2026 Bridge Conference

This workshop brings together funders and evaluators with out-of-school time (OST) program leadership to collaborate on a vision for designing, funding, and evaluating youth-led projects that bring wide-ranging impacts to their broader communities - expanding the focus of program efficacy from the individual learner to the communities and places they are situated within.

This session will workshop possibilities for evaluating community-wide impacts of youth-led OST STEM programs. We will begin with an introduction of our own research from a nationwide look at OST STEM programs pursuing community-level outcomes. In this overview, we will provide examples of programs from across the United States describing their projects as pursuing goals at community-scale. A goal of this session will be to connect like-minded programs, funders, and evaluators that are doing, or seeking to do, more work at community scale. We will ask participants (e.g., funders, evaluators, program providers) how their own work falls within preliminary categories our research team has developed, and if existing themes are sufficient or require expansion and/or refinement. Participants will co-develop a draft evaluation framework to elevate this kind of work and assist programs with describing their impacts that move beyond the individual learner.

Youth-adult partnership is often treated as the ultimate goal—but is it always the most appropriate way to work with youth? In alignment with the theme "The Art of Being Water," this interactive session invites participants to explore the fluidity of Hart’s Ladder of Youth Engagement. We will move beyond the rhetoric of "youth voice" to examine the full continuum of involvement, from adult-led to shared leadership. Through an experiential "gallery walk," participants will physically navigate the eight rungs of the ladder, identifying where their programs currently sit and how to move intentionally toward more authentic engagement. Drawing on field examples from Tacoma to the Pacific Islands, we will explore how to match challenge and responsibility to developmental readiness. Attendees will leave with a toolkit of reflective exercises and action plans to reduce tokenism and foster equitable, high-impact partnerships in their programs.

Join us for an untraditional game of Bingo! Together, we’ll explore the benefits of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and put it into practice through a fun, hands-on activity. Get ready to learn, connect, and discover new ways to support yourself and others!

In busy after-school programs, belonging cannot depend on long planning time or highly trained staff. This hands-on workshop will show how simple, off-screen games can become daily belonging practices for elementary and middle school students, especially grades 1–8. Participants will explore practical ways to use short, low-prep activities to build connection, curiosity, teamwork, and appreciation for differences. Together, we will look at how games can support staff who are juggling limited prep time, changing schedules, and mixed-age groups, while still creating joyful, inclusive moments for young people. Attendees will leave with activity design principles and ready-to-use ideas they can adapt for their own programs.

This workshop explores how school and expanded learning systems can better support newcomer students and families through adaptability, language access, and intentional relationship-building. Grounded in real experience as a Newcomer Student Family Liaison, the session highlights practical strategies for removing barriers, strengthening family engagement, and creating systems that foster belonging. Participants will examine how youth development principles
and culturally responsive practices can be applied to improve communication, trust, and collaboration with multilingual families. The content focuses on K–12 students, with an emphasis on newcomer and multilingual youth across elementary and secondary levels. Attendees will leave with actionable tools to create more equitable, responsive, and human-centered systems.

Educators and case managers know that shared racial or cultural identity alone does not guarantee a strong mentoring relationship. What turns a classroom into a space of trust and brotherhood is something more specific, and it shows up in small, repeatable practices. This session draws on a multi-year, mixed-methods evaluation of a culturally responsive Black studies elective and mentorship program, including a collaborative program evaluation and an in-press, peer-reviewed qualitative study, to name those practices. Findings identify the relational and programmatic elements, including individualized care coordination, identity-affirming curriculum, and consistent relational routines, that young people and their mentor-educators credit with building trust, brotherhood, and engagement, along with the conditions of school and district leadership required to sustain this work. Participants will leave with evidence-based strategies they can adapt within their own culturally responsive mentoring programs.

Young people engaged in high-risk or harmful behaviors are often defined by labels rather than understood through the lens of trauma, attachment, and missed developmental experiences. As an educator and social worker, I recognized a gap in mental health programming for adolescents who were struggling and created a curriculum to respond to their needs. Rather than viewing behaviors as problems to control, I learned to see them as communication and opportunities for connection.

This interactive workshop focuses primarily on adolescents (ages 12–18) and explores how our own experiences, assumptions, and biases influence the way we show up for youth. Participants will learn how adaptive, trauma-informed practices can transform programming, strengthen relationships, and create spaces where young people feel seen, supported, and empowered. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for responding to emerging needs and building programs that honor the humanity of both youth and staff.

Understanding why grief matters helps inform how we support young people who are grieving. This interactive workshop explores the impact grief can have on youth and examines ways professionals can move beyond discomfort to engage in meaningful, supportive conversations. Participants will gain practical, creative, and accessible tools that foster connection, helping young people feel seen, understood, and supported in their grief experiences. Through hands-on activities and discussion, participants will learn strategies that can increase youth self-awareness, build resilience, and help them identify strengths they can draw upon when facing adversity. The workshop will also provide tools and approaches that can be shared with caregivers to strengthen support beyond professional settings.

