Reflection Letter

     By taking Program Developmental Funding this semester, I have successfully learned how to conduct an effective program evaluation that aids facilities in finding suitable methods and solutions to improving their services and programs for their clientele. While completing my program evaluation, I experienced some difficulties, challenges, and most importantly, the feeling of accomplishment by completing this assignment. Honestly, I had never given that much thought to underlining details of performing a program evaluation until now. This was the first time that I could see how an effective program evaluation could affect surrounding communities, local facilities, and the clientele being serviced. Not only did this experience enable me to better understand the impact of an effective evaluation within the community, but it also allowed me to make a difference within individual’s lives.

        In order to accomplish this goal, I knew that there were some identifying facts that had to be accomplished first. These were identifying key stakeholders within the facility, their role within the facility, their stake within the programs, their role within the evaluation process, and their needs and wants. I also had to identify an effective theory to base my evaluation on and various types of research methods. This meant utilizing such methods as conducting interviews, distributing surveys and questionnaires, population censes, facility program descriptions and conduction observations. For me, gathering the research data was not an issue but writing the reports was. I have never been a creative writer, so writing about an unknown topic was a challenging process. Even though writing the reports was going to be challenging, I knew that it had to done for the research report and to benefit the facilities overall programs.

        So, to provide my chosen facility with an adequate report I used  this website:  www.cdc.gov › eval › materials › Developing-An-Effective-Evaluation to base my research report off of. This was not the only obstacle that I encountered while completing the evaluation process. Another obstacle that I encountered, was properly identifying sufficient evaluation questions that addressed the facilities concerns. These questions had to identify the purpose of the evaluation and meet the stakeholders’ needs. In order to overcome this difficult task, I had to establish open-communication between myself and the various stakeholders within the facility. I soon realized that it was not only a critical component of the evaluation process, but also helped me address any new concerns brought forth by the stakeholders.

         Ultimately, I think this course helped me improve and expand my communication skills. I have learned to listen more carefully before acting on my first instinct first. Even with experiencing these few setbacks, I still enjoyed performing a program evaluation. This gave me the chance to give back to the community and help the Newington Baptist Clothes Closet of Gloucester County improve their services for their clientele.  Because I hope to work in social work in the future, this helped me learn how to improve current program services and create new programs within the community. It reminded me how important it is to serve individuals within the community. This is not only a meaningful concept, but also the goal of any human services professional.