YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

Youth Development and Healthy Living in After School Programs

Meeting YMCA Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards

Alexandra Rippel

California State University Dominguez Hills

Abstract
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

This paper will examine after school care programs’ health standards and address ways for such

programs to successfully teach healthy lifestyles to a wide range of students. Studies presented

show the impact of community partnerships, successful environments, best practices for

instruction and parent involvement. Utilization of these strategies turns after school care

programs into impactful and effective educational mediums.

The Lakewood Family YMCA of Greater Long Beach is part of a chain of nonprofit

organizations that serves as a launchpad for programs and services focused on youth
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

development, healthy living and social responsibility, according to the needs of the community it

serves. Among these programs are before and after school care and transportation services run

by director Stacy Valdez. The broad reach of this program provides services to 165 students

filtering into 5 sites from 29 K-8 schools. Their agenda is built around the YMCA’s mission

statement as the staff guides students through homework assistance, enrichment, outdoor

activities, and snack time all aimed to foster the growth of healthy lifestyles in their youth.

Far beyond the scope of Long Beach there are 2,700 YMCAs nationwide actively serving

nine million children for at least three hours a day. In order to ensure a positive impact on the

communities they reach Y-USA committed to the HEPA (Healthy Eating and Physical Activity)

standards in 2011 and pledged to “educate kids about healthy lifestyles, model healthy behaviors

and cultivate environments that make it easier for kids to make healthy choices (The Y: Meet

HEPA, n.d.).” YMCAs throughout the country have been working to put these standards into

practice, but when speaking to Youth Program Director Stacy Valdez, it was found that this task

is easier said than done. Valdez works hard to implement criteria such as cutting screen time

activities, increasing physical activities, providing healthier food and drink choices, and

encouraging meaningful family engagement, but is worried her program is still falling short at

meeting all of these stated goals. Her two most important concerns are providing healthy foods

despite high costs and low budgets, and getting parents and families involved amongst their busy

schedules.

Through researching ways to tackle this problem I have found strategies for community

partnerships that could potentially cut costs of healthy and fresh snacks as well as strategies for

building environments fit for laying the groundwork of lifelong healthy behaviors and best
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

practices for health education instruction. I also found approaches to engaging in more

continuous and meaningful communication and involvement between parents and staff.

Community Partnerships

One potentially influential solution to meeting nutritional snack guidelines while

maintaining a low cost is through building reliable community partnerships. Researchers W.

Beets, MEd, MPH, PhDa Tilley, MSb Turner-McGrievy, PhD, MS, RDc Weaver, PhDd and

Jones, PhDe refer to this as Profitable Partnerships for Promotion and Prevention (4P).

According to their quantitative study done with five large scale after school care programs,

fostering relationships between such programs and local grocers can positively influence both

parties. They suggest after school care directors approach “organizations with expertise and

resources that can be leveraged to build the capacity to meet policy goals” within their program

(Betts, Tilley, Turner-McGrievy, Weaver & Jones, 2014). The research reported a post-

intervention savings of $1069.12 over a 104 day period, also translated to a 24.5% savings

overall. These savings can make a huge difference for many youth programs working off of a

limited budget such as Valdez. The findings from this study demonstrate the impact of

collaboration between organizations can have. The research also provides tips for program

leaders to follow in order to help this framework to be successful. They suggest that leaders

highlight three key aspects that directly benefit the community provider: increased guaranteed

revenue as the program returns frequently to buy and order snacks, potential tax benefits as price

reduction for non-profit organizations can be classified as a donation, and exposure to new

customers as family of the youth involved in these programs learn about healthy lifestyles and

the generosity of their local store. Creating meaningful and reliable community partnerships can
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

drastically change the dynamic of organizations and lead towards the healthy lifestyle of

hundreds of youth.

Successful Environments & Best Practices

Now that we have located reliable recourses we must design an environment conducive

to learning and establish best practices for teaching youth about health and wellness. Kolbe and

Berkin have examined the results of teaching children and adolescents about health and wellness

in unstructured, ungraded settings. The program they researched presented health instruction

through after school WOW chats (Working on Wellness). Through quantitative interviews

Kolbe and Berkin found that students were more involved as the relaxed atmosphere provided a

space where participants felt more comfortable asking questions and sharing experiences. This

project further revealed that, “Alternative approaches to learning about health and wellness can

make a difference - especially when youth take an active role and are empowered to take an

interest in their own health and the lifestyles of their peers (Kolbe & Berkin, 2000).” Providing

an informal learning space is very important to make students feel comfortable when addressing

topics that will follow them into adult hood. This informal learning space is a unique feature of

after school care programs and if utilized correctly can be very effective in allowing students to

truly be a part of their learning and self discovery.

