Description of the Studies

Table 1 provides a description of the 33 studies retained for coding. All of the studies were purely qualitative studies with the exception of two studies that used mixed methods (Bempechat et al., 2014; Schwartz et al., 2018). Articles examined a range of different types of organized activities—including afterschool programs, work-based learning, STEM enrichment, mentoring programs, sports, and clubs, among others. All of these organized activities were designed for youth in high school and/or college, with many serving youth of color. Table 1 provides more information on who the organized activities served and were designed for.

Table 1 Description of articles included in the final reviewThematic Analysis

From the data, seven thematically aligned strategies were identified for how organized activities support youth social capital development, including (1) organizational partnerships, (2) organizational supporting structures, (3) relationally strong climate, (4) staff mindsets and skills, (5) youth mindsets and skills, (6) increased social capital opportunities, and (7) increased social capital activation. Because these seven identified themes are interconnected and suggest a potential pathway through which key elements of organized activities may be leveraged to intentionally build social capital, we constructed an empirically-grounded model that organizes these themes and posits a process through which organized activities support youth social capital development (see Fig. 2). The themes of organizational partnerships, organizational supporting structures, relationally strong climate, and staff and youth mindsets and skills feed into creating a social capital promoting organized activity. The themes of increased social capital opportunity and activation illustrate how the elements of a social capital promoting organized activity support youth social capital development as youth pursue life goals. Each of the themes and their corresponding sub-themes are described below with supporting quotes from primary data.

Fig. 2

Proposed model for how organized activities support young people’s social capital development

Social Capital Promoting Organized Activity

While primarily interested in the ways that organized activities support individual-level social capital, the synthesis showed the important role and impact of social capital at the organization level. In addition to organizational partnerships, findings underscore several supporting structures that were helpful for cultivating a relationally strong climate that prioritized youth social capital development. This relationally strong climate was characterized as a safe and culturally responsive space where youth feel a strong sense of community and belonging, and are provided opportunities to explore their sparks; i.e., the interests and passions that give them joy, energy, and purpose (Scales et al., 2023). Findings also identified staff and youth skills and mindsets that likely nurture this climate.

Organizational Partnerships

The meta-synthesis showcased how social capital does not just exist between people, it also exists at the organization level whereby administrators and directors of organized activities form partnerships with other community-based organizations that allow the youth they serve to access additional value-add resources. For example, a career readiness program built partnerships with a local network of information technology (IT) employers to give youth first-hand exposure to the kind of careers they could pursue in the IT field (Hernandez-Gantes et al., 2018). This type of relationship building often resulted in increased opportunities (e.g., internships, informational interviews) for youth and allowed them to imagine themselves in different kinds of careers. Another study of a STEM program serving African American/Black youth highlighted the resources that emerged from the program’s partnerships with community businesses: “in addition to financial support, STEM businesses provided students, teachers, and parents with access to professional scientists and engineers and cutting-edge science research facilities” (Hargrave, 2015, p. 10). Some organized activities became well-respected institutions within their communities which further allowed their leaders to obtain more partnerships and positions that further increased access to opportunities. For example, the pastor of a community-based church joined the Board of Education in hopes of addressing inequalities in the local education system. The church also created community-wide opportunities including opening a franchised restaurant on the church campus to address community unemployment rates, while giving Black high school students opportunities to gain work experience and see an example of a successful Black man who owns his own business (Barrett, 2010).

Organizational Supporting Structures

The extant literature points to the structural supports organized activities rely on when building youth social capital development. These supporting structures include retention of high-quality staff, presence of a shared organizational mission and values, and hiring staff with similar identities and/or life experiences as the youth served.

High-Quality Staff Retention

In order to effectively meet the needs of young people and support their social capital development, it is essential that organized activities retain and support high-quality staff and volunteers (Hall et al., 2020). For example, a newcomer program (i.e., programs designed in K-12 settings to support large influxes of refugees and immigrants) that served immigrant and English learner students grappled with low retention of qualified educators, and had to staff classrooms with educators who did not have Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) training, and who were certified in other subjects than the one they were assigned to teach (Hos et al., 2019). Conditions like these make it exceedingly difficult for organized activities to adequately meet young people’s needs. In contrast, when organized activities retain high-quality staff with effective training and experience it can lead to a profound impact for youth participants. For example, the newcomer program described a teacher, Mrs. Smith, who was particularly gifted at supporting student needs by explicitly drawing on students’ lived experiences and using effective modeling techniques (Hos et al., 2019). Organized activities with successful staff retention efforts are also better positioned to establish long-term youth-adult relationships and trust within the communities they serve. For example, one community-based program described how their “newest” adult staff member had been at the organization for over 8 years, which led to “long-term relationship building and created institutional memory” (Dill & Ozer, 2019, p. 1620). This organized activity was likely able to retain staff due to its strong presence in the community and hiring of staff that were both from and committed to supporting youth within the community.

