Unveiling the Community Cultural Wealth of Black Out-of-School Time Staff

By Ruth J. Kaggwa, Precious M. Hardy, Amy M. Leman, Kristine Callis-Duehl, & Kelly Gill

Black staff in out-of-school time (OST) programs are frequently positioned as disciplinarians, behavior managers, or “chaperones,” while curriculum and instruction responsibilities are assigned to formally trained (and often White) educators. Imbalances in power and funding mean White leaders usually hold decision-making authority, while Black frontline staff, typically working part-time, bear most on-the-ground responsibilities (Baldridge et al., 2024). These staff may be positioned as cultural brokers and natural mentors to youth who share their racial identity, but their capacity otherwise remains underutilized (Cherfas et al., 2021).