Fostering youth-staff relationships has shown to be an important aspect of the positive program experience. The fact that program staff and volunteers are often community members from the local community in which the CSC program operates is unique and may enhance connections as youth have the opportunity to connect with their neighbors and fellow community members. Additionally, some of the volunteers are alumni of the VoSNL program (i.e., community ambassadors), providing an opportunity to give back to their community and act as a leader and role model to younger youth. Further, these volunteer alumni tend to be close in age to the youth participants (e.g., 14-16 years old). The close age gap provides opportunities for volunteers to share their knowledge regarding the program, academics, and future careers aspirations with the youth (e.g., how to become a community ambassador, what courses to take in high school), while establishing a relatable connection with the youth participants. Having junior leaders of similar age to youth has been identified as a successful element of program delivery in other youth programs (Shaikh,). Further, research indicates that youth greatly benefit from access to caring non-familial adults which has been identified in general youth programs (Eccles & Gootman,; Roth & Brooks-Gunn,), and specifically STEM programs (Cutucache et al.,). Future outcome evaluations will assess whether the community context program delivery approach and the community ambassador program enhance the achievement of VoSNL outcomes in participating youth.
Evaluation of the CSC program through program leader and volunteer feedback revealed three challenges related to program implementation. While many of the program successes reinforced existing best practices within literature, the summary of challenges revealed predominantly novel insights in the potential complexity of program delivery within a community context. These challenges included: (a) navigating community-based issues, (b) conducting outreach and promotion, and (c) accommodating a wide age range of youth.
Delivering programming directly within communities requires collaboration with key stakeholders, including local social housing providers, post-secondary institutions, and community groups in each community. These stakeholders offered support for CSC programming, including access to space, outreach, and logistics support. In order to ensure maximum accessibility to target youth, CSCs were delivered in residential community spaces (i.e., recreation rooms of buildings and townhouse complexes) and, in some cases, neighboring schools and/or community centers. This program-delivery strategy, however, was identified as a challenge on a few occasions throughout program implementation. The findings revealed that compromising situations that occurred in the community during programming months may have inhibited youth involvement in CSC. When certain situations arose, such as imminent violence in the community, the CSC program was impacted as sessions were canceled to ensure the safety of the participants and volunteers. Moreover, any issues that occurred within the building (i.e., maintenance or repairs) directly affected the program. A number of program session cancelations occurred due to these issues, resulting in missed programming for participants and reduced exposure to the content. One leader reflected on the impact on participant attendance: "We've been running low on student attendance ever since the construction cancellation" (PP-L-2016).
I've seen the impact of our [program] over the year but [the space] is physically limiting and I was worried for a while that if we had any more registrations I might not be able to accommodate the kids that came in. (PP-L-2016)
In addition to community situations, limited resources within the community locations were also an identified challenge to program success. Engaging in STEM-based workshops can often require access to specific resources and amenities that are built within the program space, such as internet/technology, a kitchen with running water, and teaching aids (e.g., whiteboards). In some communities, there was an absence of these resources in the space provided by community partners as a result of the infrastructure built within the program space itself. As a result of the limited resources available in some of the space provided, the capacity of the location, the delivery of curriculum content, and, in some cases, the development of certain modules was inhibited. One leader discussed: 
Many times, our materials had been used or stolen by other clubs at the location. Specifically, for the year end event we had materials, such as yeast and hydrogen peroxide stolen, specifically bought for the event. It has been an ongoing issue throughout the year (e.g., markers, construction paper, science materials). (PP-L-2016)
Another leader reflected: "Access to water (hot and cold) was an on-going issue throughout the year" (PP-L-2016). Additionally, many of the CSC program spaces were shared with various community groups, which was challenging when coordinating program timing and the security of experiment equipment. A program leader commented on the ongoing issue of equipment security: 
Outreach, promotion, and scheduling conflicts have been a documented issue for service providers within low-income communities (Schnirer et al.,). Conventionally, program outreach and promotion for CSCs has been conducted through posting flyers in community spaces, engaging directly with parents and youth after school, and door-to-door promotion, all of which are proven effective strategies to engage low-income families (Schnirer et al.,). Substantial effort was required to engage new populations of young students to join the program, as many youth are initially hesitant to join STEM-based programs. The additional outreach effort required for STEM youth programming is in contrast to other conventional extra-curricular activities for youth, such as music- or sports-based programs because of the natural popularity, sense of engagement, and motivation to engage in this activities (Guevremont, Findlay, & Kohen,).
Additionally, in a few communities where the CSC program was implemented, there were several out-of-school programs to choose from. A program staff reflected on the impact of these activities: "With the weather warming up, it is difficult to compete against other activities. Many students did not come because of soccer practice and some students who did come, left early for swimming practice" (WF-L-2016). A similar sentiment was echoed at another club: "A couple students had mentioned conflict with timing of Visions of Science due to basketball and soccer practice" (WF-L-2016). This has been identified in other youth program literature as a challenge to reach and engagement (Bean, Kendellen, Halsall, & Forneris,). This finding helped reinforce to program staff that offering the program solely once per week was sufficient.