Youth program providers work extremely hard to offer services that they believe will enhance the lives and future prospects of African-American male youth. But how can they be sure that their program is having the intended impact? How can funders and policy makers ensure that their investments in programs are paying off in substantially improved outcomes for these youth and their communities? In order to determine which strategies providers should implement to effectively serve the needs of African American young adults, I sought evidence based research recommendations for best practices. As I reviewed numerous studies on this topic, four major themes emerged. To better understand the data found, I have organized the literature review into …show more content…
Their analysis of 35 youth programs reported that standardized test scores of low-income, at-risk youth improved after participation in after-school programs (Lauer et al., 2006). Lauer discovered positive and significant effects among students at risk of failure in reading or math, producing positive results on reading achievement, particularly in lower elementary grade levels and in high school students. Researchers also found positive and significant effects on math achievement, particularly for middle and high school …show more content…
This is especially true in the case of African American male youth whose deficiencies are well documented and compelling (Bandy, 2011). The research demonstrated that programs are more effective at meeting the needs of African American male participants by diversifying the types of services they provide. The rising trend is to offer two or more services in varying combinations of activities such as academic remediation or enrichment, extracurricular activities, job skills training, character development, etc. According to research, multi-service programs are more effective than single-service because they give youth a mix of choice and structure which is especially effective in retaining youth participants (Deschenes et al., 2010). Furthermore, given the wide array of youth needs, especially in impoverished areas, as Weiss et al. (2009) argues, “no single support is sufficient to ensure children’s school success” (p.4). My research is necessary to give community stakeholders an evidence based outline of which strategies should be implemented to effectively serve the needs of African American young adults. This is vitally important as negative statistics for Black males continue to climb even as resources to improve their condition decline. This research will increase the body of knowledge in the sociological fields