Participation in out-of-school learning programs has been shown to generate significant academic, social/emotional, and institutional benefits for young learners, and today's wealthy families are disproportionately reaping these benefits. This paper presents the results of an asset-based/human-centered design research process and pilot aimed at connecting low-income families in a Southern California city with local low-cost out-of-school learning opportunities. Based on background research including qualitative interviewing, home visits, technology inventories and use walkthroughs with 40 low-income, majority Latinx families, we created and piloted a free subscription SMS service that automatically pushes bilingual SMS messages with curated information on local low-cost enrichment learning opportunities to low-income families. We framed our human-centered design process through an intersectional, "asset-based approach," which recognizes that marginalized communities have already developed robust, culturally-specific social practices to enable them to navigate the world, seeks to amplify them, and refrains from imposing a top-down or pre-conceived "idea" of intervention.

In the 2017-2018 school year, 38 student teams from 25 high schools across Orange County, California, competed in weekly tournament play of the multiplayer arena battle video game League of Legends, culminating in a championship playoff in one of the first region-wide high school esports leagues in the US. Our team performed a formative evaluation of this League's first year, with special attention to logistical concerns as well as any potential alignments between esports and learning. Our team engaged student League players (n=39) and teachers (n=11) who managed their school's teams in focus groups and observation at six schools; we conducted focus groups with experienced player-coaches (n=5) who supported teams, and one-on-one interviews with parents (n=10). The paper identifies organic learning opportunities during league play such as critical analysis, communication, research skills, and social emotional learning; techniques to clearing administrative hurdles; and structural socioeconomic equity issues that the leadership team may not have anticipated. The paper incorporates recommendations for these areas and critically situates them for future deployment with attention to maximizing learning potential with equity and access for all.