Initial Submission
Evaluation Process
In order to fully understand the program evaluation process, I needed to understand the meaning behind this concept. A program evaluation is a methodology to learn the depth and extent of need for a human service and whether the service is likely to be used, whether the service is sufficient to meet the unmet needs identified, and the degree to which the service is offered as planned and actually does help the people in need at a reasonable cost without unacceptable side effects ( Linfield & Posavac 2019). After understanding this concept fully, I proceeded to select Newington Clothes Closet Program for Gloucester County for my program evaluation. I felt that this organization needed to be recognized for their programs and their serve to the community.
After making this easy selection, I meet with program directors Jerry Young and Barbara Verdon. These ladies were very welcoming and eager to provide me the necessary information to complete my evaluation. They also helped me properly identify the bases for my evaluation. The bases of my evaluation were to answer two critical evaluation question: which program offered at the Newington Clothes Closet has sufficiently impacted its client’s overall well-being and why?and what makes this program thieve? Ms. Young and Ms. Verdon also helped me gain a better understanding of their mission statement, how invested they are within their programs, their interest in the results of the evaluation, and what stake they will have in administering these results within their programs.
After meeting with these stakeholders within this nonprofit organization, I had a better idea of their wants and needs and what direction my evaluation should take. This meant selecting what type of evaluation model would best fit my evaluation process and what methods would be suitable for collecting data. But before I could address these two concerns, I had to tackle some other tasks first. This meant tackling task 3: Annotated Bibliographies.
This was not an easy task to complete! Task three seemed to be more difficult than what I perceived it to be. For me, the difficultly came in when I tried to address how each article will inform my evaluation study. Not only did I struggle with this aspect of the task, but I also found it difficult to find journal articles. Many of the journal articles closely related to my main topic but did not address the objectives of my nonprofit organization. After finally finding articles that address the objectives of my nonprofit organization, I was able to complete task 3 to the best of my ability. Next, came task 4: Mindmap. I found this task to be fairly easy to complete. I liked how this task required you to think outside of the box, in order to connect structuring ideas and concepts to create one unified theme.
It was only after completing Mindmap that I realized what the true meaning of community. A community is not only the people who live in it, but it is also the organizations that serve the people within that community. With a better understanding of how communities and organizations are connected to each other, I than proceeded on to task 5: Research Plan. This plan would not only determine my evaluation model, but it would also determine my methods of retrieving data to present to my stakeholders. So, I choose an Objective model to structure my evaluation around. This type of model would center on the specific goals and objectives of this nonprofit organization and their outcomes within the community. As far as my Mixed methods of collecting data are concerned, I elected to conduct face-to-face interviews with stakeholders, distributing surveys and questionnaires to clients and stakeholders, and conduct observations of client/staff interactions. By selecting these methods of data collection, I would sufficiently be able to identify Newington’s Clothes Closet Program for Gloucester County effectiveness within their community and their programs effectiveness. Identifying these key components was not only important for my evaluation, but it was also important for this nonprofit organization.
This nonprofit organization needed to know whether or not their program services were positive effecting their community and clientele. So, with a clear objective in mind I than proceeded to task 6: Developing a Protocol. This task required me to develop open-end survey, interview, and questionnaire questions to present to staff members and clientele. By utilizing these methods of data collection, I would provide this nonprofit organization with program weaknesses and strengths, better clientele services methods, and ways to intergrade new programs within the community. Ultimately, this valuable information will aid this nonprofit organization with current and future programs and projects.
Another piece of information that will aid nonprofit organization now and in future projects is a timeline. This vital tool has been a life saver and friend throughout this entire evaluation process. Creating a timeline was very easy and helped me organize my thoughts during this evaluation process. Not only does it make the evaluation process go smoother, but it also provides stakeholders with important dates and deadlines. By establishing these set dates and deadline early my evaluation process, I was able to setup direct communication channels with them and address any new concerns or needs throughout the evaluation process.
In conclusion, each of these tasks play a major role within an effective evaluation process. Therefore, each of these tasks should be given one hundred and ten percent regardless of the difficultly associated with them. I can honestly say that this very concept has proven to be very true throughout this entire process.
