Do you know where your next biggest threat looms?

Having a risk management system in place before you actually need it is imperative for nonprofit organizations of all types and sizes, and that includes large volunteer programs and grassroots, volunteer-led organizations.

A recent article in NPQ’s Nonprofit Newsletter written by Joshua Mintz, general counsel of the John D and Cartherine T. MacArthur Foundation presents a very thorough analysis of why all nonprofits should have a RM policy and what it should contain.

Mintz lists the top goals of a nonprofit risk assessment as:
• To identify, analyze, and prioritize legal/ethical misconduct and compliance risks specific to the operations of the organization;
• To provide a basis for possible compliance, training and ethics;
• To refine or develop risk mitigation and monitoring strategies;
• To identify areas where deeper internal reviews would be warranted; and
• To develop a benchmark for ongoing risk assessment and measurement of the effectiveness of mitigation steps that may be taken.

For a RM program to be effective, it needs to be more than just a stagnant policy that you pull out once a year during the annual board orientation. Having a risk management policy but not going through the process periodically is like having computer virus software but not running it regularly.

The nonprofit world is continuously evolving with new risks and challenges popping up all the time. Consider the risks associated with social networking, for example.

Fortunately, there are lots of resources available for implementing a meaningful and effective nonprofit risk management program. Check out the Nonprofit Risk Management Center and BoardSource as two examples.

Daniel Martinage, CAE, is an executive coach and consultant specializing in nonprofits and associations. The former executive director of the International Coach Federation, Dan also serves on the Selection Committee for The Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management and on the faculty at the Center for Nonprofit Advancement. His website is www.associationcoach.com

I will soon be 63 years old. I am married and have three grown children. And, yes, I am still working – as an office manager of a veterinary clinic.

I have long been interested in the issue of osteoporosis prevention. The Bone Builder Program employs an approach that includes education in dietary management of calcium and vitamin D intake together with resistance training (using weights), balance exercises and stretching. This approach appeals to me much more than use of medications.

HealthReach RSVP sponsors the Bone Builder program in our area. They provide our groups with the weights and meeting space at no charge to the participants. They provide the initial training for leaders to prepare them to lead classes and information to share with their groups then follow up with annual retraining and on-going supervision.

I have been a Bone Builder Leader for almost two years now and have enjoyed the experience very much. Because I am still working, my group meets in the evening. It has been a very rewarding experience for me personally. I have enjoyed the leader training and the support of meeting with other group leaders. I find that as a leader of a group, I am inspired to much more regular participation than if I were practicing the same program on my own at home. Best of all, though, is the terrific group of participants that I have met and the encouragement we get from each other. We have a great time together as we strengthen our muscles and bones!

Cindy Rowe is a guest blogger and a Bone Builders volunteer leader through HealthReach RSVP in Waterville, Maine. She has been a member of HealthReach RSVP since 2005 and also serves on their advisory council. HealthReach RSVP is a Senior Corps program funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. May 7-11, 2012 celebrates National Senior Corps Week.

I have been an elementary principal for the last 20 years. An important and integral part of building a positive school climate has been the addition of Foster Grandparents to my schools. The Foster Grandparent Program, a program that places volunteers ages 55+ in schools and community organizations to support at-risk students, has been an invaluable addition to the school’s culture and climate. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing students’ faces light up when they enter the school building each day with a smile to be greeted by a Foster Grandparent with heartfelt “Good Morning!” and a hug. It gets the day off on the right foot for all.

Impact on my schools: The Foster Grandparent Program has improved the overall climate of the Monroe and Morse Schools. When students enter the building each day, they are greeted by the grandparent with a cheerful smile, hug, and check in. It is such a blast to be out there in the hallway when this interchange takes place. Foster Grandparents support students in the cafeteria each day by reinforcing appropriate manners and social skills, and facilitate the development of countless friendships between students.

Impact in the classroom: Foster Grandparents reinforce the importance of excellent literacy skills with the students they interact with each day. They read mostly one-on-one with children and sometimes in small groups with assigned book buckets filled with leveled reading material. The students that Foster Grandparents work with improve their vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension in reading, according to the district’s AIMSweb data. Foster Grandparents will often review spelling words to help prepare students for their spelling tests. Additionally, they will help students with their writing. The students that Foster Grandparents work with show better fine motor coordination, are more confident writers who are more willing to make corrections, and have more details in their stories than students who do not have regular Foster Grandparent support.

