Ask an Advisor Answers

Welcome Liz,
Thanks for sharing your questions about volunteer management (if I read you correctly) with Ask an Advisor and everyone who reads our conversations. Really salient questions and I'm sure there are many who share your concerns. Hopefully, we'll provide you with useful information that you can apply directly, if not today then certainly tomorrow. Although I'm not sure what type of campaign you're referring to (e.g., advocacy, membership, capital) I think the issues you raise are transcendent. As you so well know, volunteers are in many ways the life-blood of NFPs, community organizations, and the like so how we recruit them (a lot of effort), orient them (hopefully in the right direction), train them (not always, unfortunately), manage them (especially), engage them (and with them), motivate them, and reward them for their efforts are determining factors in any campaigns success. How many times have we recruited volunteers to our cause only to see significant attrition for a lack of attention to the aforementioned factors? I digress, but when we discuss volunteers we have to take many things into consideration including, as you noted keeping volunteers on message or acknowledging that staff may be reluctant to engage with them for the very real risk of unintended, yet negative consequences (this would be the case of no good deed going unpunished, right?). Yes, sometimes it's just easier to want to do everything ourselves. However, I get the sense that you'd like to manage your volunteers better so I think that we have the resources you need. If you go to our home page you'll notice the Learn a Skill (how-to information) button in the top left corner. Click it on and the click on table of contents and scroll down to "Developing a Strategic Plan and Organizational Structure." This section provides you with information about developing a strategic plan and organizational structure, recruiting and training staff and volunteers, and providing technical assistance. You will notice there are five chapters (8 - 12) and two toolkits (5 and 15): Chapters - Chapter 8. Developing a Strategic Plan; Chapter 9. Developing an Organizational Structure for the Initiative; Chapter 10. Hiring and Training Key Staff of Community Organizations; Chapter 11. Recruiting and Training Volunteers; and Chapter 12. Providing Training and Technical Assistance; and Toolkits - 5. Developing Strategic and Action Plans and 15. Improving Organizational Management and Development.
From my perspective, the key to your success can be found in Chapter 11, sections 1 - 4 inclusive, although the other chapters and the two toolkits may be of interest to you as well. In the work we do most of the parts are interrelated and interdependent so having broad ecological knowledge is of paramount importance. If the specific answers to your questions can't be extracted directly from Chapter 11, at the very least it will inform your thinking about volunteers and give you greater insight into everything that goes into a volunteer program. So, Liz I really hope this helps. If not, please engage with us again and we'll keep working together until we come up with a solution. Let us know if you have any other questions and again, we thank you for sharing your questions with us. Always remember you are never alone! Best to you.
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Hi Miriam,
Welcome to Ask an Advisor and for raising an incredibly relevant issue; we really appreciate your question and hope that we can provide you with useful and directly applicable advice that will inform your most important community work. As you so well know Miriam, this is an issue that transcends education and speaks to how we engage with and motivate people towards actions that directly impact their lives; in our times this is especially salient. As you pointed out, it appears that parents in the East Bay Latino community are indifferent to their children's educational endeavors as evinced by lack of participation in school meetings, school board meetings and the like. Okay, let's think about this from a number of different perspectives: 1) our perceptions of other people's behaviors and our own cultural competencies, and 2) how we might transform our initial perceptions into useful and productive actions. To the first point, let me say that things are not always what they appear to be, especially within low-income, vulnerable communities. What may appear to us as apathy or indifference usually is neither, rather this condition is likely a function of, among other things, logistics (i.e., the time of day and where meetings are held), transportation issues (i.e., having to take public transportation and make multiple transfers); child care issues; having to work more than one job to provide for one's family needs; being a single parent and not being able to get time off; language (this is huge) and cultural barriers (perceived or real); parents' own experience with the educational system; and fear (especially if they are undocumented). So, as you begin to think about what type of intervention might work with this community, these are considerations that, well, must be considered or else any intervention so conceived is doomed to fail. As much as we'd like to think that parents should want to readily engage with the educational system for the sake of their children, there are just some factors that preclude the feasibility of such engagement. Hence we need to figure out ways of addressing those factors head-on if our intervention is to succeed. Likewise, we must put aside any cultural stereotypes we might harbor and look at the realities of life in this community (and other similar communities) from the perspective of those who live there. I'm not saying that you don't already do this, it's more a reminder to self (me) and others who might read this to consider more than just what appears before our eyes, yes? Okay, all that said, and please don't take it as criticism as I offer my perspective along the lines of "things to think about", let's discuss the second point of turning our initial perceptions into useful and productive actions on behalf of the community. So, I think what needs to be done first is an assessment of the community to find out its needs around the issue of education and to determine the factors that preclude parental involvement. I will tell you up front that if you want to engage parents in the education of their children you'll have to address other needs as well; sorry to say there are more pressing needs than education in low-income and vulnerable communities - I'm sure you already know this. Conducting a needs assessment as a first step will tell you a lot about the community and inform your future actions (you can even use existing data collected by other organizations in your community if a needs assessment is not feasible). You might also seriously think about fostering relationships and partnering with other organizations that work in the community, especially if they know the key stakeholders and gatekeepers, and they have experience working with Latino families in particular. I am not telling you anything new as you know that leveraging resources is crucial in community work so that the strengths of many organizations are brought to bear on whatever problems need to be addressed rather than one organization shouldering the full work-load. So, beyond a needs assessment and partnering with other organizations (including foundations, the United Way, other service organizations, etc.) you might also consider a social marketing campaign targeted directly at Latino parents (En Espanol y Ingles por favor) including free community events with food, games, raffles, etc. (you see these frequently in the public health domain) to engage parents; this would actually be down the road a ways after you know what type of social marketing might work through your needs assessment and partnerships. This is a lot to digest Miriam so let me now point you to some resources in the Community Tool Box you might find useful and will hopefully provide greater clarity and detail than I'm able to provide in a short missive. When you're on our Community Tool Box home page you'll notice the "Help Taking Action - Troubleshooting for your Work" button at the top of the page, second from the left. Click it on and then click on the "Troubleshooting Guide." I think that #1 (We need to understand the community or situation better), #3 (We don't know what to do to solve the problem), and #5 (There is not enough community participation) are key for you. Within "Help Taking Action" you might also click on "Best Change Processes" and take a close look at #4 (Arranging for community mobilizers), #8 (Implementing effective interventions), and #11 (Making outcomes matter). Also on our home page you'll notice the Learn a Skill (how-to information) button in the top left corner. Click it on and then click on table of contents. There are six sections and their associated chapters and toolkits that might be helpful; they are listed here:
Community Assessment: Information about how to assess community needs and resources, get issues on the public agenda, and choose relevant strategies (Chapter 3. Assessing Community Needs and Resources and toolkit 2. Assessing Community Needs and Resources).
Communications to Promote Interest and Participation: Communications that promote interest and encourage involvement (Chapter 6. Communications to Promote Interest and Chapter 7. Encouraging Involvement in Community Work, and toolkits 1. Creating and Maintaining Partnerships and 8. Increasing Participation and Membership).
Analyzing Community Problems and Designing and Adapting Community Interventions: Information about analyzing community problems to design, choose, and adapt interventions for different cultures and communities (Chapter 17. Analyzing Community Problems and Solutions, Chapter 18. Deciding Where to Start, and Chapter 19. Choosing and Adapting Community Interventions, and toolkits 3. Analyzing Problems and Goals and 7. Developing an Intervention).
Implementing Promising Community Interventions: Information on illustrative interventions using various strategies for change (Chapter 21. Enhancing Support, Incentives, and Resources and Chapter 23. Modifying Access, Barriers, and Opportunities, and toolkit 7. Developing an Intervention).
Cultural Competence and Spirituality in Community Building: Information on understanding culture and diversity, how to strengthen multicultural collaboration, and spirituality and community building (Chapter 27. Cultural Competence in a Multicultural World and toolkit 9. Enhancing Cultural Competence).
Social Marketing and Sustainability of the Initiative: Information on conducting a social marketing effort (promoting awareness, interest, and behavior change), and planning for long-term sustainability (Chapter 45. Social Marketing of Successful Components of the Initiative and toolkit 13. Implementing a Social Marketing Effort).
Well Miriam, I think that just about does it. To reiterate, conducting a community needs assessment, fostering partnerships, and conducting social marketing are the three key activities that should help you address the issue you raised. Hope I didn't overwhelm you with information, but this is about so much more than just engaging parents, so much more. Again, we really appreciate you visiting Ask an Advisor and for your question. We hope that you are able to extract something of use from our reply, if not, please let us know and we'll work with you until we have the solution you seek, that's why we're here; remember, you're not alone! Best to you.
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Hi Gener (or is it Jener?),
Thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box and for posing three very interesting questions to Ask an Advisor. I take it that you're from the Philippines given that Baranggays are an administrative unit synonymous with what are known as villages in other countries, is that correct? Well, Gener, admittedly I'm a little out of my depth regarding your first two questions because I'm not exactly sure what role a Baranggay Chairman has in a community, likewise his/her decision-making authority; wish I could be of more help to you in that regard. Additionally, the role of the advisor (me) is less about offering opinions on various subjects, rather it is to provide concrete information on community development. That said, I have resources for you from the Community Tool Box that will address your third question. Alleviating poverty is a tall order that requires a concerted effort from many types of organizations and individuals so I'm not sure whether one individual can have significant impact, but one never knows. Regardless, I found a couple of stories about how one community in the Philippines and one in the U. S. addressed poverty and a number of data bases within the Community Tool Box that should point you in the right direction. To get to the stories: at the top, center of our home page you will notice the "Connect - link with others" button under the heart. Click it on and scroll down to "Community Stories." Click on "Community Stories" and click on the "View All" button. So far so good? Scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the "last" button which will bring you to a story entitled: "Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) - ALAY BUHAY Community Development Foundation, Inc. (ABCDF) – Manila, Philippines." Click it on. In brief, this is the story of the Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) which was tailored to respond to the needs of local communities. The CEP utilized a participative process of community organizing, people’s empowerment, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and decision-making. To answer your question, as exemplified in this story, the way to alleviate poverty is to engage the whole Baranggay in a collective empowerment initiative. In essence, the power to alleviate poverty is in the hands of the people, not just one person. After reading this story, go to page 4 of "Community Stories," scroll down and click on "A Low-Income Entrepreneurship Program in Philadelphia." This is a story about the Empowerment Group’s Entrepreneurship Program which trains low-income entrepreneurs in the skills they need to create sustainable businesses in the city of Philadelphia. The group helps educate individuals on the benefits of community businesses: self-employment, additional jobs for low-income individuals, and increased commercial activity. Their program attempts to address poverty issues in the struggling communities of Philadelphia. Although this story takes place in the U. S., the same principles apply regarding alleviating poverty - it is in the hands of the people. I have two other resources for you from our database. On the Community Tool Box home page you will notice a button, second from the left at the top of the page called "Help Taking Action - guidance for your work." Click it on. Scroll down to "Databases of Best Practices" and click it on. Scroll down to "Categorical Web-Based Resources for Best Practices by Issue" and keep scrolling until you come to the section entitled "Community Development." For your purposes I think that "Knowledge Plex," "MOST (UNESCO) Clearinghouse of Best Practices. Best practices in urban and community development," and "World Bank Report - Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Best practices for land use administration and policy" will provide you with a treasure-trove of information. Okay Gener, I think this will suffice. If you have any further questions or if the resources I found for you don't get the job done please don't hesitate to contact us again and we'll work with you until we find a solution. Remember, you are never alone! Again, thank you for your questions, sorry I couldn't answer the first two, but was pleased that I was able to help you with the third. Take care and all the best.
