# Advancing Health Equity through Park Afterschool Programs

> **NIH NIH R56** · FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $433,842

## Abstract

Abstract
Youth in systemically marginalized communities have disproportionately high rates of mental health need and
low rates of service utilization [1,2]. Afterschool programs (ASPs) promote positive youth trajectories in
communities impacted by systemic inequities.[39] High quality ASPs rely on youth-adult relationships and well-
organized routines to build social-emotional skills[44-46] commonly targeted in evidence-based prevention
programs. For decades, investigators have tried to bring school-based programs to ASPs[51,52] via traditional
teacher training for manualized curriculum delivered in structured lessons. There are two problems with this
model for ASP: 1. Staff and youth dislike the school-like format of big, complex curriculum; also, kids in ASPs
arrive late and leave early, and miss instruction that’s offered only during specific structured time; 2. Common
one-and-done in-person teacher professional development workshops do not transfer well to ASP providers,
and the one-size-fits-all approach neglects their diverse education, training, and experience. Frequently
changing schedules, priorities, and resources among ASP make rigid adherence to manualized programs
unlikely and unsustainable. Professional Development in ASPs must: (1) provide differentiated instruction and
culture- and context-based application of knowledge; (2) include ongoing support for knowledge action; and (3)
be responsive to organizational- and provider-level influences on knowledge action and outcomes. This R01
application extends collaboration with a national advisory board and three large urban county park districts (LA,
Chicago, Miami), and proposes a mixed method, multi-site, transportability research design to examine
organizational- and provider-level facilitators and barriers to knowledge action. ASP providers (n=180, ~55%
female, 40% White, 45% Black/African American, 5% Asian American, 10% multiracial, 30% Hispanic/LatinX)
will receive professional development emphasizing tools and teachable moments related to emotional insight
and regulation. Participants will self-select the formats and frequency of ongoing support for the duration of an
ASP session (~3-4 months) from: (a) ongoing access to online training; (b) “nudges” via SMS text messages;
and (c) facilitated discussion with expert or peers during monthly Zoom coffee hours. Pre- and post- surveys,
and weekly check-ins, will assess provider knowledge, self-efficacy, attitudes, infusion of learned content into
ASP programming and well-being. Randomly selected providers (n=15 from each park district) will participate
in ~1-hour post-test interviews. Quantitative analyses will test predicted associations among knowledge
consumption, knowledge action, and provider well-being and relationships with youth. Mixed method analyses
will examine organizational- and provider-level facilitators and barriers to using and infusing social-emotional
skills into natural ASP routines, and the quantity and quality of...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10840487
- **Project number:** 1R56MH130359-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** STACY L FRAZIER
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $433,842
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10840487

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10840487, Advancing Health Equity through Park Afterschool Programs (1R56MH130359-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10840487. Licensed CC0.

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