Designed to be engaging, experiential, and immediately applicable, this workshop emphasizes both the how and the why behind each activity. Participants will learn the purpose and intention of the tools presented, enabling them to adapt activities to meet the unique needs of the youth and families they serve. While especially relevant for direct service professionals, managers and organizational leaders will also gain valuable insight into supporting grieving children and strengthening griefinformed practices within their programs and organizations.

Many youth-serving organizations serve increasingly diverse communities, yet not every young person experiences the same sense of belonging. When young people feel seen, valued, and included, outcomes improve across engagement, well-being, leadership, and learning. This interactive workshop explores how race, culture, disability, language, socioeconomic status, and lived experience shape belonging. Drawing on experiences working with youth in the United States and Nigeria, participants will learn to identify barriers to belonging, conduct a belonging audit, and implement equitable, inclusive practices. Through case studies and reflection, attendees will leave with practical tools to create environments where every young person can participate, contribute, and thrive.

Every group of humans has moments when they are regulated and moving forward together, and moments when some or all of them are dysregulated for whatever reason and just "can't even!" Intended for all student ages, this workshop will lead participants through:
* Defining and recognizing regulated behavior in students
* Pre-emptive and classroom management strategies to maintain regulated behavior
* De-escalation strategies for when students begin to become dysregulated
* Follow-up processes to allow student community to move forward

Through small-group and full group activities and discussions, we will demonstrate strategies in action to help you keep your students be their most successful selves.

Through play and peer learning, educators will be empowered with strategies to differentiate instruction and build inclusive environments where each and every TK-8 grade student thrives. Explore growth mindset, apply strategies to real-world scenarios, and engage in “Pause & Play” activities that model inclusion. Leave with practical tools and resources to support staff and students, ensuring all learners are seen, supported, and set up for success.

Join Mizzen Education for an interactive workshop that invites participants to move beyond directive, compliance-based communication and embrace the power of leading with facilitative communication with youth. Participants will explore how small shifts in intentional language can strengthen relationships, amplify youth voice, and create environments where young people feel seen, heard, and empowered to contribute.

Through ideation, reflection, discussion, and practice, participants will learn to listen deeply, collaborate boldly, and design interactions with intention that nurtures connection, adaptability, and shared ownership with youth. Leave with simple, effective, and immediately implementable tools and frameworks designed to create more responsive, engaging, and youth-centered experiences, just by shifting communication.

Reflection is the bridge between an event and a developmental milestone, yet many programs rely solely on verbal discussions that can exclude certain learners. In alignment with "The Art of Being Water," this session provides a fluid, multi-modal toolkit designed to reach every participant through artistic, tactile, and movement-based debriefing. Participants will explore the WSU 6-Step Activity Framework—from framing to real-world transfer—to ensure learning is a deliberate, repeatable outcome. We will dive into a curated "toolbox" featuring activities like Play Dough Sculptures, Group Poems, and Slam Dunk Suggestions. Attendees will learn to scaffold sharing and use brief "micro-debriefs" to maintain a group’s pulse. Every participant will receive a physical Toolkit containing reflection cards, object bags, and the WSU 103 activity guide to immediately elevate their program’s impact.

Affordable housing is a platform for education, equity, and community resilience. Mercy Scholars is a place-based program that works alongside families and youth by providing resources and support that will help students succeed. An essential piece of our work is in collaboration with schools and community partners; building a web of support that allows students to explore their identities and passions. This empowers youth to shape their own futures, allowing for generational transformation.

In this session, we will cover three Mercy Scholars program areas, including student support, parent engagement, and community partnerships.

Student Support: How to create a historically responsive lesson plan

Parent Engagement: How to incorporate and celebrate family brilliance

Community Partnerships: How to leverage the experts around you

Young people do not begin preparing for their future when it is time to fill out a job application. It starts much earlier. It starts with helping them understand who they are, where they belong, what they are capable of, and what possibilities exist beyond what they may see around them every day.

Flow Forward is an interactive workshop focused on helping middle and high school youth connect identity, belonging, life skills, and career exposure to their future. We will explore practical ways youth development professionals can help young people recognize their strengths, build confidence, expand what they believe is possible, and begin connecting everyday experiences to education, leadership, training, and career pathways.

Participants will also take part in reflection, small-group discussion, and a hands-on pathway-mapping activity that can be adapted and used with the young people they serve. My goal is for participants to leave with more than information. I want them to leave with practical strategies and tools they can actually take back to their programs and use.