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Consistent evidence indicates that urban youth, and particularly youth of color, report relatively low levels of participation in quality youth program experiences and spend less time outdoors as compared to non-urban and White youth. Outdoor adventure camps (OACs) provide an excellent opportunity for engaging these youth in experiences that can help promote positive youth development (PYD). In the present study, we examined the experiences and perceptions of 75 urban youth who participated in a 3-day high adventure camp experience. Through a mixed-method approach, results indicated that urban youth from all racial and ethnic backgrounds grew in several PYD outcomes including social competencies and self-improvement capacities. Many youth also reported growing in their connection to nature as a consequence of participating in the OAC. Youth thought camp was a positive and worthwhile experience, reflecting key attributes of a PYD setting. Overall, the OAC provided a challenging and engaging growth environment for youth. Findings highlight implications for socially just and culturally inclusive outdoor adventure programming aimed at diverse urban youth.

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Contemporary approaches to adolescent development are framed by positive youth development models. A key outcome of these models is that healthy and positively developing youth are more likely to contribute to their family, schools, and communities. However, little work on contribution and its antecedents has been conducted with youth of color. As high achieving youth of color often become leaders in their communities, it is important to consider malleable predictors of contribution within this population. Therefore, through a cross-sectional design, we examined the relations between youth critical reflection, hopeful future expectations, and mentoring relationship quality and youth contribution in a sample of 177 youth of color (60% Black, 40% Latinx) attending an afterschool college preparation program at six sites around the U.S. Results indicated that youth critical reflection, hopeful future expectations, and mentoring relationship quality significantly predicted contribution. Exploratory analyses suggested that these relations were significant for Black youth but not Latinx youth. Implications of these findings for future scholarship are discussed.