Civic Works, Inc.: The Environmental and PAL After School Mentoring Teams (Final Evaluation Report)

Civic Works is a youth service corps program based in Baltimore, Maryland. The program operates a number of activities which teams of corps members perform community service work in urban neighborhoods. Several of its teams are funded by AmeriCorps. Civic Works commissioned Innovation Network, Inc. to design and conduct participatory assessment activities with two of its AmeriCorps service teams: the Environmental Team and PAL After School Mentoring Team. The purposes of the evaluation were as follows: to gather, analyze, and interpret information about selected aspects of each program's accomplishments for 1) self-assessment by staff and team members and 2) reporting purposes; to develop assessment processes and tools which can be incorporated into each team's regular program activities; and to build staff and corps member knowledge and skills in participatory evaluation. This report gives a summary of the major outputs and findings of the evaluation. The body describes the evaluation activities carried out with both teams and presents the information gathered to answer the evaluation questions in more detail with options for Civic Works to incorporate the findings into the teams' programs. The assessment tools developed and site-specific data are included in the appendices.