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Hi Richard,
Thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor. You present an interesting issue that I'm sure will resonate with many of our other visitors. Although the Community Tool Box doesn't provide resources on career transitioning (or should I say re-transitioning in your case) or career advice more generally, from having been in career flux myself from time to time throughout my career I think you're spot on in considering volunteering or part-time work as a way of transitioning from the corporate sector to the human service sector, although I'm not necessarily sure either are necessary (you can skip to the end as to why I think this way). I'm sure you realize that in the ensuing 40 years things have changed in the social work field, but more importantly the opportunities for those who hold an LMSW have expanded exponentially as well including public health, school social work, child welfare, mental health, substance abuse. A couple of thoughts. First, I would, if you haven't already join (or simply visit web sites if you don't want to spend a small fortune on membership dues) professional organizations in or related to your field (e.g., NASW, SSWR, CSWA, etc.) to get a sense of the zeitgeist in terms of the current research and trends just to inform your thinking, and what further accreditation you might need. Second, and more importantly if volunteering or part-time work are what you seek I'd sort out the human service agencies in your area (including research centers and institutes at colleges/universities), make a list of those of greatest interest (i.e., their mission, clientele/constituency, and scope of work resonate with you), look for staff members with similar if not the same credential as you and who are doing what you're interested in doing, and then contact them to set up informational interviews just to chat about what they do, why they do it, how they got into the position they're in, and their perspective on what's happening in the field. I might also visit the United Way as they always seem to have their finger on the pulse of the human service sector and might be able to available in terms of jobs or volunteer opportunities. Okay, these are the obvious activities and I'm sure you've already thought this through so I'm likely preaching to the choir, but Richard I honestly think that you already have a skill set that will translate really well into a human service position, and I suspect that going from the corporate sector to the human service sector will be easier than the other way around. If you decide to go an informational interview tour as due diligence you'll get a much better sense of how the skills you've developed in the corporate sector fit in the human service sector; might not be a bad place to start, then again.... Finally, although you asked for specific advice about volunteer or part-time work as a way of transitioning from one sector to another I don't think either is necessary because you already have a desirable skill set. It then becomes a matter of applying for positions of interest and convincing whoever that if they want x, y, and z that you've already done x, y, and z, but in a different sector. So, in sum: join professional organizations or access web sites, take an informational interview tour, talk to the United Way, or apply for positions of interest and show them how what you did in one sector translates to another sector. Again Richard, from my perspective your thinking is clear and correct on doing volunteer work or engaging in a part-time position, but it may not be necessary unless you don't feel comfortable going on interviews or applying for positions just yet. With that I thank you for bringing this issue to our attention and we hope that our advice was helpful. If not, please feel free to visit us again and we'll work with you until we come up with a solution or better advice, whichever comes first! Take care, be well, and remember, you're never alone.
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Hi Geo,
Thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor, we value your inquiry and hope that we provide you with a useful and applicable answer. Well, I must say that your question is quite unique and interesting because most people usually ask us how to attract donors rather than how to actually be a donor! I think the answer is fairly simple in that the steps are straightforward. If you have a target charity (s) in mind you can start by looking at who is on their staff by position. A number of types of staff come to mind including the development officer, the chief financial officer/chief operations officer, and the chief executive officer/president in terms of who to initially contact, unless you know someone already within the organization who can steer you to the people who can help you make this happen. Make an introductory email or phone call ahead of a site visit (if possible) to explain what you want to do and why their organization in particular is the target of your affections (in a manner of speaking). When you contact them (I'd suggest going right to the top of the organizational food chain) you need to be clear (using this language) that you want to donate a percentage (the exact percentage will likely be based on your own operating costs and profit margins) of the proceeds from your sales to their organization, for how long, when you want to start, and how you want it to be used - be specific. For example, you may want it to go to the general operating budget, a particular program, a scholarship fund, or whatever it may be; again you can and should specify how you want your contribution used based on your values and what improvements in the human condition you'd like to see happen that the organization can likely achieve. You correctly surmised that there are legalities, but other than banking regulations the laws have mostly to do with taxes and not the actual mechanisms by which your contribution goes into their account and subsequently gets used. Consult with an accountant about the tax aspect of your contribution. Most charitable organizations I know have people who can make this happen for you and when you contact them they'll connect you with the people who will work with you to get everything set up, typically through bank accounts. For example, you make a sale and then you deposit the money into your business account from which you pay your expenses, correct? Okay, so what will likely happen is that you can have your bank make an automatic monthly payment, based on the percentage of the proceeds from sales you've designated, directly to the charitable organization's bank account which it will then use for the designated purpose. This is the same as if you have automatic bill pay. Again, the organization will work with you to get all this set up. My last bit of advice, if I were you I would make it clear you want verification your contribution is being used in the ways in which you intended it to be used regardless of the size of your contribution. Don't simply trust that they're doing what you want done, ask for an accounting, either monthly, every other month, or whenever. If they can't show you or are vague, I say find another organization you value as much if not more. It's not like charitable organizations are out to scam anyone, but too often you hear of only a tiny fraction of contributions being used as intended and a large fraction going to administrative costs including salaries - not good, so caveat emptor (buyer beware). In sum Geo, identify staff by position (start at the top unless you know someone in the organization you can talk to first), email or call, clearly explain what you want to do (donating a percentage of the proceeds from your direct sales, etc..), if they're willing and eager they'll connect you with the people in the organization who can help you make this happen, and finally, make sure your money is being used as intended. With that I hope we've been of use to you, if not, please let us know and we'll work with you to find a solution. Again Geo, thank you for your visit to Ask an Advisor and for your contribution to making the world a better place, take care, be well, and remember, you're never alone!
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Hi Amy,
Thank you for visiting Ask an Advisor @ the Community Tool Box, I hope we can provide you with useful and directly applicable information to get your on your way! Okay, what I think you're asking is whether we have information about the reliability or validity of community assessment surveys, correct? Well, I did a little digging around and sorry to say I could not come up with any reliability or validity statistics within any of our chapters, toolkits, or other resources. If I had to hazard a guess, you've followed this thread: Home » Table of Contents » Community Assessment » Chapter 3. Assessing Community Needs and Resources » Section 13. Conducting Surveys to inform your work? If so, then you probably already know, the only survey example we have is the CDC's Youth Risk Behavioral Survey (or YRBS) found at http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/, but no reliability or validity statistics are provided that I could find. All that said, as a doctoral student you've likely taken a research methodology sequence that might have included survey research methods and statistics, yes? Well, if not you will. Now Amy, I'm still not totally clear whether you're looking for reliable and valid community assessment surveys that already exist or you are designing your own survey and want to know how to determine whether it's reliable and valid, but based on your question I suspect it's the latter? If it's the former then a Google Scholar search or using your own institution's on-line journal search engines (e.g., Web of Science or PsychInfo) will uncover a treasure-trove of surveys which are reliable, valid, or both that you can adapt or modify to suit your purposes (this is not necessarily a bad way to go if you're so inclined). If it's the latter, then I suggest working with a survey research expert who can provide guidance if you don't feel comfortable designing and implementing the survey yourself. Believe me when I tell you from my own experience, I had a killer survey research methods course when I did my doctoral work and feel pretty competent in the totality of the survey research enterprise, but I still consult with experts because they can see things from an objective perspective that we cannot; there is absolutely no shame in doing so as it is so easy to completely run a potentially good survey off the rails (in a manner of speaking). Because your question is really about survey/scale reliability and validity a very brief primer is in order. If you already know about what I'm about to say then you can skip it, no harm done. Regarding reliability, if you are designing your own survey you would need to have a sufficient amount of data already collected to calculate Chronbach's alpha. Many people will pilot test a survey and then do the reliability calculation (easily done in SPSS). If reliability is low, say <.75 and the sample sufficiently large then a factor analysis would be done to get rid of like items, which would increase internal consistency, hence reliability (this is also important if in future analyses you plan on constructing regression models or doing other types of modeling). However, you have to have upwards of 200 survey participants with nearly complete data to run the factor analysis.  Even with a sample size of, say 100ish you can calculate the reliability coefficient to at least give you a rough estimate of internal consistency.  Now validity is another game altogether and merits a much longer and more sophisticated discussion.  In essence, creating a valid scale or survey requires repeated administrations over a number of years and a lot of data from sufficiently large samples; this is not something you are likely going to want to do because it is time consuming and very labor intensive.  In some ways I don't think you need to worry about either reliability or validity because you are assessing needs in a community not measuring a psycho/socio/emotional construct, you're merely trying to determine what concerns people in a community have regarding the conditions in which they live and work.  So, in sum Amy: 1) find community assessment surveys that are reliable and valid and adapt them to your own needs using different academic search engines; 2) consult with a survey research expert to help you construct and implement your survey; and 3) unless you're measuring a psychological construct then reliability and validity are not as much a concern as you might think.  Hope all that makes sense.  Let me just say in final analysis that designing and constructing surveys requires a deft hand and a keen understanding of the cognitive processes required of survey respondents so it is an enterprise that is fraught with peril; in fact there is a whole scientific base behind survey construction and administration, and scholars have devoted a life-time of academic research to this niche within the larger social science research field.  If you haven't already, read Don Dillman's work, he's the "go-to guy" in survey research.  Again, Amy thank you for your question and we hope we've given you plenty of information to consider and that it's useful to you; if not, please feel free to get in touch with us again and we'll work together to find a better answer.  Be well and take care, and remember, you're never alone!
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Hi Patricia,
Sorry to hear of your travails, we are sympathetic. Although we understand the value of venting one's angst and believe that in the proper forum doing so can yield positive results, the Ask an Advisor function within the Community Tool Box provides brief, personalized responses to questions about community work (for example, questions about planning, assessment, participation, publicity, program development, leadership, advocacy, or evaluation). We are not able to answer all questions, such as those relating to counseling on personal matters, academic or degree progress, legal issues, or to provide references for paid speakers or consultants.
Thank you for contacting the Community Tool Box Ask an Advisor team!

