The CSCs target youth ages 8 to 14 years old. In some clubs, this age difference poses a challenge to effective teamwork and facilitation. Two volunteer facilitators reported issues related to content delivery and suggested potential solutions: "There was a significant range in age groups that made it more difficult for some kids to collaborate" (PP-V-2016) and "Given the age differences of the students, there were some tasks that some really young students could not do...the club would have been more effective in student learning if this group were split into two groups" (PP-V-2016).
The recommendation to separate a large group into smaller groups to optimize program delivery and outcomes has been outlined in other community-based youth programming literature (Bean, Forneris, & Halsall,). Moreover, the engagement of older youth with the workshop material was a challenge as one facilitator noted: "I feel some of the older students are slowly becoming disinterested in participating possibly because of how long they've been attending or because they're no longer being challenged by the content" (PP-V-2016).
[There is a need for] programmatic ways to involve or engage those older students as leaders or as volunteers helping with coordination of the club could be a possible solution. Moreover, as these youth progress into high school and so on, (recognizing the limits of VoSNL) are there any resources, opportunities, programs, community partners etc. we can connect them with to further their interest so as not to leave them hanging? (PP-V-2016)
An unforeseen age-related challenge that emerged in the CSCs was the need to actively engage youth past the cutoff age as one facilitator mentioned: 
One approach VoSNL implemented to engage those youth is through opportunities to become community ambassadors and volunteers in the program in which they have aged out of. Similar strategies have been utilized in other youth programming contexts, such as summer camps and youth sport programs (e.g., Bean & Forneris,; Kendellen, Bean, Camire, & Forneris,). Integrating such an opportunity into the program can help with program sustainability, as well as provide opportunities for mentoring and leadership.
This paper represents an important step in responding to calls for increased evaluation in youth programs (Roth & Brooks-Gunn,) and represents a summary of one of the first process evaluations conducted of a community-based STEM program for youth in a Canadian context. The CSC program provides consistent, hands-on STEM-learning opportunities for youth living in low-income housing during out-of-school time. This program is offered directly within social housing communities in order to increase accessibility. The purpose of this report was to provide a detailed description of the program and a summary of the process evaluation findings.
Ongoing evaluation and reflection facilitated the identification of specific program successes, challenges, and lessons learned that emerged from CSC program delivery. This report addresses gaps in the literature concerning the implementation and evaluation of a STEM-based out-of-school program for youth from low-income communities in a Canadian context and the need for more process evaluations within out-of-school STEM programming. Continuous improvements to the program processes and delivery will enhance the quality of programming and achievement of intended outcomes. As noted above, youth benefit from fostering relationships with caring non-familial adults (Cutucache et al.,; Eccles & Gootman,). In support of strengthening this area of success, explicit workshop activities and facilitation techniques related to social-emotional learning will be implemented. A STEM-based example of such activities is Actua  Canada's debrief and reflection exercises (Actua  Canada,).
Another ongoing improvement which VoSNL identified was surrounding their evaluation plan. Research has shown that program evaluation provides opportunities for reflection on past and future programming, helps programmers to better understand and improve service delivery, and showcases effectiveness of a program to key stakeholders and the community (Fitzpatrick, Sanders, & Worthen,). Further, when community organizations partner with research partners, there is the benefit of not only bridging the gap between research and practice (Ferguson,; Yuan et al.,), but also allowing for a collaborative learning environment that capitalizes on both partners' expertise (MacPherson & Hall,).
As such, since the evaluation outlined in the report, VoSNL approached Youth Research and Evaluation eXchange (YouthREX)1, housed out of a major university within the Toronto area, with the collaborative goal of building evaluation capacity and developing a more comprehensive evaluation plan to assess both process and outcome indicators. Together, VoSNL and YouthREX have worked to create a logic model to provide a visual representation of VoSNL's CSC program. Additionally, the organizations collaboratively created an evaluation plan with the goals of better understanding the program experience of youth attending VoSNL, examining potential program outcomes, and identifying strategies for continuous improvement. YouthREX supported VoSNL in developing measurement tools that best meet the intended processes and outcomes of the CSC program. Although VoSNL had existing evaluation protocols in place, programmers saw value in attaining evaluation support from YouthREX to build capacity and expand existing evaluation practices. Moving forward, a mixed-methods approach will be used to assess both processes and outcome indicators, which will enhance data triangulation and strengthen results (Creswell & Plano Clark,). Ultimately, the collaboration between VoSNL and YouthREX has enhanced VoSNL's evaluation capacity and culture while producing evaluation tools (e.g., pre- and post-program surveys) that will be used for long-term program evaluation and improvement. The evaluation plan and tools are in the midst of being piloted within VoSNL programming.
