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Session Title: A Complex Youth Competency Initiative in Cleveland, OH
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Panel Session 378 to be held in Huntington C on Thursday, Nov 3, 1:35 PM to 2:20 PM
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Sponsored by the Cluster, Multi-site and Multi-level Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Deborah Volk, Cuyahoga County Family and Children First Council, dvolk@cuyahogacounty.us
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| Abstract:
My Commitment, My Community (MyCom) is an eight community, youth competency initiative in Cleveland, Ohio, funded by The Cleveland Foundation and Cuyahoga County Family and Children First Council. MyCom is composed of 6 major technical assistance organizations, 8 community "lead" agencies-one in each of the eight communities, and 87 funded and volunteer, youth service delivery agencies and organizations. This presentation discusses challenges of evaluation ranging from process and outcome measures to organizational structure to organizational capacity to internal morale, among other elements affecting a geographically wide-spread and organizationally complex youth program. Members of the evaluation team will review challenges, discuss the development of specifically designed capacity instruments, and the application of social network analysis to enhance organizational structure and organization.
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Challenges to Evaluation in a Complex Youth Competency Initiative in Cleveland, OH
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| Deborah Volk, Cuyahoga County Family and Children First Council, dvolk@cuyahogacounty.us
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My Commitment, My Community (MyCom) is an eight community, youth competency initiative in Cleveland, Ohio, funded by The Cleveland Foundation and XXXXX [add]. MyCom is composed of 6 major technical assistance organizations, 8 community "lead" agencies-one in each of the eight communities, and 87 funded and volunteer youth service delivery agencies and organizations. This presentation discusses challenges of evaluation ranging from process and outcome measures to organizational structure to organizational capacity to internal morale, among other elements affecting a geographically wide-spread and organizationally complex youth program
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Development and Implementation of Evaluation Tools in a Complex Youth Competency Initiative in Cleveland, OH
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| Mark Fleisher, Case Western Reserve University, mfleishe@kent.edu
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MyCom evaluation team developed program-specific evaluation tools, which fit MyCom's organizational structure. Three instruments were developed; these were self-report tools as well as structured and semi-structured instruments to assess agencies' capacity to meet MyCom's goals. The evaluation teams developed a social network instrument which assessed the degree of relationship among agencies and organizations.
That assess was used as the blueprint for remediation of MyCom's organizational design and requirements of process and outcome data. The organizational assessment's after-action plan not only provided substantive process and outcome data but also functioned to create informal internal social ties that facilitated communication and shared activities among organizations and agencies.
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