Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The Circle Program and the College of William and Mary Public Policy Program partnered together to provide a performance and benefits analysis of the New Hampshire-based non-profit organization’s effectiveness in promoting the 6 C’s of positive youth development (PYD) and positively impacting the lives of rural low-income New Hampshire girls. The analysis followed the philosophy and mission of the Circle Program which emphasizes the building of girl’s assets and skills using PYD. PYD is a research-based approach heavily contributed by Richard M. Lerner and focuses on promoting healthy developmental potential and outcomes. The 6 C’s of PYD are competence, confidence, connections, character, caring, and contribution.

There were two main goals of this project. First, our team wanted to provide an objective evaluation of how the Circle Program has impacted the lives of the girls that it currently serves and has previously served based on positive youth development (PYD). Secondly, our team aimed to develop tools for the Circle Program to use to better assess and clearly demonstrate their program’s impact on PYD measures to be used for future Circle Program promotion. The goal of the project was that the results could be shared with stakeholders and potential donors to provide an update and evaluation of the program’s performance.

Performance analysis was conducted by creating and analyzing survey results from current participants of at least 3 years, and alumni of the program. Surveys were designed as carefully as possible to account for the education level of the respondents. The largest limitation of the survey was recall bias. Current participants were asked to think about how they felt before and after participation and the results were compared across the 6C’s of PYD. Alumni of the program were asked generally to rate how the program affected their lives, specifically the 6 C’s and provided anecdotal free form responses intended to be used for personalization and fundraising efforts. Survey responses were most positive in the areas of confidence, connection, and caring, but were positive across all 6 C’s. Results indicate girls who participate in the program are also likely to want to contribute back to society. From the initial surveys an entrance and exit survey was designed for future use by the Circle program to compile longitudinal data for the program without recall bias.