Youth Development & Mentoring
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YOUTH ARTS INITIATIVE (YAI)
Funder: The Wallace Foundation
Project Time Period: 2014-Present
Project Category: Youth Development/Education & STEAM/Formative Evaluation/Summative Evaluation
About YAI: MAI, in partnership with Research for Action (RFA), has been commissioned to conduct an external evaluation of YAI, a partnership between the Wallace Foundation and Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). The initiative provides innovative, high-quality arts programming for underserved youth, with the aim to stimulate learning, inspire creativity, and encourage self-expression.
The Work: The evaluation is designed to both support BGCA’s continuous improvement efforts and to generate knowledge about their approach that can help strengthen field practice. In the early stages of the initiative, the evaluation team focused on the implementation of YAI in local Clubs, documenting how YAI’s Ten Principles for Success, derived from community art organizations, were implemented at a youth organization that provides a variety of drop-in programming. The formative nature of the evaluation meant that the evaluation team was reporting back timely and actionable information to the local Clubs, BGCA, and the Wallace Foundation, which the organizations used to strengthen the initiative and model.
What We’re Learning: Download our report on the implementation of YAI, "Raising the Barre and Stretching the Canvas: Implementing High-Quality Arts Programming in a National Youth Serving Organization."
Download our report on youth experiences in YAI, "Designing for Engagement: The Experiences of Tweens in the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Youth Arts Initiative."
Two additional reports on YAI will be available in 2022.