Hi Catie,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we can provide you with useful and applicable information! That's an excellent question.  Data visualization is such a timely topic because anyone who presents data wants maximum impact and that "wow" factor to drive home the points they want to make. We are fortunate in our technological age that there are many data visualization software tools out there (http://www.capterra.com/data-visualization-software/) that can help us achieve that certain "pop." This is not a bad way to go provided you have access, but you still have to have the data before embarking down that road.
That said, in some ways, you astutely answered your own question in that RWJF and NYC-CH are excellent examples. Perhaps other folks who read our posts will chime in with their own examples (hint, hint). Okay, so first I did a little digging around the Community Tool Box using "presenting population health data" as the search terms. Here's what I found (this is very basic and you probably already know much of this already) which follows this thread: Home » Table of Contents » Generating, Managing, and Sustaining Financial Resources » Chapter 42. Getting Grants and Financial Resources » Section 5. Writing a Grant » Main Section » Tips for Presenting Data: 1) Use comparative statistics whenever possible (e.g., county vs. state vs. federal, or multiple age groups or ethnicities); 2) When determining which type of chart or graph to make, do not use a pie chart if you have more than three or four categories of data; 3) Use line graphs to show a long-term trend in data; 4) Use bar charts to depict differences, especially when you are comparing only two categories of data (e.g., only two race/ethnicity categories, male versus female, county versus state); 5) Include a chart title that accurately yet succinctly describes the image, and include the year(s) from which the data came; 6) Always clearly label the y (vertical) and x (horizontal) axes of your charts, and identify the units of measure (e.g., rate versus count); and 7) Provide a legend to explain data categories, data ranges or intervals, color-coding, etc. As I said, this is basic, common-sense information although never a bad refresher. An advanced search unfortunately yielded nothing more.
 