Shared Organizational Mission and Values

Staff enhance their ability to collaborate in service of youth when they embody a set of shared values and a collective commitment toward achieving agreed-upon outcomes. A career readiness program illustrated this alignment among staff when a staff member observed that “everywhere we went, the message was the same: the commitment to work together as a community bridging and linking school- and work-based strategies was crucial in supporting and sustaining the promotion of career readiness for IT Academy students” (Hernandez-Gantes et al., 2018). Working together creates a ripple effect that influences relationships with community partners, and the relationships that those community partners develop with the program’s youth. In a high school STEM program with a university affiliate, “… the interactions with university staff and teachers was where program practices and dispositions were shaped to ensure consistency and fidelity between what was said and what was done” (Hargrave, 2015, p. 358). The interactions between teachers and university staff ultimately influenced the program’s rhetoric and programming, adults’ beliefs about youth potential, and messaging that youth received from staff and community partners. When staff are unified under a shared mission, a cohesive set of goals, values, and supports are amplified for youth.

Staff Share Similar Identities and/or Life Experiences as Youth

Employing staff who share similar identities (e.g., racial, cultural, gender) or life experiences as the youth served can promote a sense of belonging (Garcia et al., 2021; Wong, 2008). For example, a young person in an academic enrichment program reflected on her relationship with a Hispanic/Latina educator who earned a Doctorate in Education: “[She]… was so inspiring. Wow, I could be you. I look up to you. You look like me. You speak like me. We share a language… and it’s possible” (Habig et al., 2021, p. 519). When youth are able to identify with and see themselves reflected in the adults in their organized activities, it is easier to dream about pursuing similar futures for themselves. Shared identities and life experiences provide a common ground for adults to connect with, understand, and provide culturally relevant support to young people (Erbstein, 2013; Wong, 2008), which can yield more trusting youth-adult relationships (Garcia et al., 2021). For youth of color, in particular, identification with adult staff from similar backgrounds can support more than a sense of belonging, contributing also to the recognition that their culture is an asset for developing a network of aspirational role models with whom they can relate (Habig et al., 2021). As such, employing and hiring staff who share common identities and/or life experiences with youth is fertile ground for developing relationships with positive adults who motivate them to dream big and achieve their goals.

Relationally Strong Climate

The organized activities included in the meta-synthesis highlighted the characteristics of a strong relational climate. Organized activities that were experienced as safe and culturally responsive—where youth have a strong sense of community and belonging, and are given opportunities to explore their interests, passions, and sparks—were identified as ripe for cultivating youth social capital.

Create a Safe Environment

To create a relationship-rich climate, it is important for youth to feel physically and emotionally safe within the organized activity. One way this was achieved, for example, was through coaches creating “safezones,” within organized sports such as basketball and boxing leagues which provided physically safe spaces for Black youth who were living in neighborhoods with high levels of community violence (Richardson, 2012, p. 190). Coaches noted that these protected social spaces on and off the athletic field/court were used as a “safe haven and buffer from violence within the local community” (Richardson, 2012, p. 190). While this program highlighted the importance of physical safety, many of the other organized activities reviewed described how through participation in the organized activities, youth felt emotionally safe, which often resulted in them expressing their authentic selves. For example, an afterschool program employed “facilitators [who] were aware that the youth needed to feel that they had a space where they could express themselves and their identities and ideas, and were safe from stereotypes, belittlement, and intimidation” (Woodland et al., 2009 p. 243). Other organized activities created safe spaces for Hispanic/Latina/o/x youth by engaging in initiatives that allowed for the development of “confianza (mutual trust)” between youth and adults enabling youth to “fully embrace all aspects of who they are” (Harris & Kiyama, 2015 p. 194). Creating environments of physical and emotional safety fostered trust and enabled youth to build strong and more meaningful relationships while staying true to their values and beliefs.

