Early on, as part of the efforts of the Robert Bowne Foundation (RBF) Board to define the foundation’s focus, Dianne Kangisser, first Executive Director of the foundation, conducted an “inquiry process.” With results in hand, she suggested focusing on Out-of-School Time (OST) youth literacy education. Although a little-attended issue at the time, it targeted the engagement of youngsters in neighborhood-based, afterschool programs in reading and writing through a variety of ways that differed widely from classroom approaches.
Since then, the RBF has made the practices of reflection and inquiry integral components of its own practice, its relationships with grantees, and its efforts to develop and enrich the field of OST practice.
