After school programs provide an important support role within the community but recruiting and retention are always challenging, particularly for older students and at-risk communities.
Many students do not become involved because nobody asks them to be or they do not know how to get involved. Others do not want to make a commitment due to family and work pressures or a preference for unstructured time. Some of those who are interested lack transportation or have other obstacles to attending.
Finally, some will not enroll if they do not see anything in it for them or because it is "not cool," according to their peers.
The best recruitment and retention strategies take these points into account and find ways to work with them or around them. Here are five of the best recruitment strategies to help you improve enrollment and attendance for your after school program.
Do your research and make a plan
The first step is a needs assessment to determine if a program is something of interest and if so, what types of activities will draw in students. A gap analysis can help you find out if there is a need that is going unfulfilled in the current program.
Assess the current recruitment and retention efforts and perform a root-cause analysis to learn what problems underlie poor attendance or lack of interest in joining. Draw a visual map of your practices and then ask, "Why is this happening?" as many times as necessary to get to the heart of the problem.
Once you define the problem, begin developing a plan of action. Do you have a program or location that exhibited consistent and high attendance in the past year? Try to learn what the staff and management are doing to make the kids want to join and stay. Put together focus groups of local students to help you select activities that will be popular and of interest to the community.
Use all this information to create a specific message and, remember, recruitment is an ongoing effort, not a one-time activity.
Build connections in the community
Reach out directly to your target youth and the adults around them. It is not enough to provide brochures or mailings; personal interaction encourages questions about your operations. You will have the opportunity to dispel erroneous perceptions.
Your best advocates and recruiters are youths who are already participating in your program. They know best what others of their group enjoy and how to communicate your message. Contact students who regularly attend to help you spread the word.
Go where the students are:
- School
- Places of worship
- Community centers
- Department of Health, Social Services, Parks and Recreation, and Juvenile Justice
Go where the adults in their lives spend time:
- Parent’s night at school
- Back to school events and packets
- Community events
Provide information to school staff and appeal to state agencies, particularly those administering foster care. Find community partners who can help you find creative solutions or alternatives to make your current offerings more attractive. Disseminate your message using the media students prefer:
- Video
- Text messages
- Music
- Social media
Leverage your resources
As you build or modify your program, allocate slots specifically for at-risk youth; school staff can help you identify those in need.
Think about recruiting youth in pairs or groups. Sometimes a student might be interested in your program but hesitate to go because he or she will not know anyone. Recruit friends and that problem is solved.
Groups that are already interacting are another good source of program enrollees. This practice is especially useful for the middle school age set. They have aged out of elementary programs and need a transition into activities for older kids.
Hire the right staff; well-educated teachers and assistants with the proven ability to connect with your target youth, especially the “at-risk” group provide the best environment for retention.
Solicit parent and school support for recruitment and find ways around obstacles such as lack of transportation by partnering with the community. Obtain access to needed physical resources:
- School or library
- Computer rooms
- Gym
- Classrooms
- Outdoor areas
- Office space
Find the type of space needed for each activity; putting everyone in one large room is not conducive to multiple activities with varying degrees of physical movement and the need for quiet.
Be flexible
Match the program activities and schedules to the students’ needs. A flexible attendance policy to allow youth to come when they like and provide them with interesting activities intermixed with relaxation time. Some of the best activities are those that allow practice in real world experiences.
Allow, also, for attrition. No matter how attractive or popular your program, there will be those who will not stay. If you permit limited over-enrollment, you will have a pool of applicants to replace those who decline to attend.
Show the benefits
Youth who participate in quality after-school programs learn leadership skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Include community service in your program as well as paid employment, not just for the added experience but to recruit and retain students who otherwise would leave the program for a job.
Match the school or academy’s agenda to help enforce what the kids learn, but do it in such a way that it will not feel like an extended school day.
As you go through your analysis, identify your best practices and encourage everyone involved with the program to come up with innovative approaches. Guide your organization, so it will use its resources wisely and sustain your efforts. Your plan is a living plan; it should always be current to act as a roadmap for further improvements and changes.
An integrated recruitment and retention plan is crucial to maximizing the project impact on students and the adults around them. Research shows that using participants in the recruitment process encourages new participation and retention rates. Your next tier of recruiters is school staff and parents. It has also been found that retention is higher when most of your staff has college degrees.
Other methods of enhancing recruiting and retention include:
- Tracking attendance
- Offering leadership opportunities
- Hiring older youth to work at your program
- Offering incentives
Provide separate spaces for older kids, those in high school, and younger ones from elementary and middle school. Offer case management to help youth find the services most beneficial to them and combine career programming and social programming, which complement each other and boosts skills faster.
Recruitment is an ongoing process; retention is recruitment for current participants. Define your problems and apply these strategies to resolve any issues and provide top-tier programming customized to your youth population. Make them excited and let them recruit others.
