Child Trends identified evaluated after-school programs in Denver that: were 501 c3 organizations; served over 50 children; served children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 16; had an operating budget of $340,000 and higher; and were evaluated. Programs were excluded if they were large institutions such as schools, juvenile detention centers, residential group homes, religious organizations and hospitals.

To compile a list of programs that might meet these criteria, a standardized process was used:

GuideStar Scan: *GuideStar, (the national database of non-profit organizations filing 990s) was used to identify relevant programs based on the criteria specified by Atlantic Philanthropies. A standard set of search terms were used to allow for consistent searching. The search terms used were: children, youth program(s), and child programs. *GuideStar was also searched under the category of “youth development.” Once the relevant program information was identified, it was included in the description of the program.

After-School Program Scan: If information in Guide Star indicated that the program had been evaluated, then the program web-site was scanned for relevant evaluation information.

Phone interviews with Community Foundations and Experts: Where individual program web-sites did not yield detailed evaluation information, phone interviews with program sites managers were conducted. In the case of Denver, Program Directors at cityWILD, Denver SCORES, Environmental Learning for Kids, Metro Denver Partners, Open World Learning, Save Our Youth, The Spot, and YouthBiz were interviewed. 

Web-Based Searches: Internet web-based searches of government and city and state level web-sites were also conducted. In the case of Denver, important supplemental evaluation information was obtained from sites such as the Rose Community Foundation (http://www.rcfdenver.org/), the Colorado Trust (http://www.coloradotrust.org/), the After School Alliance (http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/) and the Mile High United Way (http://www.unitedwaydenver.org/).

National Umbrella Organizations: To obtain additional evaluation information, a series of searches of national umbrella organizations were conducted. These Internet, web-based searches of national umbrella associations included Girls Incorporated, Junior Achievement, and YouthBuild. These searches yielded important evaluation studies, often multi-site studies, which may or may not have had Denver as a site.

Evaluation Research Databases:  Evaluation information was also obtained from evaluation research databases. These research databases included but were not limited to the Harvard Research Family Project and the Promising Practices Network.  Evaluations included in these databases yielded important information for Denver.