Increasing Access Strategies

The Increasing Access Strategies address barriers to youth participation in afterschool programs and STEM opportunities, and build on the experiences within the community that each afterschool program serves. Increasing Access focuses on helping all youth have access to high-quality STEM opportunities and to feel welcome in STEM.

Community Engagement

This strategy points to the importance of engaging the community to have a broad and inclusive reach, provide equitable programming, and serve the community’s needs. The stakeholders you engage should be diverse and representative of your community and of the youth you serve. Community engagement comes in many forms, such as seeking out and listening to community organizations and leaders who serve diverse youth, engaging families in meaningful ways, and partnering with local businesses to expose youth to a variety of STEM professionals and careers.

Community Engagement Tactics:

  • Create plans for internal and external communication and outreach 

  • Build cross-sector partnerships to cultivate a STEM learning ecosystem 

  • Offer community and family engagement opportunities

Tips & Resources:

Data Informed Decision Making

This strategy focuses on using data and research to inform decision making and programming. It is important to ask families what they need and to ask youth what they want in an afterschool program, paying particular attention to reaching families and youth from diverse backgrounds in your community (income, race, ethnicity, neighborhood). Connect with schools and community-based organizations that are already serving youth and families in your area to learn more about what services they provide and what gaps there are to fill. Then, look to research and other afterschool-focused resources to design a program that will engage and effectively serve girls and other underserved youth in STEM. Or, if your program is already in operation, see how it aligns with current research and make adjustments as necessary.

Data Informed Decision Making Tactics

  • Identify ways to collect youth and program level data to improve program quality 

  • Collect feedback from youth and families 

  • Conduct evaluation to assess broader community needs

Tips & Resources

  • Review NGCP’s collection of Exemplary Practices related to Engaging Girls in STEM, including relevant publications and webinars.

Program Design

Increasing access to STEM needs to be built into afterschool programs from the very beginning. It is important that the program design reflects a commitment to providing access to all youth, engaging and serving diverse youth and their families, and helping all youth feel welcome in STEM.

Program Design Tactics:

  • Involve stakeholders who represent the community and offer diverse perspectives in program design 

  • Form an advisory board with key stakeholders to provide ongoing guidance and feedback 

  • Be intentional in program design to engage and effectively serve all youth

Tips & Resources

  • Review NGCP’s collection of Exemplary Practices related to Access and Equity, including relevant publications and webinars.

Program Operations

This strategy focuses on the importance of program operations when designing an afterschool program to broaden participation in STEM. Important components of program operations include, but are not limited to, staff recruitment and retention and logistical considerations such as location and transportation. Tap into resources designed to help recruit and retain diverse staff.  Think about the location of your program – are there any barriers for youth/families to access the location or to feel welcome there? If so, how can you address those barriers?

Program Operations Tactics:

  • Ensure all youth have access to programming (location, schedule, transportation, technology) 

  • Ensure all youth feel welcome (broad outreach to diverse populations, marketing designed to engage all youth, welcoming environment) 

  • Recruit and retain staff who are representative of the community

Tips & Resources