Not to be stymied by this turn of events, I took my search outside the Community Tool Box and came up with a number of websites that might prove illustrative and useful in your endeavors:
 
1) The California Health Foundation: http://www.chcf.org/publications/2014/02/worth-thousand-words-data
2) National Cancer Institutes: http://www.cancer.gov/publications/health-communication/making-data-talk...
3) Northwest Center for Public Health Practice: http://www.nwcphp.org/training/opportunities/online-courses/presenting-p...
4) New York State Department of Health: https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/chac/process_data.htm
5) This is a book that you might purchase for other projects: https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/chac/process_data.htm
6) eHealth SlideShare presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/StefanPopowycz/visualizing-healthcare-data-ehe...
7) Public Health England: http://www.swpho.nhs.uk/resource/item.aspx?RID=89769
8) NAPHSIS: https://naphsis-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/DataAnalysisSeriesModule4Presen...
 
Well Catie, I think that just about wraps thing up here at Ask an Advisor. I'm not sure how helpful we've been, but certainly feel free to get back in touch if these resources don't work for you and we'll work on a solution together. With that, thank you again for visiting Ask an Advisor and sharing your question with us, timely and important. Take care, be well.
 
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Hi Adeline,
Welcome to Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor, we're glad you stopped by! Great question and one that will likely resonate with many people regarding the development of a survey to determine adolescent perceptions of a presentation. Without knowing what type of presentation it is, to me this sounds like you want to implement an audience survey to rate member satisfaction (the adolescents being the "members" in your case). You've come to the right place because we have two great sections on just this topic.
 
First, for a primer on conducting surveys go to our Community Tool Box home page and follow this path » click on "Learn A Skill" button at the top of the page and then click on the Table of Contents » scroll down to the section on Community Assessment » click on Chapter 3 - Assessing Community Needs and Resources » and then click on Section 13 - Conducting Surveys. This will provide you with a global perspective on conducting surveys.
 
Second, and likely more important for your needs, if you follow this path I think you'll find what you want to know (yay). On the Community Tool Box home page again look for the "Learn A Skill" button » click on Table of Contents » scroll down and click on Evaluating Community Programs and Initiatives » click on Chapter 38 - Some Methods for Evaluating Comprehensive Community Initiatives » and click on Section 4 - Rating Member Satisfaction. Okay, after you've gone through this section, scroll back up to the top. You will notice four tabs right under the title - Section 4: Rating Member Satisfaction. Click on the "Examples" tab (third from the left) which will provide you with, well, examples of member satisfaction surveys you can adopt for your own purposes.
 
Well Adeline, I think those two resources should provide you with everything you need to know about developing and implementing a survey. If you don't find this answer to your satisfaction, please let us know and we'll work with you to find the best solution. Again Adeline, thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box and for your great question, and remember, you're never alone. Be well, take care.
 
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Hi Michelle,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we can provide you with timely, useful, and directly applicable information so you can continue the great work you're doing through your technical-vocational training center. Program sustainability is a huge issue in community work so our discussion will likely resonate with many other people. Well, to answer your question I've got a few ideas for you.
 
As you know there are many ways to raise funds including writing grants, crowdfunding (see Bernie Sander's campaign as the best example of this), and providing services for a fee (see the YMCA for example), just to name a few. However, before you go after external funding you need to think carefully about two critical pieces that support any fund-raising effort. First, if you haven't already done so, you need to have shown that your program has achieved its desired results through an external evaluation conducted by someone who is not part of your program. No one is going to want to put money into a program unless it has been shown to be effective or it shows promise in being effective through rigorous, objective, scrutiny and examination. My suggestion is to find someone in your community who has some evaluation chops and ask them to volunteer to look at your program as a service project or contact a university to see if there is a graduate student who would take this on pro bono for course credit. If I were a potential funder, grant or otherwise, I'd want to see evidence of success before offering financial support, it's only reasonable The second piece to this is marketing your program to potential sources of support (i.e., funders). This program may be great, but unless you get broad-based support behind it the money is not likely to be there; where there is support there is money (or something to that effect). You mentioned you've been an activist, well use those skills to get your story out into the community, talk to every community service group, educational agency, etc. you can to sell your program and its benefits.
That said, let's look at the resources we have here in the Community Tool Box.
 
First, regarding evaluation (even if you don't conduct it yourself it behooves you to be a good consumer so you can understand what you're asking someone to do). Go to our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button in the top left corner. Click on Table of Contents. Scroll down to the section entitled Evaluating Community Programs and Initiatives- Information on developing a plan for evaluation, evaluation methods, and using evaluation to understand and improve the initiative. Specifically, check out Chapter 36 - Introduction to Evaluation, Chapter 37. Operations in Evaluating Community Interventions, Chapter 38 - Some Methods for Evaluating Comprehensive Community Initiatives, and Chapter 39 - Using Evaluation to Understand and Improve the Initiative. The related toolkit is 12 - Evaluating the Initiative. Again, you may not be conducting the evaluation yourself, but you need to be a good consumer of evaluation.
 
Second, regarding bringing in external funds, go to our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button in the top left corner. Click on Table of Contents. Scroll down to the section entitled Generating, Managing, and Sustaining Financial Resources - Information on writing grants, preparing an annual budget, and planning for financial sustainability. Specifically, look at Chapter 42 - Getting Grants and Financial Resources; Chapter 43 - Managing Finances; Chapter 44 - Investing in Community Resources; and toolkit 14 - Writing a Grant Application for Funding. When you look at these chapters and the sections therein, make sure to also look at the examples provided to get a better sense of how other people have done what you want to do.
 
Third, regarding social marketing and sustainability, go back to our home page and again click on the "Learn A Skill" button in the top left corner. Click on Table of Contents. Scroll down to Social Marketing and Sustainability of the Initiative - Information on conducting a social marketing effort (promoting awareness, interest, and behavior change), and planning for long-term sustainability. Specifically, look at Chapter 45 - Social Marketing of Successful Components of the Initiative, Chapter 46 -Planning for Sustainability, and toolkits Related Toolkits 13 - Implementing a Social Marketing Effort and 16 - Sustaining the Work or Initiative. As in the paragraph above, when you look at these chapters and the sections therein, make sure to also look at the examples provided to get a better sense of how other people have done what you want to do.
 
Last, as I mentioned earlier, crowdfunding may also be a viable possibility for you. Crowdfunding sites include Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Crowdrise, Quirky, Tilt, and GoFundMe. You can check out each one to determine whether it is suited to your cause; my best guess is that GoFundMe is the most likely crowdfunding site for you.
 
So, in sum Michelle, seek out a pro bono evaluator to take a critical look at your program and provide evidence of success; write grants, use crowdfunding, or consider a fee-for-service model; and market your program far and wide within the community to generate the type of support that will provide sustainable funding. With that I thank you for bringing this issue to not only our attention, but to the attention of all Community Tool Box visitors. I hope we answered your question to your satisfaction, if not, please feel free to come back and we'll work together to come up with a workable solution. Remember, you are never alone! Be well, take care.
 
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Hi Tracey,
 
I received your calls, sorry they went into the void. As much as I would like to continue working with you, I've got two new projects that just fell into my lap which, in addition to my current advisor duties, preclude me from taking on any more projects, at least through May. If you can wait until the beginning of June then I'd be happy to take a look at your project and provide my thoughts and perspective. I realize this project has been challenging and adds a lot of stress and worry, but let me say that you already have more than enough information and the template for where it all fits. You've got this and are more than capable of getting done what needs to get done as you've already demonstrated; I have every confidence in your abilities and motivation. Again, Tracey, if you can wait on me until the beginning of June then let me know and we'll work something out.
 