Impact on Teachers: Foster Grandparents have allowed the teachers to add additional literacy supports for students. Teachers have trained Foster Grandparents to reinforce targeted reading and writing behaviors that are necessary to improve at-risk students’ literacy skills. Students working with Foster Grandparents have increased their reading levels, according to our Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark assessments. Students are more willing to read aloud in class, and they read with more excitement and voice, as measured by our running records assessments.

Impact on Students: Students that Foster Grandparents work with daily are more calm, caring, have better attendance, and show more reading and writing gains (according to our district assessments) than their peers who do not have the one-on-one time with Foster Grandparents. Our school’s discipline data also shows that the students who work with the Foster Grandparents have better focus and attention in the classroom and have fewer disciplinary issues during unstructured time like lunch, recess, or on the bus.

Schools that Have Foster Grandparents vs. Schools that Do Not: I have been the educational leader at both types of schools and the data has shown that schools that utilize the Foster Grandparent Program have a better climate for students and staff. Students’ attendance increases, as does their academic achievement when they work regularly with a Foster Grandparent. Student behavior, social skills, and self esteem also increases when working with a Foster Grandparent.

Matthew Houghton is a guest blogger and the Principal of RSU #3 Schools, including Morse Memorial School in Brooks, Maine and Monroe Elementary School in Monroe, Maine. Foster Grandparents are placed in his schools through Penquis Foster Grandparent Program, a Senior Corps program funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. May 7-11, 2012 celebrates National Senior Corps Week.

A shout to the Maine Commission for Community Service for the beautiful event it hosted April 17th to recognize this year’s recipients of the Governor’s Awards for Service and Volunteerism.

A good many THANK YOUs are in order to the recipients of as well as all associated with the Governor’s Service Awards. If I started to identify some, certainly I would mistakenly leave someone out. Better I refer you here, where you can visit several tabs to learn more.

Donna Vigue of RSU 67 accepts the Outstanding Service-Learning Practitioner Award from Maine's First Lady Ann LePage

In my posts to this space I frequently focus on an aspect of service-learning practice. Today I’ll put a half-twist on that, and focus briefly on elements that create conditions that support service-learning in communities.

Disclaimer: A great deal has been written on this topic as well as topics closely related to supporting cultural change. As you probably guessed, this blog post is not going to go that deep. This is bona fide surface scratching. For more on this topic with examples see this post, from Michigan’s Learn and Serve Resource Blog.

At KIDS Consortium, we identify four elements that contribute to sustaining service-learning. Just a couple of notes: these elements work together; frequently, single strategies and actions support more than one element. Also, they work together differently in every community. Lastly, they constantly need to be tended because personnel changes, initiatives shift, external requirements change, etc.

David Theoharides, Sanford Superindentent of Schools, is congratulated by (l-r) Maryalice Crofton, Mary-Anne LaMarre, and First Lady Anne LePage for the School District Excellence in Service-Learning Award

Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment: All students have multiple opportunities to implement high quality service-learning projects that develop strong civic, social and academic knowledge, skills and attitudes. Projects are embedded in, but not limited to, designated grade span curriculum, instruction and assessment requirements.
Strategy example: Bring appropriate stakeholders together to be part of a process to integrate service-learning within curriculum and instructional practice.

School< >Community Partnerships: Service-learning is used as a tool by both schools and communities to strengthen K-12 education and impact community needs. School< >Community partnerships are nurtured and sustained over time.
Strategy example: Ask students involved in service-learning to help provide training for community partners to help them to understand how and why students should be actively involved impacting authentic problems.

Leadership: A multi-faceted leadership effort exists to continually advocate for, support and evaluate service-learning practice to ensure its vibrancy and prosperity. Service-learning is embedded in strategic plans and initiatives. Explicit policies and practices encourage and support service-learning.
Strategy example: Include service-learning in hiring and/or performance evaluations for teachers, program leaders, and administrators.

So the surface is scratched! I’ve tried to be concise (really, I have) but I know that there is so much more to add to this topic. So I’ll ask you to add to it: What is your community doing to sustain service-learning? Add your examples to the comment box.

Matt Robinson is a Featured Blogger and an education consultant with KIDS Consortium.

