New Approaches to Evaluating Community Initiatives: Theory, measurement, and analysis PDF Download

Author: Aspen Institute. Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives for Children and Families
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
Sections include: "A theory of change approach to evaluation", "Reflections from evaluation practitioners" and "Issues in measurement and analysis".

Author: Aspen Institute. Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives for Children and Families
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
The Roundtable on Comprehensive Community Initiatives for Children and Families is a forum in which persons involved in the current generation of community-based cross-systems reform efforts can engage in open and detailed discussion about the challenges they face and the lessons they are learning. This collection of papers aims to introduce some of the challenges facing CCI designers, funders, managers, and evaluators. It is not intended to be an exhaustive review of all of the problems associated with the design, implementation, or evaluation of innovative anti-poverty programs, nor does it present definitive solutions to current problems.

Author: James P. Connell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Community development
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book offers a progress report on work accomplished over the last few years in comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs), a relatively new approach to community revitalization.

Author: Thomas A. Schwandt
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 146254732X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Much applied research takes place as if complex social problems--and evaluations of interventions to address them--can be dealt with in a purely technical way. In contrast, this groundbreaking book offers an alternative approach that incorporates sustained, systematic reflection about researchers' values, what values research promotes, how decisions about what to value are made and by whom, and how judging the value of social interventions takes place. The authors offer practical and conceptual guidance to help researchers engage meaningfully with value conflicts and refine their capacity to engage in deliberative argumentation. Pedagogical features include a detailed evaluation case, "Bridge to Practice" exercises and annotated resources in most chapters, and an end-of-book glossary.

Author: Mary L. Ohmer
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1544302703
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
"The world is changing rapidly and the practice of community organizing needs to change with it. Representing both an homage to, and a departure from the "alinsky traditions" of organizing, Consensus Organizing offers techniques that are specifically designed for urban and rural communities struggling to succeed in the global economy and the information age. Ohmer and DeMasi are experienced organizers who offer a relentlessly thorough examination of the process of bringing diverse communities together to make change and to bridge the ethnic and economic divisions that keep many communities from succeeding." —Bill Traynor Executive Director, Lawrence CommunityWorks Inc. A person doesn′t have to be a consensus organizer to think like one. Consensus Organizing: A Community Development Workbook—A Comprehensive Guide to Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating Community Change Initiatives helps students and practitioners begin to think like consensus organizers and incorporate this way of strategic thinking into their lives and their work. Through a wide range of exercises, role-play activities, case scenarios, and discussion questions, this workbook presents the conceptual framework for consensus organizing and provides a practical and experiential approach to understanding and applying consensus organizing to address a range of issues. This workbook is designed to be used by itself or along with Mike Eichler′s text Consensus Organizing: Building Communities of Mutual Self Interest (SAGE, 2007). Key Features and Benefits Provides a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a community analysis of both internal and external neighborhood resources Brings consensus organizing to life through case studies based on the real-life experiences of the authors Offers field exercises that engage the reader in applying and practicing consensus organizing Provides practical tools that community organizers and practitioners can use in their daily work Includes a sample job description, work plan, monitoring report, and field report for hiring and supervising consensus organizers Presents tools for describing and evaluating consensus organizing and community-level interventions Accompanying Website Instructors and students have access to the many activities and cases on the accompanying website.

Author: Joan Smith
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1403919879
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Our poorest urban neighbourhoods experience economic and social difficulties that uniquely affect the lives of those who live there. This volume examines the policies and initiatives now underway on both sides of the Atlantic to revitalize those areas. With contributors from the US, France and the UK the volume explains the nature of specific community building programmes and explores critical issues such as the role of partnerships and the importance of race and gender in urban regeneration.

Author: Larry M. Gant
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190463333
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Urban renewal has been the dominant approach to revitalizing industrialized communities that fall into decline. A national, community-based organization, the Skillman Foundation sought to engage in a joint effort with the University of Michigan's School of Social Work to bring six neighborhoods in one such declining urban center, Detroit, back to positions of strength and national leadership. A Twenty-First Century Approach to Community Change introduces readers to the basis for the Foundation's solicitation of social work expertise and the social context within which the work of technical assistance began. Building on research, the authors introduce the theory and practice knowledge of earlier scholars, including the conduct of needs assessments at multiple levels, engagement of community members in identifying problem-solving strategies, assistance in developing community goals, and implementation of social work field instruction opportunities. Lessons learned and challenges are described as they played out in the process of creating partnerships for the Foundation with community leaders, engaging and maintaining youth involvement, managing roles and relationships with multiple partners recruited by the Foundation for their specialized expertise, and ultimately conducting the work of technical assistance within a context of increasing influence of the city's surrounding systems (political, economic, educational, and social). Readers will especially note the role of technical assistance in an evolving theory of change.

Author: United States. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 8

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Book Description

Author: Muriel J. Harris
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 0470586176
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
Evaluating Public and Community Health Programs Evaluating Public and Community Health Programs combines an introduction to public and community health program evaluation with a detailed survey of methods in community assessment, planning, program design, quantitative and qualitative data collection, data analysis, and reporting of findings. The book presents an approach built on the two primary evaluation frameworks that are most common in public and community health: the Donaldson three-step program theory-driven evaluation model and CDC's six-step Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health. The author emphasizes practical, ongoing evaluation strategies that involve all program stakeholders, not just evaluation experts, and presents a simple and effective standards-based four-step model that will produce rich and useful results. The book's resources (scenarios, worksheets, and guidelines) can be used throughout the planning, implementation, and evaluation process. In addition, each chapter includes a list of learning objectives, key terms, and ideas for review, as well as summaries and discussion questions that can reinforce each chapter's lessons.

Author: Kim Forss
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351376640
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
In the economic atmosphere following the crisis of 2008, not only have governments reacted by creating more complex policy initiatives, but they have also promised that all of these initiatives will be evaluated. Due to the complexity of many of the initiatives, the ways of evaluating are becoming equally complex. The book begins with a theoretical and conceptual explanation of the process and shows how this translates into the practice of evaluation. The chapters cover a wide variety of subjects, such as poverty, homelessness, smoking prevention, HIV/AIDS, and child labor. The use of case studies sheds light on the conceptual ideas at work in organizations addressing some of the world's largest and most varied problems. The evaluation process seeks a balance between order and chaos. The interaction of four elements—simplicity, inventiveness, flexibility, and specificity—allows complex patterns to emerge. The case studies illustrate this framework and provide a number of examples of practical management of complexity, in light of contingency theories of the evaluation process itself. These theories in turn match the complexity of evaluated policies, strategies, and programs. The evaluation process is examined for its impact on policy outcomes and choices.