A CYFAR webinar and presentation providing original social justice dialogues for youth as an activity with a facilitator. Presenters demonstrate what an appropriate dialogue activity looks like, and the benefits of having dialogues about social justice and equity. This webinar and presentation aids youth to develop communication skills surrounding social justice topics and provides opportunity for youth to become engaged citizens.
This resource is a CYFAR webinar that provides an overview of Native American culture and discusses considerations for forming organizational relationships with Native Americans. The purpose of this webinar is to help community organizations build genuine relationships with Native Americans and seek mutually beneficial outcomes. Recognizing biases and understanding the needs of Native Americans are crucial aspects of building authentic relationships.
Program quality is not just outcomes but also a point of service quality, or what’s happening within interactions. Components of good program quality can include youth engagement, supportive relationships, critical thinking, and physical and emotional safety. All of these components can serve as intermediate developmental outcomes.
These models are a blueprint for what you’re doing as a program in order to evaluate if a goal was achieved and why. They can include needs, outcomes, results, indicators, activities, and resources, which should be aligned with both short term and long term goals of the program. Logic models also help provide a framework for everyone involved to help focus on results and get the desired outcome.
This video explains the importance of a community or school review board in order to protect the people involved in research from harm and experimenters from any legal issues. The review board must know what kind of data will be collected, how information will remain confidential, and how consent will be obtained. Consent can be collected passively or actively and is especially important when working with children.
This video explains the advantages and disadvantages of a program using experimental design, with the ultimate advantage of knowing that the program is the only cause of the change. Experimental design can only be achieved when the program is ready and has established protocols for program delivery.
Youth should be involved throughout the entire process in a collaborative relationship with adults. They can engage by helping think of research questions, issues, focus groups, and observation. It is key to make sure youth aren’t just saying what they do and don’t like but actually making decisions. Adults can help in this process by building their youth engagement skills through exposure to youth culture.
When entering into a new setting the best way to get results is to start with respect, and engagement in the evaluation can be a good way to do this. Key people who know the community can be good people to ask who should be part of the evaluation. People that live and have a commitment to the community know the ways something can be done better than a research team, and they want to feel empowered and part of the process to develop a meaningful outcome and understand its impact.
When a program is evidence-based, it has been through an experimental design, shown to work, and evaluated at a rigorous level. A research-based program means the incorporated content of a program is supported by current research. Model programs are listed on a website called Blueprints shown with the best evidence of effectiveness, but qualifications can vary by website.
Evaluation is key to knowing, especially for participants, that differences are being made in terms of program quality and outcomes. Funders want to make sure they are putting their money to good use in a sustainable program. Evidence of change being made also helps the program tell its story and get its message across.