This book demonstrates the potential of after-school activities ranging from from sports to the visual and performing arts and the humanities to transform young lives. Case studies of exemplary organizations and innovative communities within urban centers throughout the U.S. round out the work.

This book urges professionals who work with urban youth to develop or rediscover innovative, capacity-enhancing, community-based approaches for engaging young people in activities that systematically build on their talents and energy. Delgado argues that these interventions must be grounded in the community and conceptualized and implemented by the community in order for the youths to become potential community assets rather than a drain on the family and community.