Our Results
We have developed a significant track record of providing high quality services and making a distinctive impact on the lives of the individual youth and families we serve; the schools and communities where we have concentrated our services; and the child welfare, education and family support systems with which we interface.
Evaluating Our Work
In recent years, we have embarked on an ambitious plan to strengthen our capacity to track data about our programs, participants and outcomes. While, previously, it was hard for us to provide more than anecdotal evidence of the outcomes of our programs, we have now greatly increased our ability both to evaluate the effectiveness of our programs and the impact on individual participants, and to use data to inform and improve our work.
A comprehensive Department of Program Evaluation and Planning (PEP) provides leadership and strategies for programs to develop and track targeted, program-specific outcomes to which they hold themselves accountable, which feed into the broader agency outcomes that comprise our Theory of Change. We use several databases to track our work, and document our process and goals through the logic model. Logic models are a visual representation of the links between the resources, activities and results of our work. Program staff collaborate with the PEP Department to determine goals and the strategies that will be used to achieve these goals, as well as what indicators should be tracked. Regular meetings between PEP and program staff ensure that the data is used to inform program management.
Youth Development Outcomes
We believe that if we deliver quality programs, that emphasize safety, foster the development of age appropriate skills and competencies, help to build strong connections and reinforce consistent, sustained participation, then youth who participate will be more likely to be successful in making a developmentally appropriate passage to self-sufficiency, which is our ultimate goal.
GSS programs are designed to yield the following outcomes for participants:
Safety - Demonstration of emotional and physical safety.
Belonging - Indicators of positive connections within and external to the program settings.
Skill-Building - Demonstration of developmentally appropriate competencies/skills.
Numbers and Statistics
1,290 young people were able to earn a high school diploma or GED through one of our Multiple Pathways to Graduation Programs during the 2008-09 school year.
99% of the children served in our Preventive Programs were able to avoid entering foster care placement during the 2008-09 program year.
100% of children final discharged from our foster boarding home program who did not return to GSS care within one year.
