Our Survey Research of Sports-Based Youth Development in the U.S.

The community of organizations and individuals providing sports-based youth development (SBYD) programs are diverse and growing. SBYD uses a particular sport to facilitate learning and life skill development outcomes in youth. These outcomes include increased social emotional learning; critical pro-social relationship skills such as fair play, playing by the rules, respect for opponents and teamwork; better academic  performance and educational attainment; and overall improved health and wellness. SBYD programs are mostly being provided to youth from underserved communities.

To date, most of them have been providing their programs to youth in under resourced communities. Further, these socially beneficial youth sports programs collectively are not well documented and known.

Accordingly, YSCN has conducted its own local and national surveys to measure the impact of these programs, with the most recent a national survey in 2021. This survey measured the programs and operations of SBYD nonprofits before and after the pandemic took hold of the U.S. YSCN used UpMetrics impact analytics platform and data services to conduct the survey.

The survey obtained exclusive aggregate data on 82 leading SBYD nonprofits from 32 cities in 19 states. The report was provided in January to YSCN members, the 82 nonprofits that took the survey, foundations, media and government policy officials. 

Click here to review a PDF of the 2020 survey questionnaire. Review some of the national survey’s key findings in our news release. For more information, contact [email protected].

The Youth Sports Collaborative Network launched its first national  online survey of SBYD nonprofits in 2017. In 2020 local surveys of DC (February) and Baltimore (April) SBYD nonprofits were conducted. The aggregate results of the DC survey were presented in testimony before the DC Council’s committee budget hearings on after school programs and parks & recreation.

Click for 2017 Survey Results Infographic.  The DC survey results can be viewed in YSCN’s testimony before the DC Council’s Committee on Education.

YSCN’s monthly free e-newsletter, SBYD NewsBrief, will include a new snippet result from the 2020 survey. Contact [email protected] for questions about any of our surveys.