Building strong communities: an evaluation of a neighborhood leadership program in a diverse urban area

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate an intervention used to train neighborhood leaders about community organizing and to enhance leadership skills. A mixed‐method design was used which included (a) a pre‐ and posttest assessment of 83 participants, and (b) qualitative descriptive interviews of 33 participants. Over half of the participants in the study were from ethnic minority groups (Latino or Cambodian). At posttest assessment, the participants improved in leadership skills (p=.001) and experience (p=.001) subscales. The qualitative interviews revealed that participants continued to be active in their communities by implementing neighborhood programs or starting community organizations. It is recommended that community practitioners and activists support neighborhood leadership programs to foster growth and enrichment in communities, and researchers/practitioners evaluate these projects with multiple methods to broaden scholarship in this important arena. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sustaining CBPR Projects: Lessons Learned Developing Latina Community Groups

“…Such leaders represent diversity, strength and experience. As a result, solutions are a creation of coming together and defining what works for their own communities (Ayón & Lee, 2009; Gutierrez et al, 1996)" (Mileski et al, 2014, p.146). Note: Decennial Census data was used because it is more accurate and closer to reality on the ground at the time project selected target neighborhoods than annual ACS estimates.…”

Using Community-Based Participatory Research to Advocate for Homeless Children

“…The process of creating the advocacy brief required TFH to reflect internally to discover its own resources. By indentifying internal strengths an agency's capacity to serve others is enhanced (Ayon & Lee, 2009;Saleebey, 2012). The TFH gained perspective by identifying its strengths ADVOCACY FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN through targeted internal data gathering, utilization of agency archival materials, and individual case summaries.…”

“…Capacity building is a process in which individuals/organizations gain knowledge, skills, and confidence to improve their lives or that of those they serve. Through the capacity-building process individuals/organizations apply what is learned in political, social, and economic ways (Ayon & Lee, 2009;Easterling, 2008;Gibbon, Labonte, & Laverack, 2002). Knowing its internal strengths, TFH examined its external environment to identify sources of data useful for its advocacy initiative and the potential like-minded agencies that may be interested in collaborative advocacy (Easterling, 2008;Jansson, 2011).…”

Promotion of Civic Engagement with the Family Leadership Training Institute

“…Family leadership programs are a nascent approach to fostering civic engagement, yet rigorous evaluations of them are uncommon. Ayón and Lee () used a mixed‐methods design to assess the impact of a program to train neighborhood leaders, and found that leadership skills increased significantly, and graduates continued to be engaged in their communities. Evaluations of the Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) and kindred programs typically find a significant increase in civic knowledge and engagement (Henderson et al., ), although few assess graduates beyond an immediate posttest.…”

“…Several parent leadership programs have been tailored to family school relations, but their evaluations relied on case studies (e.g., Bolívar & Chrispeels, ; Warren, Hong, Rubin & Uy, ). None of the preceding evaluation studies included a comparison group, and only the Ayón and Lee () evaluation assessed longer term outcomes. Thus, strengths of the current evaluation of FLTI are that a comparison group is included, and program impact was assessed up to 5 years after graduation.…”