Cheers,
 
Jeff

Hi Laura,
 
A warm welcome to the Community Tool Book (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, I hope we can provide you with timely, useful, and directly applicable information as you seek to create environmental change in the workplace to mitigate workplace bullying and starting a union for social workers. I must say these are questions I have yet to encounter here at the CTB so to me they both interesting and a challenge!
 
Well, let me try to answer your second question first because it's the easier of the two to get my head around. The good news is that I think you answered your own question about contacting the AFL-CIO and state nurses unions. I did a Google search and here's the link to the AFL-CIO: http://www.aflcio.org/Learn-About-Unions/How-to-Join-or-Form-a-Union. As the link indicates, this is where you would go if you want to learn how to either join or form a union. From what I understand, the National Federation of Nurses, United American Nurses, and many of the states that have a nurses union merged into the AFL-CIO so I think that's a good place to start. Contacting a state nursing union to find out how it formed along with information from the AFL-CIO should give you clear and specific steps to take in forming a nurses union where you are. That said, I would be remiss if I didn't call your attention to the resources we have here in the CTB. We actually have a whole section on Organizing for Effective Advocacy - Information on advocacy principles, advocacy research, providing education, direct action campaigns, media advocacy, and responding to opposition which is exactly what you want to do. If you go to the top left of our home page and click on "Learn A Skill," then click on the Table of Contents and scroll down you'll see this section. Click on Chapter 33 - Conducting a Direct Action Campaign and go to Section 10 - General Rules for Organizing for Legislative Advocacy. The related toolkit is number 10 - Advocating for Change. Good luck, we'd be interested to know how your advocacy work turns out!
 
Your second question presents more of a challenge, a little more involved, but not impossible. In fact, the section I just mentioned and the related chapter and toolkit would prove informative and instructive for anyone you might send our way (we'd appreciate it). However, before sending them to that particular section I think that you might want to have them start with a brief primer by clicking on "Learn A Skill, " Table of Contents, and then scroll down to the section entitled "Overview - An overview of the Community Tool Box and frameworks for guiding, supporting and evaluating the work of community and system change," specifically, Chapter 1. Our Model for Community Change and Improvement; you've got to start somewhere. Next, click on the second button from the left, "Help Taking Action" and then click on "Best Change Practices" which shows processes for implementing the 12 Best Change Processes or activities that have been shown to promote community change and improvement (this is what you're after I think). Staying within "Help Taking Action" three other resources I highly suggest are: "A Model for Getting Started," "Databases of Best Practice" and "Online Courses, " especially the online courses. There are 8 modules from which to pick and choose according to need. Last, click on the "Connect" button, top middle, and then click on either of two fantastic resources: our CTB "YouTube Channel" and "Community Stories." It will take a little digging to sort through either, but it's well worth the effort because both provide illustrations of real community change by real people in real communities - money.
 
Well Laura, I think that covers your questions. Listen, if you're not satisfied with these answers come back and we'll work together to find a more suitable answer. With that, thank you again for visiting CTB and for your interesting and challenging questions (a bit of a stretch for me, but that's okay). Remember, you're never alone. Be well, take care.
 
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Good Morning Larry,
 
Thanks for visiting the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, I hope we can provide you with timely, useful, and directly applicable information! What an exciting undertaking, glad we can be at least a tangential part of the process.
 
Well, first let me call your attention to what we have here in the CTB that you might find useful. To begin, go to our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button, then the "Table of Contents" button and scroll down to the section entitled "Communications to Promote Interest and Participation - Communications that promote interest and encourage involvement." There you'll find two chapters, Chapter 6 - Communications to Promote Interest and Chapter 7 - Encouraging Involvement in Community Work, and two toolkits, 1 - Creating and Maintaining Partnerships and 8 - Increasing Participation and Membership. Each of these resources contains a veritable treasure-trove of information related to forming partnerships and fostering collaboration, particularly Chapter 7 and Toolkit 1. Chapters are divided into sections and within sections there usually are examples regarding the topic of that section - very useful indeed. Toolkits also provide great examples, and in many cases a "how to" approach.
 
Second, go back to our home page and click on the "Help Taking Action" button and then click on the "Databases of Best Practices" where you might find better examples than in the section I just mentioned. You'll have to root around a bit, but I think you'll be rewarded for your efforts; unfortunately, I can't tell you which specific database will best suit your needs because I'm just not that familiar with all of them so I'll leave you to it. If you again click on the "Help Taking Action" button you'll notice that we offer online courses, 8 modules to be exact. In my estimation, Module 1: "Assuring Engagement in Community Health Improvement Efforts" which includes information on how to assure ongoing involvement of community members (you are after all a community of peers) and how to assure shared ownership among stakeholders will be of greatest use.
 
You also might be interested in checking out the inspiring stories in our "Community Stories" resource. Click on the "Connect" button on our home page and then click on "Community Stories." You'll notice a map on the right side of the page, click on the "Full Size Map." On the left side of the map there is a list of approximately 50 different types of programs and projects; scroll through them to see if any pique your interest and whether they might better inform your thinking about forming the collaborative.
 
Last, there is a CTB resource I'd like you to also consider once you're moving toward a state-wide collaboration. Again, go to our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button, then the "Table of Contents" button and scroll down to the section entitled "Organizing for Effective Advocacy - Information on advocacy principles, advocacy research, providing education, direct action campaigns, media advocacy, and responding to opposition" you'll notice we have six chapters and one toolkit: Chapter 30 - Principles of Advocacy, Chapter 31 - Conducting Advocacy Research, Chapter 32 - Providing Encouragement and Education, Chapter 33 - Conducting a Direct Action Campaign, Chapter 34 - Media Advocacy, and Chapter 35 - Responding to Counterattacks, and toolkit 10 - Advocating for Change. Again, these will prove useful as you are moving forward with your collaboration.
 
Okay Larry, I think that about wraps it up. I hope that we've provided you with a lot of food for thought and great information that you'll be able to use. If you're not satisfied with this reply, please come back and visit us again and we'll work together to come up with a more appropriate response. With that, again, thank you for your great question and for the important work you are undertaking, really great stuff. Be well, take care.
 
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Cheers Terry,
 
First, welcome to the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we can provide you with timely, directly applicable, and useful information that will help you develop your self-efficacy questionnaire. Second, all apologies for my late reply, things were a little hectic of late and I've finally gotten myself sorted so I can devote my attention to you and yours. To be honest, I'm pretty excited about your query because I've never encountered this topic while serving as an advisor so many thanks to you for bringing it to us; I'm sure there are other visitors to the CTB who have an interest in tenure housing and self-efficacy.
 
Well, I decided to first go outside of the CTB to see if I could find anything using Google Scholar (my default search engine) and guess what? First try, woohoo, found this link to a PDF that has a number of self-efficacy scales from which you can adapt your questions: http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=soc... (this is a 2014 thesis from Georgia State University entitled "Public Housing Relocation and Its Effect on Residents' Self-esteem and Self-efficacy by Amanda Dorrington). I rooted around in the CTB, but didn't find anything therein. So, when you access this PDF you'll be able to readily find the self-efficacy scales via the table of contents as they're all listed. The article might prove an instructive read for you as well to get a sense of how the scales were constructed and implemented. It will take a bit of sorting, but I'm pretty confident you'll find 5 or 6 suitable questions for the task at hand.
 
With that Terry, I thank you again for visiting the CTB and your most interesting and challenging question. I hope we've provided you with the resource you need to construct an appropriate scale, if not, please come back and we'll work together to come up with a more suitable answer. Take care, be well, do good work!
 
