In the first episode of the podcast series Journeys in Youth Development, host Georgia Hall, Ph.D., director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST), talks to Marisela Montoya, chief program officer at Foundation Communities in Austin, TX, and Kourtney Andrada, senior director of school-based programs at Girls Inc. of Alameda County in Oakland, CA. Marisela reads several excerpts from her essay “Sweet Spot,” about how she happened to wander into an afterschool program and found her calling. She talks about an inspiring interaction with a supervisor who pushed her to constantly look for new opportunities to learn and to share that learning with others. Kourtney reads from her essay “Investing in Communities of Color,” about her early experiences working with youth as both a track coach and as an advisor to teens in a migrant farmer community who would be first-generation college students. She talks about a fellowship experience that shifted her mindset from working within existing systems to changing those systems.

Marisela and Kourtney’s essays appear in the book The Heartbeat of the Youth Development Field: Professional Journeys of Growth, Connection, and Transformation. Through both research and personal essays, the book shines a light on the intricate connections between research and practice, touching upon both the vulnerability and triumph of youth development work. The passionate voices of youth workers in this volume lead to the inescapable conclusion that programs and policies for youth must be informed by these same voices and the values they express. See more details and order your copy here: https://niost.org/ostbook

About the National Institute on Out-of-School-Time:

For 40 years, NIOST has been a leader in defining, shaping, and promoting out-of-school time (OST) as a distinct professional field with evidence-based quality standards. We bridge the worlds of research and practice to provide OST directors, staff, planners, school administrators, community leaders, and others with research, training, evaluation, and consultation to enhance and improve the quality of programs for all children and youth. https://niost.org

NIOST is a program of Wellesley Centers for Women, a research and action institute at Wellesley College that is focused on women and gender and driven by social change. https://www.wcwonline.org