Empowering the voice of youth: The role of youth advisory councils in grant making focused on youth

This article will focus on the potential role for youth evaluation advisory groups within youth grant‐making organizations and networks. The main elements to be discussed include the formation of the network, the training program elements, some specific examples of efforts by young people to create and strengthen evaluation within their YACs (youth advisory councils), and the lessons learned. ©Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95685/1/20036_ftp.pd

Closing the Gap: Enhancing Technology Programming for Youth in North Minneapolis

A technology divide persists in the United States. Recent studies have shown that young people of color, low-income individuals, and women are still underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers and career training programs (NSF, 2003). Young people of color face several barriers for entry into STEM related careers including lack of role models and networking, information gap along with digital divide, perception of IT as a while male career, and lack of commitment from practice and the academy to recruit and work to retain young people of color in STEM related fields of study (Payton, 2004). Alternatives aims to respond to this gap and to assist young people of color to break down the barriers. This final report documents the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of an applied research project into STEM based programming. The report is organized into four main sections. The first presents an overview of the issue Alternatives aims to address, namely the technology gap among urban youth of color. The second major section provides an overall description of Alternatives, one of a very few youth programs focused on technology capacity building in North Minneapolis. The third section crafts a programmatic description based on scholarly and research evidence. The final section offers Alternatives conclusions and recommendations based on a comparison of its program to the research-based program. This applied research project aims to open up conversations on how Alternatives can provide the best program given available resources.Conducted on behalf of Alternatives Inc. Supported by the Northside Seed Grant program (NSG), a program of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), University of Minnesota

Surfacing Human Service Organizations’ Data Use Practices: Toward a Critical Performance Measurement Framework: From the 2021 Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) Conference

Community-level data systems, often called collective impact, increasingly define the landscape of human service data creation. Collective impact strategies develop shared performance measurement metrics across numerous human service organizations (HSOs) in a geographic region to move the needle on specific social problems. Such systems encourage funders to support the development of client tracking and data sharing infrastructure, meaning more HSOs have more information about any given client. However, while many HSOs are using more data than ever, questions remain: how is this data being read, understood, and utilized in HSOs? What differences can we discern in organizational operation and service provision? This study builds on three years of participant observation as program evaluators in youth-serving organizations (a subtype of HSOs) around the world. It also included a national study of youth-serving organizations with a strong focus on data use. Finally, it includes interviews with program staff in youth-serving organizations and focus group data with young people. Situating this data between the literature on performance measurement in HSOs and critical data studies, we surface emerging tensions in the ways youth-serving organizations are creating and using data, drawing to the fore salient questions for those invested in supporting the just use of data and technology for our communities

Surfacing Human Service Organizations’ Data Use Practices: Toward a Critical Performance Measurement Framework: From the 2021 Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN) Conference

Community-level data systems, often called collective impact, increasingly define the landscape of human service data creation. Collective impact strategies develop shared performance measurement metrics across numerous human service organizations (HSOs) in a geographic region to move the needle on specific social problems. Such systems encourage funders to support the development of client tracking and data sharing infrastructure, meaning more HSOs have more information about any given client. However, while many HSOs are using more data than ever, questions remain: how is this data being read, understood, and utilized in HSOs? What differences can we discern in organizational operation and service provision? This study builds on three years of participant observation as program evaluators in youth-serving organizations (a subtype of HSOs) around the world. It also included a national study of youth-serving organizations with a strong focus on data use. Finally, it includes interviews with program staff in youth-serving organizations and focus group data with young people. Situating this data between the literature on performance measurement in HSOs and critical data studies, we surface emerging tensions in the ways youth-serving organizations are creating and using data, drawing to the fore salient questions for those invested in supporting the just use of data and technology for our communities

The Social Determinants of Native Youth Gang Involvement

While youth gang involvement nationally is believed to be on the rise, few policies and services are in place to address this issue, leaving primary responsibility to law enforcement. The focus of such responses shift quickly to deterrence and suppression strategies, tactics aimed at reducing crimes committed by gangs. These strategies alone are typically unsuccessful. This article describes a community-based participatory research project investigating the presence and activities of youth gangs in one Native American tribal community in the Midwest. Findings regarding demographics, law enforcement, community perceptions, school and student perceptions, and community resources are presented. Analysis reveals evidence that gang involvement should be seen not only as a result of risk and protective factors in the lives of young people but also as a youth response to multiple, pervasive social factors, including poverty, historical trauma, and continuing racism—what we are beginning to name “social determinants” of youth gang activity. We include recommendations for youth and community response to social determinants.The research upon which this article is based was supported by a grant from CURA's Faculty Interactive Research Program. The program was created to encourage University faculty to conduct research with community organizations and collaborators on issues of public policy importance for the state and community. These grants are available to regular faculty at the University of Minnesota and are awarded annually on a competitive basis