The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between quality social support networks developed through high quality afterschool programming and achievement amongst middle school and high school aged youth. This study seeks to develop a deeper understanding of how quality after-school programs influence a youth's developmental assets, how quality after-school programs influence achievement-related behaviors amongst youth, and how quality after-school programs influence academic performance amongst youth. The study measured academic performance, as well as, hope, wellbeing, and engagement amongst youth who participate in high quality after-school programming, in comparison with youth who are not currently participating in after-school programming. Open Doors Academy, a highly recognized and supported after-school program model represents participants in the treatment group and students not currently enrolled in the program represent the comparison group. A total of 191 middle school and high school aged youth living in high-risk environments (aged 11 to 18 years) from Cleveland, Ohio were selected to complete the Gallup Student Poll (Lopez, Agrawal, & Calderon, 2010) and Developmental Assets Profile Survey (Search Institute, 2010a). In addition, quarterly grade cards were collected to assess academic performance. Three models were used to analyze the various research questions proposed in this study, including a general multivariate model, multiple regression, and single-factor analysis of variance. Findings from the study indicate a statistically significant difference amongst non-Open Doors Academy participants and Open Doors Academy participants in the context of hope, finding youth who participate in programming are more hopeful in comparison to their peers not engaged in programming and youth who engage in programming over a number of years are identified as more hopeful and thriving in comparison to those who participate for zero to one year. Findings also demonstrated a predictive relationship between achievement-related behaviors (hope, engagement and wellbeing) and grade point average. Finally, findings from the current study indicate that youth who participate in programming for four or more years, demonstrate higher academic performance as measured by grade point average in comparison to youth who participate for only one year. Findings from this study argue for a stronger focus on increasing quality across out-of-school time models, including strengthening parent engagement, child-staff relationships, school-community partnerships, and ensuring a continuity of programming over multiple years. Discussions for future practice and research are discussed in chapter five. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]