Quality and Sustainability in

Programs for YouthChristine GendronExecutive Director

Texas Network of Youth Services (TNOYS)

Impromptu Networking

• Your name, city, organization, and role/occupation• Share a time when you did something to improve or support a

program for youth, or to help a youth access an important program. What are you proud of?• What do you hope to get out of this workshop today?

About this Workshop

• We will discuss program development and quality, program evaluation and continuous quality improvement, and sustainability.• There is a lot to cover! Please let me know if I should skip over

something or slow down and spend more time.• We will do activities that you can utilize when you are doing strategic

planning for your program with your colleagues and stakeholders.

About TNOYS

• Our mission is to improve, support, and protect critical services for youth and families in crisis so they can meet their potential.

• Our members share a vision of Texas where all youth are valued, their strengths are recognized, and they have access to the resources, support, and opportunities they need to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

THEIR FUTURE IS OUR BUSINESS.

Systems Change Approach

• We advocate for policies, programs, and funding that benefit youth who are in at-risk situations, their families, and the community-based organizations that serve them.

• Our training and program development and evaluation services ensure that those in the field are fully equipped to meet the complex needs of the youth and families they serve.

• We work in partnership with young people to demonstrate what youth are capable of when people invest in them.

About Me

• My background is working in program evaluation at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.• I’ve been the Executive Director at

TNOYS for 3 years.• My challenge over the last 3 years has

been having to figure out how to sustain an organization and its programs given limited resources.

How can we ensure quality in programs for youth?• What is quality? What does a quality program look like?• Who do you need at the table to develop a quality program?• How can you continually improve the quality of your program?

Activity: TRIZ

1. Make a list of all you can do to make sure that you have the WORST quality program for youth that you can imagine.

GO WILD!!!

Activity: TRIZ

2. Go down this list item by item and ask yourselves, “Is there anything that we are currently doing that in any way, shape, or form resembles this item?”

Be brutally honest to make a second list of all your counterproductive activities/programs/procedures.

What do you think is the impact of the things on that second list?

Activity: TRIZ

3. Go through your second list and decide what first steps will help you stop doing what you know produces undesirable results.

Tips for Developing a Quality Program

• Understand the population that you will be serving.• Work in partnership with that population to design the program.• Design the program based on research and evidence when you can.• Evaluate the program and promote continuous quality improvement.

Participatory Action Research

“Participatory research attempts to present people as researchers themselves in pursuit of answers to the questions of their daily struggle and survival.” Tandon, R. (1988). Social transformation and participatory research. Convergence, 21, 5-15.

Traditional Research Participatory Action Research

Youth are research subjects Youth are research partners

The researcher has the power The researcher and the population being studied share the power

Emphasizes learning Emphasizes learning, participation, and action (for social change)

“Voices of Experience”

• TNOYS hired 18 youth who were homeless in six cities across Texas to interview homeless peers.• TNOYS and youth service agency staff provided

extensive support.• The research team collected 135 hour-long

interviews.• TNOYS entered the data and the research team

analyzed it together. • The research team developed recommendations

and shared them with policymakers.

“Voices of Experience”

“Talk about the choices he made that were right.” (Male, 18)

“I would offer them a book. It would show where they can go to get food, a change of clothes, hygiene products, gift cards, all that.” (Male, 20)

“I wouldn’t give them a limit to stay. If they were progressing, I wouldn’t make them leave.” (Female, 21)

“Separate youth from adults [in shelters].” (Female, 18)

Youth Count Texas!

• Youth Count Texas! is an initiative of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) in response to legislation that passed during the recent Texas Legislative Session calling for a statewide study of youth who are homeless in Texas.• Communities across Texas will count youth who

are homeless and identify/assess their needs using a Homeless Youth Survey Tool.• Sign-up for email updates at www.tnoys.org.

Tips for your research

• Consider getting involved with an existing project or youth count in your community.• Think about how you can work with youth as partners in

the project.• A research project can be as simple as a focus group.• Offer incentives, protect confidentiality, and obtain

informed consent.• Ask youth about their strengths and resiliency, as well as

about their problems and needs.• Use statements of empathy and affirmation throughout

your interviews.

Transition-Age Youth and Families Initiative

• The initiative is funded by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.• TAYF aims to improve services for transitioning youth who have mental

illnesses in Houston.• Participating organizations must engage youth and their parents or

caregivers in program planning, design, and implementation.• Youth and families are being engaged through focus groups, interviews,

youth and family councils, inclusion in planning meetings, and more.

Tips for Youth Adult PartnershipsChallenges Solutions

Adults assume youth are not serious Both groups think what the other says

is set in stone Adults make decisions for the good of

the young people and youth make decisions without involving adults

Either group assumes they have been left out of the loop

Either group assumes the worst of the other

Adults think they know what youth

want & what is “best” for young people

Listen: Have real conversations without making assumptions

Question: Ask open-ended questions to get more ideas. Be willing to ask for clarification

Share: Discuss how decisions will be made and who will have more weight in deciding; sometimes youth and sometimes adults

Talk: Find ways to communicate and share aside from meetings

Trust: Adults must know that youth have important things to contribute: same with youth

Involve: Ask young people what is “best” for them. Youth are resources and partners in community development.

