AFH’s four program goals offer Boston youth productive avenues to economic security, educational attainment, and upward mobility by providing them with: (1) the respect and responsibility of paid employment that promotes self-esteem, workforce readiness, and financial accountability; (2) an opportunity to be part of a creative community where they express themselves through diverse media, exhibitions and commissions and gain access to emerging technologies; (3) a safe, meaningful place where they develop important mentoring relationships; and (4) experiential educational and academic enrichment to encourage school achievement and college access.

AFH transforms the experiences of underserved youth through AFH’s central program, the Youth Arts Enterprise, which employs 250+ Boston teens annually during their crucial out-of-school hours. AFH partners teens with professional artists and designers. Studio sessions focus on developing youth creativity and innovation, featuring a small group structure of 7-20 young people working alongside professional artist mentors. Youth engage in project-based learning in Painting/Murals, Digital Media, Photography, 3D Design, Video and Web Design. AFH teaches ideation, experimentation and testing; the skill sets most sought-after by today’s employers. Youth and art/design mentors collaborate on commissions like designing and engineering bike racks for Boston Main Streets, developing sneaker lines for Reebok, or creating motion graphics and animation for National Grid. Central to our vision is creative employment and partnership with industry to provide a pipeline to these sought-after jobs.

The agent of change at AFH is the multi-layered mentorship in fine art and design, business, and education, which defines the AFH experience. AFH mentorship entails adult-to-youth training and peer-to-peer sharing in a fusion that cultivates youth leadership. This holds equally true for the high school freshmen entering the program, as for AFH program graduates who return to our studios as mentors. Creating a community of shared learning enables insight, inspiration, and interpersonal connections, fostering a cycle of youth and community success. Completing 700+ commissioned design projects annually, AFH youth are valued as a creative resource for Boston’s business community. Each year, AFH organizes 60+ exhibitions, allowing viewers to develop a greater understanding of the young, urban experience. Each participant's creative work or contribution to a commissioned project represents an opportunity to have a voice. Public exhibition and sale of their artwork continues the dialogue.

AFH reviews youth Intake Forms, 36-Hour Training, and Self-Assessment Surveys, allowing us to gain a qualitative sense of how the youth interact as a community of artists over an extended period, as well as feedback on teen’s understanding of AFH's mission, program, and after-work academic support services offered. Another important measure is the success of client services including: •growth of artistic capacity of participants, mentors, and collaborations; •success of individual projects; •percentage of repeat clients; and •overall client satisfaction. These measures illustrate our effectiveness at training youth to use their creativity to conquer complex problems and become competent, reliable, hard-working and engaged employees. The success of our Youth Arts Enterprise program translates to success in preparing young people for—and providing them with—a versatile skill set appropriate for the creative economy and modern workforce.

In 2004 AFH constructed Boston’s first LEED-certified facility, the AFH EpiCenter. The EpiCenter serves youth apprentices and the community as a learning laboratory and is home to our interdisciplinary arts and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning—or STEAM!—studios. Construction on a 30,000 sq. ft. expansion to AFH’s EpiCenter began in October 2017 and is on track from completion in October 2018. The end result of expansion: increased studio, gallery, and event space, with a special focus on AFH's Design Maker Studios. AFH will be able to double teen employment to 500+ each year, offering youth the opportunity to gain skills needed to succeed in creative technology driven industries. Indicators of success: •100% of AFH’s high school seniors graduate •95%-100% of AFH’s graduates are accepted to post-secondary education •66% of alumni earn a college degree (compared with the national average—46%) •A 2014 survey found 89% of alumni are enrolled in school or career