Caregivers identify key barriers to youth enrichment programs in low-income communities

Primary caregivers of children and adolescents say that broad outreach, easy enrollment, and low financial barriers are among key ways to improve access to out-of-school-time (enrichment and recreational) activities in urban, under-resourced communities, new research finds.

The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Maternal and Child Health Journal, highlight the importance of parent and guardian input to boost equitable access to these activities, which they see as playing a crucial role in supporting the healthy development and well-being of children who often lack access to these resources. The study was funded by the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and the NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) UCLA CTSI (TL1TR001883).

Participants that the researchers interviewed recognized the value of the recreational and enrichment activities that encourage children to stay active, build confidence and strengthen family and community connections, said study lead Dr. Jaime La Charite, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

But participants also pointed out the challenges these families face in accessing these programs, she said. These include a lack of information about available programs, confusing sign-up processes or capacity limits, and the high cost of participating in some activities. The caregivers’ practical suggestions provide new insights into what organizations can do to help families take advantage of available low-cost programs for their children, La Charite said.

In addition, families felt that not all programs offered consistent quality, varying in how safe, inclusive, and enjoyable they were for their children. “This is the first study we are aware of that asks parents and guardians in urban, under-resourced communities what they consider to be high-quality programming and what they recommend organizations do to achieve it,” La Charite said.  “These findings suggest that enrichment and recreational programs may be powerful tools for improving child health, their future success, and the well-being of both children and their families. However, too many families —especially in under-resourced communities —cannot access these high-quality opportunities.

“This is especially urgent now, as the federal COVID-era Elementary and Secondary Education Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding ended, causing some after-school programs to shut down” La Charite said.

“The Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation is proud to support UCLA Health’s commitment to equitable access and family-centered research,” . said Nichol Whiteman, the Foundation’s CEO.  “This study amplifies the voices of parents and caregivers in under-resourced communities—offering actionable solutions to ensure all youth can thrive through recreation and enrichment.” 

The researchers recruited 34 parents and guardians of children ages six to 17 from low-income, mostly Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities in East and South Los Angeles County,. Participants were recruited via urban parks and recreation centers, as well as local community organizations. Interviews were evenly split between English and Spanish.

Three key themes emerged from these interviews:

• The value of these activities to promote lifelong healthy living and wellbeing for children, families and their communities.
• Recognizing the barriers that block youths’ participation as well as ways that could improve equitable access to them.
• Activities that support physical and psychological safety, promote an inclusive environment for children from diverse backgrounds or with special needs, and offer a range of developmentally appropriate activities were considered high-quality programming.

Among the strategies the caregivers suggested to boost participation and quality were broad outreach to their communities to make up for a lack of knowledge about available programs, structural investments in programming, facilities, and staff/volunteer training, and family engagement.

The researchers acknowledge some limitations to the findings. These include recruitment being limited to one urban county, participation being restricted to only caregivers proficient in English and Spanish, and an inability to achieve cultural congruence to participants identifying as Black or African American.

“The next steps are to explore if participants’ suggestions are applicable to other communities across the country, developing tools to help organizations gather and act on family feedback to improve access to and quality of their programs, and testing whether implementing caregiver-informed strategies increases participation and improves outcomes,” La Charite said.

As a first step, the study team is sharing the findings with local community partners to improve programming in the Los Angeles area, such as with the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.

“This insightful study underscores one of our priority goals to improve the physical, mental and social well-being of youth with free and impactful programs at safe park locations,” said Norma García-González, director of the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation. “We focus several of our LA County Parks youth programs on those critical, afterschool hours when an adult caregiver is not at home.”

Study co-authors are Meachelle Lum and Dr. Rebecca Dudovitz of UCLA, Dr. Mercedes Santoro of the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, Cindy Flores and Alejandra Hurtado of UC Irvine, and Dr. Yelba Castellon-Lopez Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.