The “garden communities” of Seattle are low-income public housing sites which are home to people embracing a wealth of cultures differing in both heritage and language. Despite the cultural richness of these communities, inter-ethnic tensions and perceived exclusion from community resources by different ethnically-related groups have arisen. To promote positive relations among residents the Promoting Assets Across Cultures (PAAC) program was developed by several community-based agencies. In particular, PAAC will promote community asset building and leadership development in multicultural groups of youth and parents. To determine the effectiveness of the PAAC program strategy, an outcome based evaluation is being conducted through Seattle Partners for Healthy Communities, a CDC funded Urban Research Center.
This evaluation uses community empowerment methods to conduct an in-person randomized project-baseline survey of approximately 800 public housing residents. The involvement and roles of PAAC agencies, community members through youth and parent groups and community residence councils at all stages of the evaluation will be reported. Results of statistical analyses will describe community assets and leadership among the largest ethnic groups (African American, East African, Southeast Asian, and White) living in the communities. Indicators of social capital, community competence and empowerment, social support, as well as measures of both interethnic tensions and positive relations will be presented.
This survey will be repeated annually for four years to monitor the success in achieving outcome based goals and objectives. Initial baseline results will help to guide the communities and project toward overall program success and better community health.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to: 1) Develop an outcome-based evaluation process using community empowerment methodologies to evaluate a community intervention designed to reduce inter-ethnic tensions and promote positive relations; and 2) Identify measures of community assets, social capital, community competence, empowerment, and social support which are relevant for community development and program evaluation
Keywords: Community Assets, Community Research
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.