REACH Project Evaluation Background and Resources

Is REACH working?
The first and foremost purpose of program evaluation is to assess if a program or initiative works.

To answer this question, there needs to be clarity around what the program is supposed to do. The goal of the REACH Community Action Strategy is to support healthy development of youth for their successful transition to adulthood by increasing participation in quality programs and activities, providing opportunities for youth to develop leadership and decision making skills, and helping communities take positive action for youth.

REACH Theory of Change and Logic Model
A theory of change (TOC) is used to operationalize a goal. Theories of change help identify the issue(s) the program will address and the strategies that will be enacted to achieve specific outcomes.

Sierra Health Foundation developed a theory of change for REACH, based on the work of Michelle Gambone, referred to as the REACH Community Action framework.

During the planning phase, the seven participating REACH coalitions used this Theory of Change to develop individual logic models. A logic model’s purpose is to communicate the underlying theory or set of assumptions or hypotheses that program proponents have about why the program will work, or about why it is a good solution to an identified problem.

REACH Project Evaluation
Over the course of the grant, coalitions will be gathering information from a number of sources to help determine if the REACH Thoery of Change was correct (if the program worked as it was intended to). This will include the collection of both process and outcomes data.

Process data will be used to show if the coalitions did what they set out to do, capture changes made to the logic model along the way, and document unintended outcomes (both positive and negative). Most important, process data will capture the REACH story so that the coalitions and other people interested in supporting the healthy development of youth can learn from this experience. Outcomes data will be used to help show impact by assessing the programs impact and effectiveness.

REACH External Evaluation
In addition to the localized evaluation efforts of each of the coalitions, Sierra Health has contracted with the UC Davis California Communities Program. The external evaluation will provide information that helps Coalitions understand and learn from their individual efforts, as well as explore the overall and collective impact of the REACH Community Action Strategy on the region.

Evaluation Resources and Tools

Evaluating community change

• Evaluating Comprehensive Community Change.
  Report of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s March 1997 Research and Evaluation Conference
• Western Rural Development Center’s Community-Centered Research Series available at: http://extension.usu.edu/wrdc/htm/publications/by=category/category=170

Evaluating a coalition/collaborative

• We Did It Ourselves: An Evaluation Guidebook.
  Community Partnerships for Healthy Children – An Initiative of Sierra Health Foundation
• Evaluating Collaboratives: Reaching the Potential.
  University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension

Involving Youth in Research and Evaluation

• Youth in Focus
  www.youthinfocus.net
• Community Youth Connections
  http://cyfar.umd.edu/evaluation/

Primary Data Collection Methods

• Summary Report Collecting Data from Children Ages 9-13
• Conducting a Community Needs Assessment: Primary Data Collection Strategies.
  Florida Cooperative Extension Services

Secondary Data Sources

• California Report Card
  www.childrennow.org
• Child Trends Data Book
  www.childtrendsdatabank.org

• DataQuest (California Dept. Of Education)
  dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest
• Ed-Data
  www.ed-data.k12.ca.us
• National Center for Education Statistics
  nces.ed.gov/ccd
• School Matters
  www.schoolmatters.com
• American FactFinder
  factfinder.census.gov
• Neighborhood Knowledge California
  nkca.ucla.edu
• The Guidebook for the California Healthy Kids Survey (Part II: Data Use & Dissemination) provides important information about how to use CHKS data.

Reports

• A Regional View of Social Disparities (PDF, 17 MB)
  This report includes a series of useful data maps for the region (see Page 31 for a Table of Maps), including demographic data, education data, housing data, and data on access to health care.