Boost recruitment and retention by connecting and coordinating between in and out-of-school learning. Learn how Out-of-School Time Intermediaries (OSTIs) build a thriving OST ecosystem by developing collaborative programs, building capacity, and brokering resources and opportunities.
OSTIs can lead the design and implementation of programs that include multiple organizations and build on their unique strengths. This can include developing collaborative proposals, shared metrics and standards, and designing and managing programs.
OSTIs provide training and technical assistance that improves the effectiveness of programs and regional coordination, such as offering training on positive youth development or specific programs.
OSTIs also play an essential role in brokering opportunities to and between organizations and individuals in a region, including program funding, scholarships and other resources, as well as employment and partnership opportunities.
Young people are vital assets in recruiting peers to OST programs and fostering engagement and a sense of belonging through peer connection. OST programs can tap this potential by empowering youth to be program ambassadors, organizing near-peer mentorship programs, and connecting alumni to opportunities, resources, and networks. By engaging young people as near-peer mentors and alumni leaders, programs can spark excitement among younger participants while retaining older youth—all while building confidence, leadership, and career readiness skills.
When OST programs are designed around what young people are genuinely interested in, their participation deepens and learning nbecomes more meaningfully connected to their lives. This leads to higher learner motivation, confidence, belonging, and agency, which in turn leads to higher program recruitment and retention.
OST programs and intermediaries can broaden access and sustain engagement by being responsive to family and community contexts.This means actively investigating family needs and addressing financial, logistical, and cultural barriers.
OSTIs and programs can work together to provide stipends, align program hours with family schedules, coordinate transportation, and link families to supportive services. They can also go a step further by engaging caregivers and communities in the programming itself, elevating family voice, strengthening ties to the community, and supporting culturally sustaining programming.
Long-term partnerships build on authentic relationships that form the foundation to connect and sustain programs and pathways for young people. Coordination and alignment are established and maintained through trust, personal connections, and shared routines and practices that transcend a specific program or project. OSTIs play an essential role in maintaining these relationships across individual programs and organizations.
Read case studies about the connective practices and impact of out-of-school intermediaries
This resource site was created as part of the Connected Learning Lab’s Making Connections to Support STEM Learning project. We are deeply grateful to our partners, including Boys & Girls Clubs of Garden Grove, TGR Foundation, Beyond School Bells, Ignite Afterschool, Wyoming Enrichment Network, Maryland Out-of-School Time Network, West Virginia Statewide Afterschool Development Network, Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network, Alabama Expanded Learning Alliance, Florida After School, Inc., Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership, and Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool Development Network. Thank you also to the OST partners with whom these OSTIs worked that allowed us to better understand their practice. This work draws from a larger project funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Samueli Foundation, Overdeck Family Foundation, and STEM Next Opportunity Fund.