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Hi Dena,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we can provide you with timely, useful, and directly applicable information to help you in your work with the survivors of suicide and the greater community to raise awareness about suicide. First, I want to say what you're trying to do is so very important and such a need, and we know that this concern will be of great interest to others who visit the CTB. To answer you question I used the search function within the CTB and found a couple of resources you might find interesting regarding peer support groups as a way of helping survivors of suicide to heal; in my estimation peer support groups are one of the best "tools" for dealing with grief and associated emotional distress. If you begin on our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button, then click on the "Table of Contents" and scroll down to the section entitled "Implementing Promising Community Interventions" it will take you to Chapter 21. Enhancing Support, Incentives, and Resources » Section 2. Creating and Facilitating Peer Support Groups. Therein you'll find a checklist, examples, tools, and a PowerPoint presentation you can sort through to inform your thinking and action; these are very concrete and come from a variety of highly reliable sources.
 
To get to the other related resource, begin at our home page, again click on the "Learn A Skill" button, click on the"Table of Contents" and scroll down to the section entitled "Communications to Promote Interest and Participation" which will take you to Chapter 7. Encouraging Involvement in Community Work. I think that all eight sections will provide you with a wealth of information which speaks directly to the community awareness aspect of your intervention. The relevant toolkits are numbers 1 - Creating and Maintaining Partnerships and 8 - Increasing Participation and Membership.
 
Well Dena, I hope that helps. If our reply isn't satisfactory, please let us know and we'll work together to find an answer that's more appropriate. With that, we thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box and posing a great question; we really appreciate that you care so deeply about your community and those who suffer. Be well, take care.
 
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Hi Vanessa,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we'll be able to provide you with timely, directly applicable, and useful information related to community accountability contracts. Very interesting question and one I have yet to encounter in my time as an advisor so I'm looking forward to seeing what I can find for you; I'm sure it will be of great interest to others who visit the CTB, especially during this election cycle - timely indeed Vanessa, timely indeed!
 
 
Well, my default resource for answering queries is, you guessed it, the CTB. The main issue we're discussing is accountability so I checked to see what resources we have about accountability and here's the path that will get you there: on our home page click on the "Learn A Skill" button, click on the "Table of Contents" and scroll down to the section entitled "Organizing for Effective Advocacy." Next, click on "Chapter 31 - Conducting Advocacy Research" and then "Section 5 - Requesting Accountability." This section is a must read to get you thinking about the myriad ways to hold people accountable. After you've read this, check out Chapter 9, Section 9 which provides information about writing contracts. Again, go to our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button, click on the "Table of Contents" and scroll down to the section entitled "Developing a Strategic Plan and Organizational Structure." Click on "Chapter 9 - Developing an Organizational Structure for the Initiative," click on "Section 9 - Understanding and Writing Contracts and Memoranda of Agreement," specifically the section entitled "How do you draft a contract or memorandum of agreement?" To quote directly from the CTB: "We've looked at what you need to know about contracts and memoranda of agreement if you're the contractor or if you're signing on. What if you're the funder or employer, or if you're the organization asking others to enter into a memorandum of agreement? In those cases, you'll need to know how to draft the document, and to make sure that it says exactly what you want it to." So, this CTB resource is a primer for you in how to draft your own contract if we can't find a suitable example. Sometimes, the CTB provides a resource that you can immediately put to use as is, sometimes, as in your question, you might have to provide a little of your own sweat equity to adapt our resource to your purposes.
 
 
My other resource for answering questions, especially for those with which I have only a passing familiarity or the CTB doesn't offer the requisite resource is, correct again, Google (where would we be without Google I ask you?). So, I put in as the search terms "community accountability contract" and "community accountability contract for elected officials;" low and behold, multiple hits - fantastic. I digress. Here are the links that I think might prove informative (it depends on what you're looking for therein). As you probably already found out from your own search there is a lot of information about government accountability and government accountability contracts, but few about contracts between the people and their elected officials/candidates.
 
 
https://umabroad.umn.edu/assets/files/PDFs/educators/Sample%20Accountabi...http://www.fukuoka.unhabitat.org/docs/publications/pdf/peoples_process/C...http://www.michiganfreedomfund.com/lansing_needs_a_contract_for_accounta...
 
 
In sum Vanessa, if none of the links provides you with the concrete example you're looking for (not as easy to locate as I thought - mea culpa) you may just have to write your own (hence the CTB resources provided above). Having an understanding of accountability in general and knowing how to write a contract should get you where you want to go; believe me when I tell you that I think it's a great idea to get elected officials and candidates to sign such an agreement. To be clear, any accountability contract so written and proffered for signature won't be legally binding, but at the very least it can be used to call out an official if there is a discrepancy between "what I pledged" and "what I actually did." With that Vanessa, thank you for your most interesting and challenging question. If what we offered in reply is unsatisfactory please visit us again and we'll work together to come up with a more suitable answer. Be well, take care, and do good work!
 
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Hi Jovell,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor, we appreciate your question about the major issues affecting the poor and marginalized (we also call them socially excluded) communities. I hope we can provide you with directly applicable, useful, and timely information to guide your work. That said, your question is both complicated and challenging to answer because there are so many issues that affect poor, marginalized communities; much has been written about these issues and this writing can be accessed through Google or other search engines (simply type in "issues effecting poor and marginalized communities" as your search terms).
 
As you probably already know, the overly simplistic answer is that poverty is a manifestation of marginalization or social exclusion in that communities don't have equal access to the resources (e.g., income, financial capital, the means to produce goods, etc.) and political power that would improve conditions therein. However, it is so much more complicated than that as there are social, cultural, racial, political, economic, and historical factors that impact poverty and marginalization. So, to help you better understand issues of poverty and marginalization/social exclusion I've provided some resources from right here in the Community Tool Box that I hope you will find useful.
 
To better understand poverty, start on our home page by clicking the "Learn A Skill" button, top left of the page, then click on "Table of Contents" and scroll down to the section entitled "Implementing Promising Community Interventions." Next, click on "Chapter 23 - Modifying Access, Barriers, and Opportunities," specifically, "Section 4 - Extending Opportunities for the Poor."
To better understand marginalization/social exclusion, again begin on our home page, click on the "Learn A Skill" button, click on the "Table of Contents" and scroll down to the "Analyzing Community Problems and Designing and Adapting Community Interventions" section. Click on "Chapter 17 - Analyzing Community Problems and Solutions" and then, "Section 5 - Addressing Social Determinants of Health and Development" which provides some insights on marginalization/social exclusion.
 
So Jovell, I hope we've provided resources from within the Community Tool Box that will inform your thinking about poverty and marginalization (social exclusion), two issues that go hand in glove. Again, these are extremely complicated issues, but can be understood. With that, we thank you for your question and wish you the greatest success in your work. Be well, take care, and do good work.
 
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Hi Luz,
 
Thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we can provide you with timely, useful, accurate, and directly applicable information to help you in designing your evaluation, selecting an appropriate instrument, and collecting data. Let me address each question in turn if you don't mind even though they are very much interrelated, then I'll direct you to the resources we have right here in the CTB.
 
