Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Gender differences on education outcomes of minority youth have attracted increasing attention in the past decades. Research shows that the increasing gender gap in educational outcomes of minority youth can be partly attributed to families and schools, their higher expectation of minority females and lower expectation of minority males. However, these adverse impacts can be moderated through interventions from third agencies. In recent years, nonprofit youth programs have become increasingly important interventions for minority youth development in local communities. They are effective in identifying youth’s talents, developing positive identities, changing their self-expectations, and thus improving their educational outcomes. While there is a growing body of literature focusing on outcomes of nonprofit youth programs, little is known about the gender differences on the outcomes, specifically whether these programs are equally effective to both minority males and females. In filling this gap, this study uses three nonprofit youth programs as cases and examines the equity implications of nonprofit youth programs by testing whether the support and services of these programs can improve minority males’ performance and narrow the gender gap of minority youth on educational outcomes. A mixed method approach is used to analyze data from 78 online surveys and 44 interviews of youth participants of the three nonprofit youth programs. Data from a control group who do not participate in any extracurricular programs in the same communities (120 surveys) are also examined to make comparisons between nonprofit youth participants and youth without participating any extracurricular programs. Categories including education attainment, deviant behavior, family and parental support, self-resiliency and career path are analyzed to illustrate the gender differences on educational outcomes. The study results will inform the design and practice of these programs.