Evaluating Civic Youth Work ― Illustrative Evaluation Designs and Methodologies for Complex Youth Program Evaluations

Youth civic engagement efforts have become common across the globe. With the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, many have turned to civic engagement methodologies to create opportunities for young people to have a voice in decisions that affect them. With the dissemination of youth civic engagement practice, there is a need to evaluate these efforts to satisfy funders, stakeholders, and participants. As a social innovation, youth civic engagement efforts present unique issues to evaluation and invite innovative and participatory evaluation designs. This volume brings together experienced evaluators, evaluation and youth civic engagement scholars, and civic youth workers to inform evaluation designs for youth civic engagement practice and programs. The book uses the US Center for Disease Control's framework for evaluation process, and explores issues, questions, and choices an evaluator can make when designing an evaluation of youth civic engagement practices. The heart of the book includes case studies written by professional evaluators, evaluation and youth scholars, and youth workers to define issues for each stage and provide guidance for others who want to design a robust, rigorous, and responsive evaluation for youth civic engagement initiatives and practices. The final chapters of the book provide straightforward and clear guidance for beginning to intermediate evaluators when designing and conducting evaluation studies.

Michael Baizerman, PhD, MS, MS, is Professor and Director, Youth Studies, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, and Adjunct Professor of Youth Development Leadership, University of Minnesota. He has taught in Youth Studies since 1972 and also carried out community-consultation on youthwork and youth studies locally and internationally. He has published widely in youthwork and youth studies and extensively in program evaluation.

Ross VeLure Roholt, PhD, MSW, is Assistant Professor, Youth Studies, School of Social Work, and University of Minnesota. Before joining the Youth Studies faculty, Dr. VeLure Roholt worked for two years in Belfast, Northern Ireland on issues around youth civic engagement and youthwork practice. He has consulted both locally and internationally on youthwork practice,especially in Jordan, Israel, and Palestine territories. Currently he is developing a youthwork practice, Civic Youthwork, and also continues to consult with youth organizations and groups in Jordan and Morocco around this youthwork practice.