High school students, they're a challenge, but we've been conducting research with them for years through a variety of modalities so it's definitely do-able. In terms of your methodological choice and design, they will be informed by your research questions and the constraints you will likely face in the research milieu. So, if I read your questions correctly, there will be some sort of gender violence intervention in which the high schoolers will take part and you want to know whether the intervention was effective in, say increasing their knowledge, improving their attitudes, or impacting present and future behavior. If this is correct, then I think you're spot on in wanting to conduct survey research using a repeated measures design (pre-test/post-test with matched samples). Focus groups and interviews have their place if you're interested in getting a rich description of a phenomenon, but these methods are time and labor intensive and I'm not sure either will yield the information you want in as efficient and cost-effective manner. Plus, it's far easier and efficient to analyze quantitative data than purely qualitative data which requires a code book, teasing out themes, etc. (unless you are taking a grounded theory approach). Here's a thought, you could always conduct follow-up interviews with a random sample if in your data you notice there are outliers or want to capture data sometime in the future, say six months after the intervention. Again, your research questions and milieu will drive your methods. Also, think about where high school students are from a developmental aspect and the potential biases that are inherent in conducting focus groups or interviews with this age group. Imagine having a group of high schoolers together in one room for a focus group (makes me a little queasy truth be told). As you so well know, there is a strong desire to fit in, to be socially desirable so you might not get the most truthful responses if they are feeding off each other. Individual interviews might yield more credible evidence provided there aren't any issues with the interviewer-high schooler interface; high schoolers can suddenly be very reticent to offer any personal insights. So, with this age group, my advice is to go with an anonymous and confidential survey administered under conditions in which it makes it less likely responses will be influenced by social desirability; you can't totally eliminate social desirability, but at least you can minimize its effects.
 
Regarding, a gender violence prevention instrument to be administered to high schoolers, preferably in Spanish, that's a bit of a tough one. I first rooted around in the CTB, but didn't come up with anything. So I did a Google search (the old stand-by) and found a number of links, but I'm not sure how useful they'll be; you'll need to go through each one to make such a determination. What you may need to do is find a suitable survey (s) that measure analogous constructs and adapt it to your own purposes; if it's not in Spanish then it certainly be translated (i.e., English to Spanish, Spanish back to English, English back to Spanish, etc. until there is a one-one correspondence between the two versions such that the Spanish items are requesting exactly the same information as the English items). Okay, here are the links:
 
 
http://cchealth.org/topics/violence/pdf/youth_survey.pdfhttps://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SHMD8LShttps://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/yv_compendium.pdf (this one has a lot of instruments from the CDC)
 
Although these aren't surveys per se, these sites have a lot of great information to inform your intervention and should be given a close read; they might also inform your thinking about surveying youth:
 
 
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/intimatepartnerviolence/teen_datin...http://www.vawnet.org/applied-research-papers/print-document.php?doc_id=...http://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1136&c...
 
Regarding survey administration, if you couch it in the right way the high school students won't necessarily view it as a test. What you're talking about is getting students to be excited about and motivated to take a survey. Seriously, it's all about how you pitch it. The key ingredients are making sure they know: why they're being surveyed (i.e., because they have some sort of unique perspective that only they possess); how valuable their time and responses are; the specific type of contribution their responses will like make; how much time it will take (estimated through pilot testing - always pilot test with a similar sample); that their responses are confidential and won't be shared with anyone; that their participation is private; that no one will see their responses; and that they are free to withdraw at any time during the survey without penalty. Other thoughts: the briefer the survey (i.e., the fewer the items the better) to keep them motivated and focused; provide incentives for survey participation (I highly recommend this, especially with high school students - food or gift cards are always appropriate); and because there is a significant time gap between pre and post survey administrations survey fatigue won't be an issue.
 
As mentioned, we have some resources on survey development, in the event you can't find a suitable survey that I think will be instructive and informative; this is really good stuff, and as an applied researcher/evaluator I really appreciate how well constructed these resources are: start on our home page and click the "Learn A Skill" button in the top left corner, click the "Table of Contents" and scroll down to the section entitled "Evaluating Community Programs and Initiatives." Click on "Chapter 38 - Some Methods for Evaluating Comprehensive Community Initiatives" and then "Section 7 - Behavioral Surveys." This is a fantastic primer on survey development and administration. Read through the "Main Section" and also the "Tools," it will be worth the read.
 
Well Luz, that's about all I've got for you today. I hope that what I've discussed with you is helpful, if not, please come back and visit the CTB and we'll work together to find a suitable answer. Again Luz, thank you for your great question, we wish you much success in your endeavors. Be well, take care, do good work.
 
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Hi Gabi,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor! Good question. After a little rooting around I noticed the "Use Policy" on the bottom of the page so out of curiosity I clicked it on. Scrolling down a bit lo and behold I came upon the following, which I think is what you're looking for:
 
How to Credit Material from the Community Tool Box
 
In order to cite the Community Tool Box, we suggest that you use the citation format of the American Psychological Association. Detailed information about their citation format is available in a tutorial at their website. An example citation for a section from the tools appears below.
 
Example Citation:
 
KU Work Group for Community Health and Development. (2015). Chapter 3, Section 10: Conducting Concerns Surveys. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas. Retrieved January 2, 2015, from the Community Tool Box: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-ne...
 
Had it not been for your question Gabi, in all honesty I probably never would have thought about how to cite the CTB, so thanks for posing your question, a question likely others have as well. Okay, with that, thank you for visiting the CTB and for you question. Take care, be well, and do good work!
 
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Hi LaRonda,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, we're glad you stopped by. First, thank you for your question about organizations or groups that are working to strengthen small, neighborhood businesses in California. Hopefully, we can provide you with timely, accurate, useful, and directly applicable information. Well, in all honesty LaRonda, I'm not sure as this isn't really an area in which I'm familiar. That said, the first order of business was rooting around here in the CTB, but unfortunately I didn't come up with anything vaguely resembling such a group or organization. That got me thinking. If it were me doing this search I'd probably start with the California Small Business Association (http://www.csba.com/). Similarly, there is the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development - Office of the Small Business Advocate (http://www.business.ca.gov/Programs/SmallBusiness.aspx) which might prove useful given that they're all about advocating for small businesses. I might also check the Better Business Bureau web site (http://www.bbb.org/) in which one can find any BBB bureau in every state; they might know who is working with small, neighborhood businesses - it's kind of a stretch, but you never know. Next, and this is kind of thinking outside the box, I'd check with my local United Way as they have their finger on the pulse of who's doing what in communities and if they don't know of such a group or organization they might be able to point you in a better direction than I'm doing. The Small Business Administration is another possible resource (https://www.sba.gov/). At the top of their homepage there is a button towards the right side of the page entitled "Local Assistance." You can type in your zip code and state and it will show you the nearest office to your location; in California there are 139 such offices (who knew, right?). The only other thing I can think of is doing a Google search for business support organizations in specific neighborhoods. Not sure if any of this helps, but at least it provides a point of departure for your search.
 
So, with that LaRonda, thank you so much for visiting the CTB and for your question about groups or organizations that are working to strengthen neighborhood small businesses in California; it really is a great question as small, neighborhood businesses really are a community's economic engine and are so vital to improving conditions for those who live there. If what we provided doesn't quite hit the mark please feel free to re-visit the CTB and we'll work together to find a more suitable answer.  I wish you the best of success in your endeavor. Be well, take care, and do good work.
 
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Hi Dr. Yapp,
 
Thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor. If I read your question correctly, you would like the CTB to serve in a counseling role for your virtual Facebook group. Well, let me say up front that we don't serve specific interest groups, but the good news is that we're always available if you need resources for community building or you have questions about how to conduct your work. Let me offer you a brief primer on the CTB to explain who we are and how we work. The following information can be found by clicking on the "About the Tool Box" button on our home page: "The Community Tool Box is a free, online resource for those working to build healthier communities and bring about social change. It offers thousands of pages of tips and tools for taking action in communities. Want to learn about community assessment, planning, intervention, evaluation, advocacy, and other aspects of community practice? Then help yourself to over 300 educational modules and other free tools. Under continuous development since 1994, the Community Tool Box is widely used in teaching, training, and technical support. Currently available in English, Spanish, and Arabic and with millions of user sessions annually, it has reached those working in over 230 countries around the world. The vision behind the Community Tool Box is that people — locally and globally — are better prepared to work together to change conditions that affect their lives. Our mission is to promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas, and resources. With the belief that people can change their communities for the better, and informed by disciplines including applied behavior analysis, public health, and community psychology, partners at the University of Kansas and collaborating organizations developed the Community Tool Box as a public service. Our fervent hope is that these tools can make it easier for people to take action to assure healthier and more just communities throughout the world. The Community Tool Box is a public service of the Work Group for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas. The Work Group also provides a variety of services including technical assistance and training and participatory evaluation of community-based efforts." We are grateful to serve people working to improve conditions throughout the world. Our hope is that the Community Tool Box makes your good work a little easier. For more information, contact toolbox@ku.edu. This link will take you to our flier that provides a snapshot of what we do: http://ctb.ku.edu/sites/default/files/site_files/community_tool_box_flye....
 
