Use of Social Networks to Broker Youth Learning Opportunities in After-School Settings

• In Event: Social and Emotional Influences on Student Learning Approaches

Abstract

Little is known about the social capital of adults in after-school settings or the ways in which they use social contacts to support youth success, particularly for at-risk youth. Their effectiveness may depend on the resources within their social networks and their beliefs about seeking help from social contacts. We surveyed 50 after-school program staff serving teens in high-poverty neighborhoods to examine the characteristics of adult social capital and to explore attitudes towards mobilizing social resources to support youth. Total contacts was a significant predictor of resource mobilization. Exposing youth to novel experiences emerged as a theme positively influencing adult brokering action via social networks, while organizational structures devoted to brokering had a negative influence on personal resource mobilization.

Authors

• Katherine Philp, University of Central Florida

• Michele Gregoire Gill, University of Central Florida