Engage in Culturally Responsive Ways

A culturally-responsive climate was manifested through interactions with staff and culturally-grounded instruction and materials that were personally relevant to youth. For example, a community-based program described how its participants who identified as Chinese American commented on how the materials were culturally sensitive (e.g., materials written in multiple languages, resources for engaging families, bilingual and bicultural teachers and lessons), with one participant stating, “I could relate more here [referring to program] but not at school” due to the culturally-relevant materials (Wong, 2008, p. 190). Black youth in an afterschool program shared that it was the culturally-relevant discussions about topics such as history, popular culture, and their personal experiences that attracted them to the organized activity and encouraged further participation (Woodland et al., 2009). Several of the organized activities also described providing a space for youth of color to discuss systematic barriers and experiences of discrimination with staff and others. For instance, one mentoring program illustrates how near-peer mentors of color tried to prepare their mentees for uncomfortable encounters of discrimination and biases that they themselves had experienced (Cox, 2017). Organized activities were also sensitive to youths’ needs and context, which was particularly beneficial for supporting youth-adult relationship building across lines of difference (e.g., differences in race and/or socioeconomic status; Ramirez, 2021). Examples included bridging parent-school relationships in programs for Hispanic/Latina/o and Chinese American youth (Erbstein, 2013; Wong, 2008) and providing resources (e.g., access to education and job opportunities, financial support) to help overcome systemic barriers in programs for Thai refugee youth and Chinese American youth (Hos et al., 2019; Wong, 2008). It is important to note that in some of the organized activities, staff were able to be culturally responsive to youth because they themselves were from the same communities and/or had experienced the same life events (e.g., Cox, 2017); whereas in other organized activities, staff who did not share these same life experiences were educated through their interactions with young people (e.g., Ramirez, 2021) and/or through explicit training (e.g., Sanchez et al., 2022).

Build a Strong Sense of Community and Belonging

Organized activities also created a strong relational climate through fostering community and a sense of belonging. Across the organized activities examined, staff and youth often described their organized activities as a “second home,” a family, and/or a team (Bempechat et al., 2014; Powell et al., 2017; Tichavakunda, 2019). For example, staff in a 14-month program, called Launch, that prepares low-income students of color to attend elite boarding schools through mentorship and academic training referred to staff and participants as a family in stating, “… your fellow crew members are your ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ within the larger Launch ‘family’…” (Cox, 2017 p. 54). In some cases, youth joined organized activities to increase their feeling of belonging (e.g., Nolen et al., 2020). Organized activities often represented chosen communities, where youth found connections with peers who share similar interests or life experiences as their own. For example, a career readiness program described how it “celebrated their common linkages and bonds,” as all the young people shared a “communal identity” (Hernandez-Gantes et al., 2018, p. 196). The sense of belonging that was cultivated in organized activities engendered a supportive community that young people could be a part of and rely on.

Provide Opportunities to Explore Sparks

The space that organized activities create for youth to explore their sparks or deep personal interests (Scales et al., 2011) sets them apart from other contexts like schools where the curriculum is largely driven by educational standards. One afterschool program did this through field trips that gave youth opportunities to learn more about newfound interests, future possibilities, and other communities and places (Ching et al., 2016). Organized activities also allowed youth to explore a variety of different sparks that were tailored to their unique interests. For example, a staff member of an organized activity that focused on developing young entrepreneurs stated, “The most basic goal we have is to help them get in touch with what they’re about. Because everyone has their own unique set of personal gifts. Defining what these gifts are and what the needs of the world are and finding out where they overlap - that’s what we shoot for…” (Miller, 2011, p. 53). Youth may be more likely to make progress towards their life goals when opportunities and resources within organized activities are aligned with their sparks (Scales et al., 2011).

Staff Mindsets and Skills

Staff have specific mindsets and skills that nurture a strong relational climate. These include believing in youth assets and potential, and skills such as authentic relationship-building skills and brokering skills.

Staff Belief in Youth Assets and Potential

In organized activities, staff’s beliefs in the assets and potential of youth are sometimes in stark contrast to what youth experience from other adults in their schools and communities (e.g., Ginwright et al., 2007). In many organized activities, staff were described as acting in ways that affirmed young people’s aspirations (e.g., Lane & Id-Deen, 2020; Ramirez, 2021). At the same time, they continuously held high expectations for youth and balanced support with autonomy to meet those expectations (e.g., Murillo et al., 2017; Sanchez et al., 2022). For youth of color, this support inspired them to challenge deficit narratives by working to engender program or community changes that might facilitate their academic and professional success. Illustrating this experience, a Black youth participating in a leadership program shared, “They [staff] see me as an activist or something, and I’m not political like that. But when [the program director] lets me speak my mind to folks like the mayor and political people, it makes you want to live up to that image, you know” (Ginwright, 2007). A faith-based organization provides another example where the pastor created a community that held high expectations and belief in Black youths’ value by providing public recognition and celebration of academic success through its academic achievement days (Barrett, 2010). When staff demonstrate belief in young people’s potential, they empower youth to imagine other possible selves. Staff also recognized and valued the resources and support that youth, their families, and communities already possessed (e.g., encouragement, high expectations, being held accountable), and found ways to leverage these assets by building strong relationships with youth’s families and communities to further strengthen these existing relationships (Erbstein, 2013; Lane & Id-Deen, 2020).

