After-School Programs and Social Capital

82 leavesThis case study is an application of Coleman’s social capital framework in the investigation of the state of social capital (the resource of relationship) development of one publicly funded after-school program in the San Francisco Bay Area. Amid an ongoing budget crisis for public schools, this study explored the factors that contributed or detracted from programming success, which included the financial, social, and structural variables that made success possible among participants. The site observed is the after-school program of an alternative high school in Oakland, whose student population consists of students who would have otherwise dropped out of high school working to become college eligible and prepare for a career after graduation. Participants (N=15) consisted of male & female, black and brown (Latinx) students, one staff member, and one after-school program director. Student participants (N=11) responded to a questionnaire that gauged opinions on the program: its consistency and reliability of services, its staff members and the quality of their relationships, and the participants’ peer relationships. Then, one student, one staff member, and the program director were interviewed to dig into the themes of social trust, direct service, norms and effective sanctions, access to information, and finances. Due to the combination of program size and affiliation with the school, quality of staff-relationships, and consistency of programming irrespective of funding, social capital was found to be developed. However, due to the unique nature of this program, more research needs to be done to generalize social capital development findings to other publicly funded programs