Ride a skateboard. Play a guitar. Use a computer.

Or cook, or dance, or study...

Eight neighborhoods across San Francisco transform public school buildings into Beacon Centers. Each one offers free programs and activities for youth and adults after school, during the evening, some weekends, and most of the summer.

Beacon Young Adolescent (BYA) Project -
Much has been written about the need to design and improve afterschool programs to increase the participation, engagement, and retention of older youth. However, little is discussed about how to initiate a successful program improvement effort. The article The Beacon Young Adolescent Initiative: Strategies to Increase Participation Within the San Francisco Beacons, chronicles the action research process utilized by three Beacons Centers to develop and implement program improvement strategies. This article also discusses how the Beacon Centers used data-based evidence to identify those strategies that were most effective. - check out this article that chronicles a three year project focusing on increasing access for young adolescents.