Although there are several processes of CSC program delivery that have been identified as successful, there remain challenges related to navigating community-based issues, conducting outreach and promotion, and accommodating a wide age range. As previously mentioned, the majority of the community-based issues outlined are external to the program. Considering the nature of the issues, it is imperative to remain committed to the communities served, despite these challenges. Further, as an organization, it is important to recognize and address challenges within program implementation to enhance achievement of intended outcomes and program sustainability (Bean, Kendellen et al.,). Therefore, constant communication with stakeholders, collaborators, and community members is integral in mitigating the detrimental impacts of these issues and improving future program delivery (Strengthening Nonprofits,.). Currently, program stakeholders are working together to adapt programming to address the identified challenges and better meet program participants' needs.
Moreover, the development of workshops to cater to possible resource-related limitations underscores the notion that STEM learning can be adaptable across a range of environments. Additional long-term solutions include working with external partners to introduce necessary resources to community spaces as well as with housing providers to improve infrastructure. In the area of outreach and promotion, future strategies are focused on developing partnerships with other community-based groups. For example, in the summer of 2016, VoSNL partnered with a local community-run sport program to offer STEM-based workshops within their existing basketball camp. Moving forward, similar year-round opportunities and methods will be used to promote the CSCs and engage participants in STEM learning.
Based on the identified successes, VoSNL's CSCs have expanded and moved towards a sustainable program. Through establishing partnerships between housing providers and community groups, the program has scaled from six communities in 2011 to 18 communities across three different regions within South-Eastern Ontario by 2016. This expansion has demonstrated that the model is viable and scalable across different low-income communities with each presenting its own unique challenges and opportunities. Registration intake data collected from 2013 to present indicates that an average 50% of participants are returning to their CSCs each year (VoSNL,). In many cases, youth participants are the strongest advocates who recommend the program to their peers: "I was recommended by [youth participant]; it's really fun and I didn't know it was going to be like this and she told me I should try it out" (personal communication 23 September 2016) and "I would recommend [CSC] to people who don't understand science as well. If you don't understand and you ask a volunteer to help you, they will stay by your side throughout the experiment and help you understand it the whole way" (personal communication 23 September 2016). As such, although this research provides insights on STEM programming from an adult perspective, which has been done in other STEM-related research (e.g., Krishnamurthi et al.,), future research is needed to understand program processes from the perspective of youth, as their voice is critical in program evaluation (Powers & Tiffany,).
This yearly retention has also facilitated the engagement of participants beyond the projected eighth grade cutoff, where youth would typically age out of the program. Many of these alumni participants opted to continue their involvement by engaging as volunteer facilitators in the CSCs in their respective communities and are now identified as community ambassadors. This level of sustained participation further underscores the need and value of consistent programming for youth across communities. Moreover, this level of continued engagement from past participants into a leadership position aids in program sustainability as not only is it cost-effective for a charitable organization to have a large volunteer pool to help facilitate programming, but this also allows for that sense of relatedness discussed previously because of the close age gap between youth and program staff. Further, this addition to programming provides an opportunity for those volunteers to develop leadership skills and contribute to their community by giving back to a program they were involved in, which is the ultimate goal of youth development (Bowers et al.,; Lerner et al.,). Lastly, accommodating the wide age range in the CSCs has posed a challenge for program facilitators. Therefore, the plan is to develop more age-targeted module modifications and facilitation training which should help mitigate these issues. Moreover, in engaging youth beyond the age cutoff, a new structured out-of-school program for youth ages 14 to 18 will be launched in summer 2017.
Although improvements can be made to best meet the needs of all stakeholders and overcome challenges to ensure program sustainability, findings from this evaluation have aided in the improvement of delivering VoSNL CSC programming. Further, results from this descriptive report may also act as a catalyst for expanding the program to more participants and communities. This report can provide a strong framework for other programmers interested in implementing a community-based STEM program for youth and can assist in the replication of similar models in other cities and enhance STEM learning amongst youth. Finally, although this report outlines important processes, future research is needed to assess the outcomes and impacts of community-based STEM programming on youth within a Canadian context.