Giving African-American Teens a Voice: Using Evaluation Results to Improve Program Delivery, Design and Policy for a Community-Based Participatory Project

The Future Leaders Outreach Network (FLON) was created to provide opportunities to build the capacity of youth to make healthy decisions and prevent risky behaviors including abstinence from drugs, alcohol, violence and sexual activity until marriage. The organization's mission is, “To provide adolescents with skills that empower them to set goals, become effective leaders, pursue economic well-being, and make healthy choices.” The methods and strategies used to conduct community-based participatory evaluation research will be discussed. The program, disseminated to predominately African-American, urban, youth to include other adolescents of various ethnicities ages 12 to 18 years incorporated an eight (8) chapter curriculum-based abstinence education plan designed to change knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about risky behaviors.

The purposes of community-based health promotion (CBHP) program evaluation are to: (1) document effectiveness and impact interventions; (2) determine if goals and objectives are met; (3) demonstrate the program's cost-effectiveness to stakeholders; and (4) assist with development and maintenance of program sustainability.

Utilizing the framework offered by Dr. Steve Fawcett, the evaluation for this program tracked the major objectives of the project by establishing measures related to project objectives, and implemented a monitoring and feedback plan to assess process measures, intermediate outcomes and long-term community measures specific to project goals.

The evaluation process advanced FLON from an initiative to promote social justice and great decision-making to an effectively implemented program with demonstrable positive community-wide impact on teens and adults. This presentation will demonstrate the value of evaluation to improve program design and delivery.