I admit it: I am a cheerleader for Global Youth Service Day (GYSD). It’s not easy advocating this lesser-known cousin, competing for your attention with Earth Day and National Volunteer Week, and possibly other observations. But, I would like to challenge you to carve out some of your time this coming weekend to give some loving attention to GYSD, and here’s why:

The UN estimates nearly 35% of the 7 billion people inhabiting this earth are children and young people between the ages of 5 and 25. Here in the US, almost 28% of our 309 million residents fall into that age range. That’s one in every three people walking among us, so, chances are very good that if you do not fall into this age range yourself, you are probably raising, teaching, or at least well-acquainted with, someone who is. And, yes, I’m going to say it: They are our future.

I don’t know about you, but if my future is in their hands, I’d want them to be taking a keen interest in the communities we are living in, and challenge them to find ways to help make them better. And, in fact, many already are.

Steven A. Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America, the organization that launched GYSD in 1988, said it best in a recent media release:

“Now is the time to activate youth to be the leaders of today, and one of the most effective ways to do this is by challenging them to solve communities problems through service. With passion, creativity and fresh perspective, young people are uniquely positioned to come up with new and innovative ways to improve their communities. On Global Youth Service Day, the world stands in awe as we see what is possible when kids take the lead as problem-solvers.”

Now in its 24th year, GYSD 2012, which is April 20-22, will see over two million young people in over 100 countries around the world and in all 50 states—including right here in Maine—mobilizing to create change in their communities. It is literally the largest service event in the world, and the only major event dedicated to youth. And, what might they do? Well, projects range from one-time community clean-ups to city- or country-wide public awareness campaigns. Many GYSD projects address the world’s most critical issues, such as childhood health and well-being, civil rights and environmental conservation.

Here in Maine, Portland’s Lincoln Middle School held a press conference on April 11, where they publicly issued a challenge to all Maine youth to get out and commit an act of service on GYSD weekend. Hundreds of young people, from Presque Isle to Sanford, are taking the challenge, and even students from Lisbon, CT, have responded with their pledge to do service activities on GYSD. They have pledged to do an amazing variety of community service activities, from traditional neighborhood clean-ups and planting community gardens to helping remove stray animals from the streets and assisting the community in disaster preparedness! These young people are willing to help make a positive impact in their communities.

Regular readers of this blog may think I am preaching to the choir, but it bears repeating that when young people are involved in meaningful service activities, everyone benefits. There are plenty of studies that show this. (Check out this fact sheet for a good summary of who benefits and how.) Okay, a skeptic may retort that a one-off clean-up is hardly life-altering. And, that may be true. I would even go so far as to say the mere requirement of completing so many hours of community service as a high school graduation requirement is not only an ineffective way to instill a sense of civic responsibility in young people, it may even have the unintended effect of turning them off from community service. But, meaningful service activities, ones that can be sparked by GYSD and nurtured by the adults in young peoples’ lives—parents, teachers, community members—are not usually one-offs and are not usually mandated by an authority.

But, I digress. Circling back, I’ve given you three good reasons why you should observe Global Youth Service Day this weekend. So, whatever else you are observing this weekend, why not at least make it a ‘two-for’ and incorporate a few hours for GYSD by getting youth you know involved in a community service activity, or joining one they are organizing?

Let me leave you with some tips and suggestions on making your or your young person’s GYSD service activity meaningful:

• Young people have active and meaningful leadership roles;
• The service projects meet real community needs and priorities; and
• Young people are involved at all stages.

We’d love to hear back from you! Please leave a comment below and share pictures and stories of your GYSD 2012 successes!

Richard Higgins is an AmeriCorps*VISTA member serving at the Maine Commission for Community Service. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer, serving in the Philippines with a focus on educator training and community development. Prior to that, he worked as a Japanese-language interpreter for more than a decade.

Making the commitment to undertake a strategic planning project is an extremely important first step, but once you’ve done this, what can you do to ensure you begin on the right foot and continue on track? Here are some tips.

Break the Mold
Start by assembling the planning committee or task force. Strive to create a team that has a good balance of board and non-board members and seasoned as well as emerging leaders. Include creative people who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. Be sure to take a hard look at the “Sacred Cows”—those programs or services that have developed a life of their own and seem “above” critical evaluation.

Even though the planning team should represent the organization’s makeup, don’t get carried away—if the planning group is too large it becomes sluggish and cumbersome. Twelve or fewer people usually works best. Appoint a Plan Monitor to assist staff with gauging plan progress. The plan monitor should be someone reliable with a solid track record for moving things forward.