As stated above, the goal of health instruction is to provide students with knowledge to

pave the road to a long and healthy life. In order to steer clear of memorizing facts and focus on

meaningful understanding and utilization of concepts programs can adopt the 7C Framework

implemented and tested by Becker, PhD, Xu, PhD and Chaney, PhD, MCHES. The researchers

conducted qualitative research to test the implementation of a new framework for teaching health

and wellness. Their innovative frame work was based around the 7Cs: challenge, courage,
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

commitment, competence, connection, contribution and consequences. They tested their

teaching methods on 27,000 students and found that integrating this framework into the

curriculum helped the students learn beyond facts and helped them truly understand the

importance of a healthy lifestyle. They report that “Incorporating the 7C framework into the

pedagogy of health promotion helps students learn more than just facts. Integrating ways to use

what they learn helps both educators and students realize the value of teaching and learning

health education because they can see how using the information helps improve communities

and people’s health and lives (Becker, Xu & Chaney, 2016)”. Finding ways to use the 7C

framework allows students to examine the depth and breadth of their learning and apply it to

their life by grounding it in real-world contexts fostering conceptualization through social

constructivism.

Further research by Matvienko examines multiple approaches to conceptualizing healthy

living. Matvienko’s findings are that a bottom-up approach to developing knowledge for a

healthy lifestyle is best suited for young children. The bottom-up approach starts by learning and

mastering small pieces such as ideas and vocabulary that eventually lead to application in

broader concepts. This approach is best for children learning about health and wellness because,

“using the bottom-up approach, a person can build a solid health foundation throughout

childhood (Matvienko, 2014)”. Utilizing these approaches will make children’s learning more

meaningful and applicable to students lives as instructors strive to reach health standards and

teach the importance of healthy lifestyles.

Parent Involvement

Parent involvement and communication is an essential piece to engaging students in

meaningful learning, especially when trying to translate healthy values and development into
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

home life. One way to aid Valdez and her staff in effectively reaching parents in relaying

information and expectations is through parent progress reports. Authors Catchpole and Arnett

report their findings when implementing a new parent progress report in youth service program

where "Barriers exist in linking together best practices like communicating expectations,

structuring feedback, and support, and quantifying family involvement (Arnett & Catchpole,

2014)”. Their quantitative study tracked the effectiveness of the parent progress report by

examining parent involvement through number of volunteers and volunteer hours completed.

They also interviewed staff in a qualitative method and found positive improvements in all areas.

Tips provided for implementation by Arnett and Catchpole include clearly explains the “why”.

Introducing parent progress reports can be a daunting feat for parents and staff alike, but both

parties will be untied under a common goal by grounding purpose and addressing the core

objectives of their students development and success.

Conclusion

After school programs all across America work tirelessly to provide youth with academic

assistance, social empowerment and wellness development often with limited budgets, lacking

communal resources and little parent involvement. Program directors like Stacy Valdez, can

begin to tackle these obstacles and best serve their students by creating strong partnerships across

the community, actively involving parents in program culture and constructing an environment

fit for learning at their highest potential. Establishing strong foundations to carry out these

practices through the stated strategies will greatly impact the experience of children in Stacy

Valdez’s program at the YMCA and ensure they are reaching their HEPA goals.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTHY LIVING IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

References

Becker, C. M., Xu, L., & Chaney, B. (2016). Using the 7C Framework for Teaching & Learning
Health Education & Promotion. Journal Of Health Education Teaching, 7(1), 32-38.

Beets, M. W., Tilley, F., Turner-McGrievy, G., Weaver, R. G., & Jones, S. (2014). Community
Partnership to Address Snack Quality and Cost in After-School Programs. Journal Of
School Health, 84(8), 543-548.

Catchpole, K., & Arnett, N. (2014). Increasing Parent Involvement with Parent Progress Reports.
Journal Of Extension, 52(2).

Kolbe, G. C., & Berkin, B. (2000). Health and Wellness After School. Educational Leadership,
57(6), 40-42.

Matvienko, O. o. (2014). Strengthening Disease Prevention Efforts: Conceptualization of

Healthy Living. Global Journal Of Health & Physical Education Pedagogy, 3(4),
290-296.

The Y. (2018). the Y : Meet HEPA. [online] Available at: http://www.ymca.net/hepa [Accessed
2 May 2018].