With that Dr. Yapp, thank you for visiting the CTB and for your question. I hope that you will find the information we provided useful. Take care, be well, do good work.
 
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Hi Rebecca,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, we hope we're able to provide you with timely, useful, accurate, and directly applicable information to help you in your community-based work combating sexual assault and domestic violence. Well, my first action was to consult the CTB to see what we have for you, but honestly, I didn't find much, three to be precise and whether they'll be beneficial to you I cannot say.  I certainly won't hurt to check them out.
 
1. On our home page, click on the "Connect" button at the top of the page and click on "Community Stories." Next, click on "view all" and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click on the "8" button. Scroll down to "Domestic Violence Shelter and Outreach in Victorville" and click on the link. At the bottom of the overview section there is a direct link to their website.
 
2. On our home page, click on the "Learn A Skill" button, top left of the page. Scroll down to "Toolkits 5. Developing Strategic and Action Plans" and click on the "Examples" button on the lower right, scroll down to "Example 4. Access for All: Best Practices for Responding to Women with Disabilities Who are Abuse Victims." This only provides information about their program, but does not provide a direct link. I did check their website, but I didn't spend enough time on it to determine if it will be helpful to you.
 
3. On our home page, again click on the "Learn A Skill" button, click on the "Table of Contents" and scroll down to the section entitled "Social Marketing and Sustainability of the Initiative." Click on "Chapter 46. Planning for Sustainability," click on "Section 4. Attracting Support for Specific Programs" and then click on "Examples." The example is entitled "Sexual Abuse Nurse Examiners Program."
 
Beyond these three examples of programs, my only other suggestion is doing a thorough Google search (e.g., search terms domestic violence organizations/groups in Ohio or sexual assault organizations/groups in Ohio). I did a quick search just to see what came up and here's what I found: in your own backyard you might talk to folks at the College of Wooster: https://www.wooster.edu/students/health/counseling/sexual-assault/ who actually provide a link to OneEighty and to RAINN (https://rainn.org/). You can also check out Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Assault (http://www.oaesv.org/resources/Wayne-county/) which offers both state and national resources. In addition, Healthy Ohio (http://www.healthy.ohio.gov/sadv/dviolence/domviol.aspx) works to prevent domestic violence. You might also check out the Sexual Assault Response Network of Central Ohio (https://www.ohiohealth.com/sexualassaultresponsenetwork/). If any of these organizations don't pan out you can always contact the United Way of Wayne and Holmes County (http://www.uwwh.org/) to see if they know of the types of organizations you're looking for. So right there you have at least five organizations with which to connect; the key Rebecca is networking. As I always say, start local with networking by contacting organizations, finding and talking to the right people who can connect you to other people and organizations, and then branching out from there as one connection leads you to other connections; before you know it you've got a vast network of like-minded organizations and people!  Any network you can join to increase your own circulation and so people get to know you and what you're doing at OneEighty will be highly beneficial.  At least, you can start with these programs, see what they're doing, and contact key people within the organization.
 
With that Rebecca, on behalf of the CTB, thank-you for visiting us and for your question. Hopefully we've pointed you in the right direction towards connecting with other like-minded organizations. If you find that our reply isn't satisfactory, please let us know and we'll work together to find you the resources you need. Take care, be well, do good work.
 
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Hi Jay,
 
Welcome to the Community Tool Box and Ask an Advisor. Unfortunately, your question is beyond the scope of the resources we provide given the type of work we do. My suggestion is to contact the affordable house trust (http://www.falmouthhousing.org/) directly as a place to start and see what they have to say; my guess is that if such a program exists they would know about it and can put you in contact with them. You might also try the Falmouth Housing Corporation (http://www.falmouthhousingcorp.org/) and the Falmouth Housing Authority (http://www.falmouthhousing.org/). The only other thing that comes to mind is a reverse mortgage, but this would be a last resort type of strategy. If they go that route make sure a lawyer looks over the agreement and explains everything to you so everyone understands what such an agreement entails; as always, caveat emptor (i.e., buyer beware).
 
For your edification, let me offer you a brief primer on the CTB to explain who we are and how we work: "The Community Tool Box is a free, online resource for those working to build healthier communities and bring about social change. It offers thousands of pages of tips and tools for taking action in communities. Under continuous development since 1994, the Community Tool Box is widely used in teaching, training, and technical support. Currently available in English, Spanish, and Arabic and with millions of user sessions annually, it has reached those working in over 230 countries around the world. The vision behind the Community Tool Box is that people — locally and globally — are better prepared to work together to change conditions that affect their lives. Our mission is to promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas, and resources. With the belief that people can change their communities for the better, and informed by disciplines including applied behavior analysis, public health, and community psychology, partners (i.e., the Work Group) at the University of Kansas and collaborating organizations developed the Community Tool Box as a public service. Our fervent hope is that these tools can make it easier for people to take action to assure healthier and more just communities throughout the world. The Work Group also provides a variety of services including technical assistance and training and participatory evaluation of community-based efforts." This link will take you to our flier that provides a snapshot of what we do: http://ctb.ku.edu/sites/default/files/site_files/community_tool_box_flye....
 
With that Jay, all apologies for not being of more use to you as your question is beyond our purview. Best of success to you.
 
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Cheers Piet,
 
Thank you for visiting the Community Tool Box (CTB) and Ask an Advisor, hopefully we can provide you with timely, useful, accurate, and directly applicable information about starting a mushroom project. Well, truth be told Piet, I don't think the CTB has experience in setting up a mushroom project per se, but the good news is that I found two examples, one from the CTB and the other from YouTube. Starting with the latter, if you click on this link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJscP56w8To you can see how a mushroom project was set up in Nepal - very informative and shows you exactly how to do it, step by step. As I mentioned, the other example is from right here in the CTB and comes to us by way of Uganda. Go to our home page and click on the "Connect" button at the top center of the page, click on "Community Stories" and then the "View All" button. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on number 5 and scroll down to the 7th project, "Grandmothers Growing Mushrooms for Income and Nutrition – Uganda, Africa." Clicking this on will bring you to the "Overview" section. You will also notice two other buttons, "Summary of Taking Action" and "Impact/Results," both of which are self-explanatory.
 
My only other suggestion, if you don't find these two resources don't meet your needs, you can always click on our Toolkit 7. Developing an Intervention which provides supports for developing core components of a community intervention and adapting them to fit the context. To get there, again start on our home page and click on the "Learn A Skill" button on the top left corner. Click on "Toolkits" and scroll down until you see number 7. At that point you have two options: 1) an outline, and 2) examples. The outline will take you through the development of a project step by step and the eight examples are fantastic at showing how other organizations used Toolkit 7 to develop and implement their respective projects; I urge you to read through them as they will be illustrative and informative even if not directly related to mushrooms.
 
So with that Piet, I hope the three resources we offer will help you along in your mushroom project. If you don't find them helpful, please visit us again and we'll work together to find you more substantive and suitable resources. Much success to you in this most important endeavor. Be well, take care, and do good work.
 
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