Plan to Plan
What you do before convening around the planning table is just as critical as what you do after. At a minimum, the planning team must review organization by-laws, policies, structure, finances, current activities and past research. Consider doing a pre-session questionnaire or telephone interview of key stakeholders to obtain impressions of the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). In addition to generating valuable information, this research helps kick-start the planning process by getting stakeholders to think critically. Research can also help create a benchmark to compare how opinions change as the plan unfolds. Conducting a more comprehensive needs assessment is well worth the time and money. Just remember to keep the survey manageable and focused.

Get Help
Working with a professional, impartial facilitator is essential. In addition to bringing a fresh outsiders perspective tot the process, the facilitator balances conflicting points of view and keeps the session on track and moving. It’s also a good idea to have the facilitator monitor the plan’s progress for six months or so after plan deployment. The early stages of the implementation process is often when plans falter and the facilitator can help with accountability and building contingency plans when necessary.

Focus on Results
Don’t get hung up on the process or language of strategic planning. Does it really matter if what’s on the flip chart is a goal or an objective? What does matter is that goals/objectives are specific and measurable. Resist the temptation to craft lofty or esoteric mission statements or objective—the plan must be understood to be implemented.

The written strategic plan should have two versions. Version one is detailed with the “who, what, when and how much” clearly spelled out. Version two is a general summary of the plan intended for people who are not charged with carrying out the plan. Using a condensed dashboard for easy review of plan progress is a good idea.

Think Process, not Event
Strategic planning is an ongoing, cyclical process, not an event. Getting together to plan for a day or two every couple of years isn’t strategic planning. Change is continuous and so are the strategies that are developed to deal with it. A good strategic plan reflects and documents accomplishments and gives rise to new objectives that bring the organization closer to achieving its overall vision. For the plan to be truly effective, objectives need to be integrated into every aspect of the organization including the budget, staff/leadership performance evaluations, and committee charges.

Move through “Analysis Paralysis”
Reach consensus and move on. Accept that the future is never crystal clear. Creating likely scenarios or “what-ifs” will help sharpen alternatives that minimize risks and maximize opportunities.

Daniel Martinage, CAE, is an executive coach and consultant specializing in nonprofits and associations. The former executive director of the International Coach Federation, Dan also serves on the Selection Committee for The Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management and on the faculty at the Center for Nonprofit Advancement. His website is www.associationcoach.com

Engineers Without Borders – UMaine (EWB-UMaine) is a group made up of students, faculty, and mentors with an interest in improving the quality of life for people in developing countries. Our mission is to “foster a worldwide cultural awareness and a strong sense of volunteerism in today’s future leaders through sustainable and community-driven engineering projects.” Our most recent endeavor was an implementation trip to Dulce Vivir, Honduras in the beginning of March. Dulce Vivir is located in the Western mountains of Honduras. We have been working with the 120-person community since 2008. The community faces many challenges due to flooding, overflowing latrines, poor health,

The village of Dulce Vivir, Honduras

EWB- UMaine travel team and mentors. From left to right: Brendan McGuirl- mentor, Rita Cooper, Whitney Chamberlain, Dan Gerges, Ruth Castillo, Nick Oberti, and Kyle Coolidge- mentor.

The community in Dulce Vivir is made up of men, women, and children who have lively spirits, kind hearts, and an amazing ability to persevere. They have lived in conditions of poor sanitation for much too long, and we wanted to do something to improve their lives. According to America East Communications, “grant recommendations were based on the student groups’ involvement with their chosen nonprofit, and the impact of the partnership on those served by the nonprofit as well as on the students themselves.” As a member of EWB I have personally worked side by side with students, faculty, and mentors alike and I can say for a fact that this grant was well deserved. The number of hours that went into this project is astronomical, but everyone who devoted time to EWB did it because they knew it was for a very good cause. EWB is a fantastic organization that teaches people to be problem-solvers, to work well with others, to be leaders, to be listeners, and to apply engineering skills to real-world situations. The impact of the partnership on Dulce Vivir and the students of UMaine was incredible. Dulce Vivir learned how to take charge of a project and develop ownership. They also voiced their many thanks to all of us for helping them out of sheer kindness. It was evident that they were overwhelmed with gratitude. I feel that I can speak for the students of the travel team and say that we developed a strong connection to the community of Dulce Vivir. We wanted to do our best on the project and have it be successful so that the community would no longer have to suffer from poor sanitation. We developed friendships without borders.

EWB-UMaine students with children of the Dulce Vivir community.

Whitney Chamberlain, a guest blogger, is a third-year Civil Engineering student from Scarborough, Maine and a member of EWB-UMaine. In her free time she enjoys running, hiking, reading, and spending time with family and friends. She loves traveling and looks forward to future trips.