Bailey, M. & Lazarus, R. (2001) Partners in leadership: Lessons from the field. CYD Journal 2(20), 46-48

“Creating a Culture of Care” project

• This project was also funded by the Hogg Foundation.• TNOYS worked with ten Texas Residential Treatment Centers on

reducing seclusion and restraint practices by creating a trauma-informed “culture of care.”• Most sites were successful at reducing seclusion and restraint

practices. Some successfully reduced these practices by 70, 80, or 90 percent.• This project used a free evidence-based program developed through a

SAMHSA grant called The Six Core Strategies for Reducing Seclusion and Restraint Practices.

Research Informed and Evidence-Based Programs and Practices

• An evidence-based program is based on the best available science.• Use EBPs when you can.• Many are very expensive, but there may be free EBPs available to you.• When you can’t use an EBP, design your program based on research.

SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), www.nrepp.samhsa.gov

Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Model Programs Guide (MPG) and Crime Solutions.Gov: Juveniles, www.ojjdp.gov and www.crimesolutions.gov

The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC), www.cebc4cw.org

Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence: Blueprints Model Programs, www.blueprintsprograms.com

Program Evaluation

• An outcomes evaluation assess the effectiveness of a program at producing change. This is typically the gold standard evaluation that funders look for.• Did the services achieve the desired result?

• A process evaluation documents the implementation of a program to help identify how an outcome was achieved. • What was delivered?• Who were the beneficiaries?• What challenges were encountered along the way?• What did you learn about delivering future services?

Program Evaluation

• Craft your research questions. What do you want to know?• Decide how you will collect data to answer your questions.• Evaluation forms after workshops and events• Pre- and post-testing• Interviews• Focus groups• Use data that are already available

• Analyze your data!• Develop recommendations based on your findings.

Continuous Quality Improvement

Planning

ImplementationEvaluation

How can we promote sustainability of youth programs?• What does it mean for a program to be sustainable?• What keeps effective programs sustainable over time?• What are accessible strategies for promoting the sustainability of a program?

Program Sustainability

The Center for Public Health Systems Science at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work defines program sustainability as the ability to maintain programming and its benefits over time.

Why is program sustainability important?

8 Domains of Program

Sustainability

Center for Public Health Systems Science,

George Warren Brown School of Social Work,

University of Washington in St. Louis

http://sustaintool.org

Environmental Support

• What policymakers should know about your program? Who may be able to champion your program?• How can you engage these people and build a relationship?• Ask for a meeting• Invite them for a site visit• Send a letter• Give an award• Accompany youth clients to talk with them• Educating a policymaker about your program is NOT lobbying. You are only

lobbying if you ask them to vote a certain way on a specific piece of legislation (including the budget).

Funding Stability

• In most communities, financial resources are extremely limited.• You must be creative!• Blend and braid local, state, federal, and private funds.• What funders may have an interest in the population you serve?• Child welfare, housing, juvenile justice, workforce, human services, child

support, mental health, etc.

• Consider collaborative proposals with other programs.• Consider offering services for a fee to those who can afford it.• Think about every possible way you can cut costs.

Partnerships

• What partnerships have proven beneficial to your program?• What new partnerships could you build?• What existing partnerships could you strengthen?• What creative strategies will foster partnerships for your program?• Sharing meeting space• Asking other programs or organizations to house yours (or vice versa)• Offering free professional development for other organizations

Organizational Capacity

• Do you have the staff you need to keep your program up and running?• What are you and your staff doing for self care so that you don’t get

burnt out?

Program Evaluation

• Identify your current program evaluation efforts.• Are your current efforts providing you with the information you need

to measure the quality of your program and continually improve it?• If not, determine how you can enhance evaluation efforts of your

program.• What are the next steps?

Program Adaptation

• Programs must grow and change over time in order to remain relevant.• This is part of your continuous quality improvement process.• Avoid getting stuck in the poverty trap (not investing) or the rigidity

trap (not investing).

Communications

• Communication about your program and issue is important.• Lessons from Frameworks Institute (www.frameworksinstitute.org):• Focus on the solution, not the problem.• Don’t use the word “teenager.”• Show youth involved in positive, constructive activities.• Avoid the “hero” model, in which one young person stands out above others.• Train youth to discuss youth issues.• Challenge your media to portray youth in a better light.

• How can you involve the youth you work with in communications about your program?

Wrapping Up

• What are your next steps for improving the quality of your program?• What are your next steps for enhancing the evaluation of your

program?• In what area(s) can you better promote the sustainability of your

program?• What are your next steps in those areas?

Sign up for the TNOYS email list: www.tnoys.org

Contact Me:Christine Gendron, Texas Network of Youth Services

cgendron@tnoys.org