COMMUNITY-BUILDING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Community-building is a process of engaging entire communities in planning and action toward a particular goal. It involves assessing strengths and needs, analyzing existing power structures, and mobilizing interested parties toward effective action. Ultimately, it is about bringing people together to create better, more efficient systems and programs. For over 25 years NEN has helped communities be more responsive to the needs of children and youth. In the course of that work we have developed a number of products and services that can by utilized by others as well. We describe some of them below, along with examples of how and where they have been used. All tools and processes are flexible and can be customized to meet the needs of the local community. Call or email NEN to find out more about them, or to ask for consultation or training.
Homeless/Transient Youth Counting Project
NEN's Transient/Homeless Youth Counting Project is designed to provide a reliable estimate of the number of teenagers in any given school district who have left home and are living somewhere else — a car, a friend's house, a group home — temporarily. The goal of the project is to inform public policy regarding services to transient and homeless adolescents, provide much-needed statistical information to local human services agencies that work with at-risk and homeless youth, and to improve the ability of schools and community-based agencies to develop services and obtain funding for them.
The methodology of The Transient/Homeless Youth Project is innovative in that it questions students themselves — not teachers or guidance counselors — about transience and homelessness among their peers. The project has been piloted, and findings replicated, in four high schools.
Read more about the process and findings
Inquire about training or technical assistance in creating your own Counting Project
Project Zoom-In
This two-pronged project aims to help youth-focused coalitions understand the issues and perspectives of young people; develop partnerships with other organizations in their community; and to raise general awareness about experiences of young people. Zoom-In consists of 1) a online youth survey implemented through schools and local agencies and 2) a 'photovoice' project done in conjunction with the survey and that seeks to answer some of the same questions. Between 2008 and 2010, NEN managed full Zoom-In projects in three communities and a photovoice-only project in a fourth. Zoom-in projects can be either broad or narrow in focus, looking at very specific local issues ('where are homeless peers currently living?') or general ones (what things in your community help you succeed?).
See a Zoom-In report
See how one community used the photovoice component of Zoom-In
A photovoice project
See NEN's Zoom-In manual and photo curriculum
Inquire about training or technical assistance in creating your own Project Zoom-In
Mapsite: Resource-Mapping Websites for and by Youth
NEN created the 'mapsite' process as a way to engage young people in finding and describing the opportunities that exist in their own communities. Young people identify potential resources — businesses, hospitals, artisans, town workers — and find out more about them. They conduct their own interviews, write up their findings, and post them for their peers. Mappers come from a variety of places: high school journalism classes, hands-on career-exploration classes, community agencies and youth groups of all kinds. NEN developed this customized, GPS-enabled website to display mapped resources, and makes that technology available to other communities for their own mapping projects.
See our pilot mapsite, Wind Tunnel, from Windham County, Vermont
Inquire about training, technical assistance or software to create your own mapping website
Volunteers in Child- and Youth-Serving Agencies
Outreach workers, marketers, fundraisers, financial mentors, Valentine's-makers, birthday-cake bakers, homework-helpers, lobbyists: need a little help expanding services to your clients in these tough times? Since the early 1990’s, experts have been telling the nonprofit world that an advancing wave of retiring baby boomers would soon be landing on its doorstep, eager to give them all sorts of assistance, and for absolutely free. Now, due to demographics, the economy and evolving national policy, volunteers are here. But are nonprofits working with children, youth and families really ready for them? Can they use volunteers in ways that truly improve their program services, cut their overhead, and extend their reach? The toolkit takes a clear-eyed look at what volunteers can really do in child- and youth-serving agencies, and how to get started growing or improving your own volunteer program.
Read or download a copy of The Hidden Workforce
Inquire about training in how to develop and manage volunteer programs
ImProve OutcomesSM
"Prove it or lose it" — we've all heard it. As funders' demands for accountability have risen, child- and youth-serving agencies struggle to demonstrate their effectiveness. Having a solid evaluation program not only helps guarantee your funding, but it holds you accountable to your own high standards, helping clarify your own expectations for your program and measuring your ability to meet them. NEN designed ImProve Outcomes in 2005 to help agencies set realistic expectations with clients, identify and organize relevant client accomplishments, and measure the degree to which their program fosters participant achievement. ImProve Outcomes has three components: training; agency implementation; and a free downloadable toolkit. The toolkit is most effective when used in conjunction with training.
Read more about ImProve OutcomesSM
Download the toolkitInquire about training and technical assistance in ImProve Outcomes