The decision to expand your volunteer program (or start one) can seem overwhelming. “How will I find the people?” you might wonder. “How do we mobilize them? Who’s going to manage all the details?” If you worry that you’re getting stuck in the how-to phase of a growing volunteer project, maybe it’s time to pause. For a moment, instead of focusing on expanding your program, spend some time expanding your thinking.

Working at a small, nonprofit service agency, I had been through training about volunteer management, had read some articles and, of course, had heard inspiring stories about the difference volunteers make. But the truth was, when it came to thinking about expanding our own volunteer program, we tended to get stuck talking about how we could find the right volunteer to do this one thing we were struggling to do ourselves, or how we could convince our existing volunteers to do more. I’m sorry to admit, these weren’t planning sessions that left me personally inspired.

Around the same time, I had the chance to work with New England Network for Child, Youth and Family Services (NEN) on a toolkit they were developing that looks at how organizations across the country are using volunteers. And as a result of being part of that research team, the range of what I was listening for when people talked about volunteers naturally expanded. I started hearing stories about very small but creative ways that people were volunteering their time and talents – things like offering to make a birthday cake for a homeless teenager – and I began to feel excited again. These were concrete acts, sometimes thought up by the volunteers themselves, which could make a personal impact yet didn’t require amazing feats of management. I became energized to think out-of-the-box.

In a way, these stories also shifted my focus from “What does our agency need that volunteers can give us?” to, “What do I sit in my office just wishing someone would do for my clients once in a while?” and, “What does this person (who’s a friend of our agency) want to give that’s meaningful to them?” I was starting to approach the concept of expanding a volunteer program, not just from my head, but also from my heart. And it’s the melding of the two that’s necessary, I believe, for a volunteer program that’s vibrant and fuels its own fire.

Cover of Publication 'The Hidden Workforce'

Jennifer Smith has worked with youth-serving nonprofits for more than a decade and has expertise in program delivery, development and evaluation for runaway and homeless youth programs. She has been a Research Associate with NEN since 2008. Smith is also a published author and provides editing and grant writing services through her business Calmposition. She may be contacted at jsmith[at]nenetwork[dot]org.

This final post using the framework of The Charismatic Organization focuses on meaningful involvement in the organization. If you have followed the principles of creating a charismatic organization, you will remember that building a strong organizational core is central to being a volunteer-ready organization. Then you build an external network. Now it is time to deliver the goods. Your Board and staff are committed to engaging volunteers in ways that are central to your mission; you have a culture that embraces volunteers; you have analyzed the data about your previous volunteer program; you have innovated in the ways you involve volunteers; you have created a people-centered management system; you have communicated broadly in the community; you have conducted productive outreach. Now you want to adopt the final principle of a charismatic organization, which is meaningful involvement.

Volunteers need to feel that they are connected to the mission and values that drive the organization, and that they contribute meaningful work to meet the program goals of the organization. They want a sense of belonging, of sharing in the planning of goals and objectives. Volunteers need to feel that those outcomes are within reach and make sense to them. They like to know that the work has a real purpose. They want to share in making decisions related to the work they are doing. They expect explicit detailed outcomes. They also want responsibilities that challenge them. They want to be able to see progress and to measure their own success. They want to trust the organization to live up to its promises and to feel confident in its leadership. They want to feel part of the organization by being kept in the communication loop.

We have spoken often of the need for a periodic assessment of volunteer performance. This really means to gather feedback from the volunteer on a regular basis to see if you are actually meeting their list of ‘wants.’ This includes regular informal check-ins, consistent staff support, and active listening on the part of staff. Nothing in a performance review should ever be a surprise. If “it’s not working out,” then the sooner the issue is addressed, the happier both the staff and the volunteer will be. This may result in closure or termination which may be a relief to everyone involved. And, it is far better than having the volunteer just disappear. On the other hand, it may prove to be an opportunity to celebrate achievements and to offer a promotion of sorts. That could be a transfer to a more responsible position or to a leadership role. Unless you ask, you will never know.

Meaningful involvement also includes formal recognition through awards, events, or benefits. Not everyone likes the large, annual gastronomic extravaganza. Some volunteers love the gifts, the pins and the ‘stuff.’ Others welcome invitations for professional growth. Opportunities for advancement can be translated into skills that can be applied to their work lives. Paying the registration fee so that a volunteer can attend a conference is a wonderful way to demonstrate that volunteers are effective and trustworthy representatives of the organization. Meaningful involvement closes the circle back to the first principle of a charismatic organization—mission driven motivation. This nourishing and reinvigorating circle adds strength to the volunteer and to the organization.

