ARE WE REALLY MAKING A DIFFERENCE? by Walter Bodle, Founder, Youth In Focus

Are youth photography programs really doing what their missions say they are doing? Are we really changing lives? Who is being empowered? What impact are they making - if any?

Those well developed stories coming from youth photography programs like Shooting Back, Youth in Focus, Photovision and Kids with Cameras continue to inspire others to start their own projects, with the hopes of making a difference in the lives of individuals, a neighborhood, a community or even larger parts of the world. Somewhere in the process of creating and sustaining these programs a few “sensitive” questions sneak into the room - often asked by potential financial supporters.

At this year’s annual meeting of Society for Photographic Education (SPE), Steven Rubin (Penn State) raised some searching questions about the “. . .means, motives, and modalities of community arts projects in photography.” My initial defensive curiosity wanted to see if this was just another “academic” posture from some ivy- covered tower. Not so. Rubin’s research found several programs making grandiose claims of “making a difference”; even by putting disposable cameras in the hands of children - for a day.

The questions he asked in his presentation were more important than the results of his research. Of the programs that typically describe their purpose as empowering and transforming the diverse and disadvantaged population, or offering life-changing opportunities to shape and control their own representations he asks: How effective are these efforts? Whom do they most benefit? How? To what consequence? To what degree are participants able to express and control their own experience?

These are the types of questions that we frequently ask ourselves at Youth in Focus in Seattle. Sometimes they are asked at board meetings, at program committee meetings and often during a site visit by a potential funder. Self-evaluation has been one of the key factors sustaining this program now finishing its fifteenth summer quarter.

In the fall of 1993, after reading about “Shooting Back,” we thought that a similar summer program in Seattle might distract a few inner-city kids away from the negative things in their lives toward more positive matters

The next summer we started a small ten week program for twenty Seattle youths gathered from a teen drug rehab program, the city parks department, and the Native American Heritage High School. Canon supplied cameras and Ilford sent film supplies. SAFECO provided start-up funds. The Photographic Center NW provided darkrooms and Benham Gallery offered wall space for an exhibition.

Fourteen of the participants finished the program. The exhibit was a smashing success. Everyone felt good about project. Then one of the students said, “What’s next?” One of the instructors said, “I think we should do it again next summer but we can do it better.” And that has been a pattern that has moved us to a quarterly class schedule with four levels of black and white traditional photography, two levels of digital classes. Several special community programs and a freelance service are offered. Admission is via an application and interview. A time commitment is the only tuition.

Forty-four young people will complete the fifteenth Summer Session. YIF started its year-round programs in the damp basement of a former city jail. Very secure facilities but very close. The current “penthouse” facilities are superbly designed and equipped. The annual income budgeted to supporting a staff of four plus three interns and six instructors is a great concern when economic indicators head south.

If YIF is going to grow and serve more youth in our communities we have to be ready and able to show evidence that we are doing what we say we are doing. Two years ago our Board of Directors asked for an independent evaluation of the program.

The evaluation was designed around the following questions:

*Are the programs designed and implemented consistently with best practices and evidence-based strategies in arts programs?
*Does YIF meet program goals and objectives related to nurturing artistic sensibility, building positive identity and increasing social competence?
*How can YIF better meet program goals?
*What impact do the programs have on the youth and the community?

This independent team used a variety of data gathering means and produced a valuable seventeen page summary evaluation. Four program successes and four areas for improvement were identified. These areas have been included in the organizations strategic plan for the next three years.

It’s important to note that YIF’s ability to execute a quality evaluation effort was due to receiving a grant (in our case, from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) that funded our ability to hire an outside expert. With all the recent focus on generating outcome data, our experience clearly says that neither funders nor the programs themselves should expect to be able to produce meaningful data simply by layering an evaluation protocol on top of already stretched staffs and resources and not without the help of experts in developing the right tools to tease out sometimes quite nuanced discoveries. We believe that if funders want this data, they should be ready and willing to help generate it. If program agencies want this data, they should be ready, willing and able to put in the effort to generate findings that are meaningful and not that simply support pre-determined assumptions.

In conclusion, my point here in his brief essay is not to answer these questions by providing results of the evaluation. Rather I wish to emphasize the importance of systematically looking inward to evaluate our programs. I believe that we need to continue to ask ourselves if we are doing what we say we are doing - and how well we are doing it.

We have to be solid on our claims that we are making a difference.

Walter Bodle, Founder
Youth in Focus, (www.youthinfocus.org)

IPE Editors Note: To continue discussing the issues that Walter raised in his thought provoking essay, please feel free to comment on the post or log on to our IPE FORUM. We welcome your feedback, ideas and discussions.