Coming soon: our new North Lawndale campus at 2221 S. Lawndale Ave. See what's next →
Impact

What an outside evaluator found.

After School Matters places Chicago teens with community organizations and evaluates every one of them. These are ARK's results for fiscal year 2025 — measured by them, not by us.

Fiscal year 2025, verified
84%Average daily attendance
82%Program completion rate
89Unique teens, filling 105 places
70%From a priority group the City tracks

Source: After School Matters, FY25 Community-Based Organization Impact Report. After School Matters is an independent partner; these figures are their evaluation of ARK, not our own count.

Most of what a nonprofit says about itself is written by the nonprofit.

This page is mostly not. After School Matters runs its own evaluation of every organization it places teens with, and what follows is what theirs said about ARK.

What the teens said

From 31 surveys completed across the year.

96%were challenged to try new things
95%were satisfied with the program
93%said it gave them something fun to do
89%were more determined to finish high school
87%gained confidence in their skills
85%got to explore their own interests
82%were more interested in a career in that field
77%came away with critical life and work skills

The programs the figures above came from.

Students building a project in an ARK coding class
Coding
An ARK student with the product line she sells
The market
An ARK student on a summer job at a Chicago food pantry
Learn and earn

Who travels to get here

21Community areas they traveled from

ARK ran these programs from one site, and teens traveled across the city to reach it. That is the clearest argument we have for a second campus — and for putting it where the largest share of them already live.

Seventy percent came from a DFSS priority group: teens at CPS schools rated Level 2 or 3, teens with a disability, English language learners, teens who have had juvenile justice or DCFS involvement, and teens who are unstably housed.

North Lawndale15.7%
South Lawndale15.1%
Near West Side13.0%
Austin9.7%
East Garfield Park7.0%
From sixteen other community areas across Chicago39.5%

The work behind it

9,808Program hours completed
2,615Program days
6Programs run
Thank you for believing that our teens are our future.

An After School Matters teen

Our own count

Numbers ARK keeps, across every program rather than the ASM ones alone — which is why the attendance figure here is not the one After School Matters measured above. Different programs, different count.

160Young entrepreneurs showcased at the Youth Boss Expo
600People who came to watch them pitch
$13,000Awarded in startup funding to the top three
92%Average attendance, across every program

Want the detail behind these numbers? Talk to us →