Staff Authentic Relationship-Building Skills

Staff who built strong relationships with the youth they served did so by being intentional, equitable, and inclusive in their relationship-building efforts. Staff sometimes found themselves taking on roles beyond what was expected and written down in their job title in order to meet the needs of youth. For example, one sports coach stated, “I wore multiple hats in this setting: social scientist, coach, chaperone, chauffeur, and counselor” (Richardson, 2012, p. 188). Staff in a community-based program intentionally worked to “​​get to know youth’s family and teachers, they chaperone them [youth] to field trips, they act as interventionists for the youth at their schools and in their neighborhoods” (Dill & Ozer, 2018, p. 1620). In addition to meeting youth needs by playing multiple roles, staff who possessed the skills to establish trusting relationships were able to gain “… access to intimate life details and student knowledge,” which enhanced their ability to provide effective supports (Ramirez, 2021, p. 1075). This was especially valuable for youth from marginalized backgrounds, as youth were more apt to openly talk to staff about structural barriers that they were facing, enabling staff to advocate for youth and act as “social brokers’’ (Ramirez, 2021, p. 1075). Because staff had the skills to build these strong relationships with youth, they were better positioned to support young people’s academic, social-emotional, and professional needs (Lane & Id-Deen, 2020). In doing so, they could empower youth to believe in themselves and to approach postsecondary goals with the mindset that they deserve to be stretched to develop to their fullest potential.

Staff Brokering Skills

Cultivating trust with youth and providing them with the needed supports opened up opportunities for staff members to act as brokers of relationships and opportunities (e.g., Sanchez et al., 2022). In organizations’ attempts to leverage these youth-adult relationships to enhance youth’s social capital, staff were often positioned as institutional agents who assisted youth in navigating unfamiliar systems (e.g., Museus, 2010; Ramirez, 2021). Consequently, these staff members often served as brokers to access other connections, resources, and opportunities that youth could benefit from (e.g., Hos et al., 2019). Most frequently, staff brokered relationships and connected youth with resources that existed outside of the organized activity (e.g., postsecondary related services, admissions personnel, research opportunities; Museus, 2010; Ramirez, 2021; Sanchez, 2022). Often, this brokering entailed providing youth with the “hook-up” (Dill & Ozer, 2018, p. 1622), and drawing “on the program’s connections to identify potential relationships, and [vouching] for the youth to the community adults (putting their own reputations on the line)” (Jarrett et al., 2005, p. 53). By vouching for youth in organized activities, staff were able to help youth gain “access to educational opportunities that they otherwise would not have access to” (Garcia et al., 2021, p. 7).

Youth Mindsets and Skills

Youth also have specific mindsets and skills that contribute to a strong relational climate, and are also likely to contribute to enhanced ability to actively mobilize social capital as they work towards their life goals. These mindsets and skills include having a future-oriented mindset, commitment to paying-it-forward, self-efficacy to reach goals, and strong relationship-building skills.

Youth Future Orientation

Organized activities exposed youth to potential futures under the support of caring staff who helped them navigate their future goals. For example, in a mentoring initiative designed for Hispanic/Latina/o/x students, professionals served as role models for academic and career advancement (Sanchez et al., 2022). Through their engagement with adult professionals, youth in another program began to make connections between education, careers, and their economic potential (Cayleff et al., 2011). This allowed them to construct a coherent plan that bridged their current activities to a greater sense of purpose and goal-orientation. An alumna of a college and career readiness program for low-income youth from the U.S. and other countries shared, “[My internship] definitely opened up my perspective in figuring out what I needed to get out of college… [This] drove what I would study and prioritize during college” (Detgen et al., 2021, p. 239). These experiences in organized activities helped youth develop an understanding of the pathways to careers, college, and goal achievement, while motivating them to take action to increase their likelihood of future success.

Youth Commitment to Paying-It-Forward

Participation in organized activities can foster a commitment to paying-it-forward, both within the program and the greater community context. For instance, some organized activities intentionally built in opportunities for the youth to become interns or mentors to incoming cohorts (Ching et al., 2016; Cox,