Youth Programming

The Community Development Division (CDD) supports a range of programming that helps prepare school-age children and youth for lifelong success. CDD prioritizes programs that serve low-income children and youth, especially those of color.

City-Funded Youth Programming

Programs apply to receive City-funding through a competitive RFP process.  City funded programming includes:

• Multi-activity afterschool and summer programs serving elementary, middle and high school age children and youth.
• Topical or skill focused small group programs such as leadership, culturally focused, gender specific, STEM or LGBTQ+ programs serving elementary, middle and high school age children and youth.
• Late-evening programs on weekends during the school year and/or on various nights in the summer serving large groups of high school and middle school age youth.

City-funded School-age child and youth programs follow standardized expectations related to quality and program structure. CDD looks to the MOST Effective Practices as a foundation of shared quality agreements with local providers.  All CDD funded school-age child and youth programs are also required to follow the guidelines and parameters included in the policy paper titled Building Human Capital: School-Age Child and Youth Development (accepted by the Common Council on June 11, 2019).

Agencies can apply to receive funding to support youth programming through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process. RFPs typically run every few years, CDD has information and an anticipated timeline of upcoming funding processes on our Funding Opportunities page.

Additional Youth Resources

• By Youth For Youth
• Madison Out-of-School Time (MOST)
  • MOST Expected Practices