| Session Title: Exploring the Terrain: Where Extension Evaluation Meets Foundation Investments in Youth Development |
| Multipaper Session 335 to be held in Panzacola Section G1 on Thursday, Nov 12, 3:35 PM to 4:20 PM |
| Sponsored by the Extension Education Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Kate Walker, University of Minnesota, kcwalker@umn.edu |
| Discussant(s): |
| Suzanne Le Menestrel, United States Department of Agriculture, slemenestrel@csrees.usda.gov |
| Abstract: Corporate and community foundation partnerships significantly advance Extension's mission to extend knowledge to address real community issues. Foundations benefit when Extension evaluators help them document and understand the impact of the innovative youth development strategies that they fund. This session highlights common themes, challenges, and benefits of the Extension-foundation partnership in evaluation. Two different cases of foundation-funded Extension evaluations illustrate the dynamics of this partnership. The first, funded by a corporate foundation, is a process evaluation of adult volunteer training in inquiry-based learning methods for use with a curriculum designed for middle school age youth. The second, funded by a community foundation, targets the effectiveness of the foundations' grant-making and advocacy efforts in the area of youth violence prevention. Both cases demonstrate how partnering with foundations can enhance Extension's traditional role and call on its faculty to be responsive and nimble to larger systems beyond the University. |
| Evaluating a Youth Development Inquiry-Based Curriculum Pilot |
| Pam Larson Nippolt, University of Minnesota, nippolt@umn.edu |
| This paper outlines an approach to building process evaluation into a grant with a corporate foundation. In this example, grantmaker and grantee joined forces to both 1) get a new curriculum into the field and 2) to determine what it takes for volunteers to deliver it effectively with inquiry-based learning methods. The foundation invited 4-H Youth Development to form a six-state partnership to launch the curriculum and to design and evaluate a method for training volunteers to deliver it. The University Extension-based faculty and staff approached the project through distinct roles, providing expertise both to design the delivery and to evaluate the effectiveness of the design. Considerations about goals and purposes of the evaluation for the grantmaking organization, the grantee organization, and the funded project are considered as key factors in the choices made in the evaluation. Process evaluation methods for a multi-state, pilot and results are presented. |
| Evaluating a Community Foundation's Grantmaking and Advocacy Efforts To Prevent Youth Violence |
| Kate Walker, University of Minnesota, kcwalker@umn.edu |
| This paper focuses on a community foundation's efforts to reduce growing youth violence by funding direct service youth program efforts despite its history of focused funding on systems change projects. In an effort to curb urban youth violence, the foundation awarded over one million dollars to community-based youth-serving organizations involved with intervention strategies focused on empowering young people to break the cycle of violence. In addition, the foundation supported a number of advocacy efforts to inform and influence policy and systems change, including forging strategic alliances, devising innovative strategies, and providing critical leadership. As the foundation sought meaningful ways to reflect upon and learn from their grantmaking and advocacy strategies related to youth violence prevention, they initiated a partnership with Extension youth development evaluators. The resulting retrospective evaluation gauges the progress and impact of these efforts and identifies critical lessons to inform and strengthen future funding decisions and evaluation strategies. |