Anne B. Schink is a volunteer management consultant and the author of the Nonprofit Readiness Toolkit.

In my final blog post in a series on assessing service-learning, I’m excited to tie up the topic and bring focus to engaging youth in experiences relative to their lives. Let’s quickly recap to catch everyone up to speed, especially if this is the first time you’ve joined this blog thread.

Over the last two months, I’ve focused on the importance of assessing service and service-learning initiatives, and used Westheimer and Kahne’s article, Educating the “Good” Citizen: Political Choices and Pedagogical Goals, two months ago to frame assessment around two key outcomes to improve service-learning experiences: justice-oriented thought and civic action.

Then last month, I examined the first part of these two criteria by using the Rigor/Relevance model from the International Center for Leadership in Education to illustrate how to engage and measure critical thinking outcomes during service experiences. This month, we’ll come full circle to not only assess at what level students are thinking during their service experiences, but help provide rigorous and real ways these thoughts can be applied in their communities.

Continuing to focus on the Rigor/Relevance Framework, we not only need to pay attention to how youth are thinking on the Knowledge Taxonomy, but what they are doing with this knowledge. On the Application Model (the horizontal axis when looking at the tool), the Framework lays out five levels of how knowledge is applied. The critical piece in application is designing experiences that will produce outcomes that are relevant and real to the youth themselves. This occurs as youth are able to begin connecting knowledge outside of stagnant subject categories. Looking at the Framework, this starts under number 3:

Applying Across Disciplines, where youth can use knowledge to benefit more than one area of learning. For example, youth could use science facts they found from research in their library (health, biology) to write persuasive essays (English Language Arts) about what students should do to exercise and eat healthier.

As youth begin to reach these levels of application, learning isn’t done for a specific class, but rather is used in complex and intersecting ways. At the next level, simple service projects can begin stretching this application even further:

Applying to Real-World Predictable Situations, where youth can apply their knowledge to a real-world setting where there is only one outcome. For example, a community center might have youth research teenage eating and exercise habits (health, statistics) to create a display to promote healthy eating and exercise (art, graphic design, computer skills). The data gathering applies knowledge to a real-world situation, and the students have a predictable outcome in creating a display.

And finally, advancing down the continuum, it becomes clearly evident that high quality service and service-learning lends itself to the highest levels of application and engagement by engaging youth in civic action in their communities:

Applying to Real-World Unpredictable Situations, where youth not only apply their knowledge in cross-disciplinary ways, but also seek answers to situations with unpredictable outcomes. To continue on with our example, students would gather data from peers about their exercise and eating habits (health, statistics), and then create a campaign to change their peers’ habits. This applies their knowledge to the real world, but also challenges them to apply it at the highest level where they cannot predict the outcome and must problem-solve, analyze, and synthesize throughout the experience to produce a change in their peers’ behaviors.

Taken together, both the Rigor/Relevance Framework’s Knowledge Taxonomy and Application Model allow us as practitioners to assess the critical thinking and application to real circumstances youth are able to engage in through service. Central to the themes Westheimer and Kahne address in their study to examine civically engaged youth, it is imperative for us as service practitioners to give focus to quality outcomes.

Admittedly, when I started this current blog thread on assessing service-learning (now spreading into a THIRD post!), I hadn’t planned on expanding the topic past a simple single blog commentary and explanation of how to use two tools to inform assessment in your own service-learning experiences. But as the writing wore on, and the tools came to life in the context of youth critically thinking about and engaging within their communities, it has been a fantastic opportunity to also think more deeply about the purpose of assessment in the first place.

Assessment is a way to engage in the complicated process of defining meaning within service and service-learning experiences and measure outcomes that support the use of both strategies with youth. If we aren’t striving toward outcomes where youth can think critically and act civically, we lose sight of service as a central way they can systemically change the communities around them while also growing as individuals. As I move onto a new topic next month, I encourage readers to keep these two key pieces – critical thought and civic action – central to the design and assessment of how your youth are engaging in the world around them. Please feel free to contact me for further discussion, and I welcome feedback on how these tools might fit into your service and service-learning efforts.

Laura Rog is the Director of Training and Technical Assistance with generationOn and a featured blogger.