and funds must be secured to stabilize and sustain the OST sector. Developmentally rich experiences and positive youth engagement are critical for teens to flourish and be empowered as leaders.
Young people can overcome the unprecedented adversity facing them today if they are provided with supportive, safe environments that prioritize social and emotional learning. Even in the midst of social unrest and a global pandemic, science indicates that youth can learn and even thrive through caring relationships and quality engagement. Now is the time to ensure that teens and the organizations serving them have access to all the resources they need to succeed.