References
Linfield, K. J., & Posavac, E. J. (2019). Program evaluation: methods and case studies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Changes Made:
Corrected Final
Evaluation Process
In order to fully understand the program evaluation process, I needed to understand the meaning behind this concept. A program evaluation is a methodology to learn the depth and extent of need for a human service and whether the service is likely to be used, whether the service is sufficient to meet the unmet needs identified, and the degree to which the service is offered as planned and actually does help the people in need at a reasonable cost without unacceptable side effects ( Linfield & Posavac 2019). After understanding this concept fully, I proceeded to select Newington Clothes Closet Program for Gloucester County for my program evaluation. I felt that this organization needed to be recognized for their programs and their serve to the community.
Agency Selection
After making this easy selection, I meet with program directors Jerry Young and Barbara Verdon. These ladies were very welcoming and eager to provide me the necessary information to complete my evaluation. They also helped me properly identify the bases for my evaluation. The bases of my evaluation were to answer two critical evaluation question: which program offered at the Newington Clothes Closet has sufficiently impacted its client’s overall well-being and why?and what makes this program thieve? Ms. Young and Ms. Verdon also helped me gain a better understanding of their mission statement, how invested they are within their programs, their interest in the results of the evaluation, and what stake they will have in administering these results within their programs.
Research Process
After meeting with these stakeholders within this nonprofit organization, I had a better idea of their wants and needs and what direction my evaluation should take. This meant selecting what type of evaluation model would best fit my evaluation process and what methods would be suitable for collecting data. But before I could address these two concerns, I had to tackle some other tasks first. This meant tackling task 3: Annotated Bibliographies.
This was not an easy task to complete! Task three seemed to be more difficult than what I perceived it to be. For me, the difficultly came in when I tried to address how each article will inform my evaluation study. Not only did I struggle with this aspect of the task, but I also found it difficult to find journal articles. Many of the journal articles closely related to my main topic but did not address the objectives of my nonprofit organization. After finally finding articles that address the objectives of my nonprofit organization, I was able to complete task 3 to the best of my ability. Next, came task 4: Mindmap. I found this task to be fairly easy to complete. I liked how this task required you to think outside of the box, in order to connect structuring ideas and concepts to create one unified theme.
It was only after completing Mindmap that I realized what the true meaning of community. A community is not only the people who live in it, but it is also the organizations that serve the people within that community. With a better understanding of how communities and organizations are connected to each other, I than proceeded on to task 5: Research Plan. This plan would not only determine my evaluation model, but it would also determine my methods of retrieving data to present to my stakeholders. So, I choose an Objective model to structure my evaluation around. This type of model would center on the specific goals and objectives of this nonprofit organization and their outcomes within the community. As far as my Mixed methods of collecting data are concerned, I elected to conduct face-to-face interviews with stakeholders, distributing surveys and questionnaires to clients and stakeholders, and conduct observations of client/staff interactions. By selecting these methods of data collection, I would sufficiently be able to identify Newington’s Clothes Closet Program for Gloucester County effectiveness within their community and their programs effectiveness. Identifying these key components was not only important for my evaluation, but it was also important for this nonprofit organization.
This nonprofit organization needed to know whether or not their program services were positive effecting their community and clientele. So, with a clear objective in mind I than proceeded to task 6: Developing a Protocol. This task required me to develop open-end survey, interview, and questionnaire questions to present to staff members and clientele. By utilizing these methods of data collection, I would provide this nonprofit organization with program weaknesses and strengths, better clientele services methods, and ways to intergrade new programs within the community. Ultimately, this valuable information will aid this nonprofit organization with current and future programs and projects.
Another piece of information that will aid nonprofit organization now and in future projects is a timeline. This vital tool has been a life saver and friend throughout this entire evaluation process. Creating a timeline was very easy and helped me organize my thoughts during this evaluation process. Not only does it make the evaluation process go smoother, but it also provides stakeholders with important dates and deadlines. By establishing these set dates and deadline early my evaluation process, I was able to setup direct communication channels with them and address any new concerns or needs throughout the evaluation process.
Evaluation Summary
In conclusion, each of these tasks play a major role within an effective evaluation process. Therefore, each of these tasks should be given one hundred and ten percent regardless of the difficultly associated with them. I can honestly say that this very concept has proven to be very true throughout this entire process.
References
Linfield, K. J., & Posavac, E. J. (2019). Program evaluation: methods and case studies. New York, NY: Routledge.