Appendix A
Lead Organization Project Director Interview Protocol
|
CEY II
Longitudinal Site Visits
Lead Organization Interview Protocol
I. Staff Information
Could you tell me about your role with this organization and your professional background? How long have you been working for this organization? What did you do before working here?
What is your role on the CEY grant?
How is the CEY grant staffed by your organization? (probe: Vista volunteers)
What roles do staff from your organization play in the CEY partnership? (probe for: logistical support; providing capacity building activities; leadership)
II. Lead Organization Background
Could you provide me with a brief history of your organization, including when and why it was established, current mission, and types of services performed?
What challenges do the youth in your community face? How have these challenges changed over time?
What challenges do organizations in your community face working with youth? (Probe for: issues associated with being in an urban or rural service area – e.g., transportation.)
III. Past Partnership Experience
What kind of prior experience did your organization have in either participating as a member or leading partnerships? Are these partnerships currently operating? (If yes, probe for the mission; how these partnerships are organized and operated; capacity-building or youth service oriented; do these partnerships involve government agencies; partnership activities; partnership accomplishments/challenges)
Has your organization received any previous grants for partnership development, organizational capacity or partnership capacity building?
IV. Why CEY?
Why did your organization decide to apply for the CEY grant?
Do you have any past experience with CCF or CEY grants? If so, please describe.
Why did you select your current group of partners? Is the CEY-funded partnership a continuation of a previous or existing partnership? If yes, are there any members of that existing partnership that are NOT part of this CEY-funded partnership? (Probe for: Are there public agencies in the broader partnership that were ineligible for CEY funding? If lead or partner is Weed & Seed, how does this fit with CEY?)
How did you decide on the number of partners to include in the CEY partnership? What factors did you consider?
How well did you know the partner organizations and staff members prior to CEY?
How were roles and contracts negotiated for the current CEY partnership? (Probe for: fiscal arrangements; leadership selection; responsibilities;) How was it decided that your organization would serve as the grantee/lead?
Please list your current partners and how much funding they receive from CEY. Describe how these amounts were arrived at.
Has the CEY partnership’s composition changed over the past year? Explain.
Has the CEY-funded partnership worked jointly with any other partnerships or collaborations with which your organization is currently involved? (Probe based on answers from past partnership experience section)
V. Needs Assessment
Before CEY, had your organization previously conducted a community needs assessment? When did this occur? What were the results and how did it impact the services your organization delivered?
Did your organization conduct a community needs assessment prior to submitting your proposal in order to plan for the CEY-funded partnership? What were the results and how did it shape the development of the partnership?
Did you conduct new data collection for the CEY needs assessment? Describe. How have you used this needs assessment to shape your CEY project?
VI. The CEY Partnership
Does the CEY partnership currently have a mission statement? If yes, describe. If no, how would you describe the partnership’s overarching goal? Did the needs assessment have an impact on the mission? How was this mission/goal devised? How will each organization contribute to the mission? Was this mission developed for an existing/previous partnership, or is it unique to the CEY-funded partnership?
Please describe how the partnership is currently structured. Why did you choose this structure? So far, has this structure been effective? What was the process for choosing this partnership structure?
What are your roles and responsibilities as the lead organization? How easy or difficult is it for you as the lead to build and maintain relationships among the partners? What factors make it easy or difficult? What strategies have been particularly effective?
What are the roles/responsibilities of the partner organizations? Do the partners have different roles/responsibilities? Explain.
How well have the partners followed through on their commitments to the partnership? Explain.
Have the roles/responsibilities of each organization in the partnership changed over time? Could you provide some examples?
How is decision-making handled? Could you provide some examples? When has this worked well? Are there any instances where it has been problematic? Are decisions documented?
Please describe the partnership’s formal and informal mechanisms for communication. What type of communication is most common? How often do you communicate with partners? Do you communicate more with some partners than others? If so, which ones? Explain.
How frequently does the partnership meet? Where do you meet?
Will the partnership engage youth in any capacity?
How will the CEY partnership work with other broad community or governmental networks in your community? Is the partnership working with government agencies in the community, such as the police and the school district, or other youth-serving agencies?
How do you see the partnership and the governance of the partnership changing over time?
Are you satisfied with the dynamics of the partnership? Is there anything that could improve?
How satisfied are you with the partners’ participation?
VII. Your Organization and Capacity Building
How did you assess your organization’s capacity? Did you do a formal organizational needs assessment? Describe the assessment process (probe: who was involved, how long did it take, when did it occur? Ask for the name of the instrument or a copy of the assessment tool or questionnaire.)
Based on this assessment, what are the strengths and weaknesses of your organization? Did the assessment confirm your thoughts about your organization’s capacity? Were you surprised by any of the results?
In what ways are the capacity building activities that occur through the CEY-funded partnership directly tied to your organization’s needs? How did you prioritize which areas of capacity to focus on?
Describe the CEY capacity building activities that have occurred this year and how they are intended to help your organization? Who conducted these capacity building activities? (Probe for: when; duration; number of participants, location of activities; intended impact; how will impact be measured; changes in organizational capacity.)
Are you satisfied with the organizational capacity activities that have occurred?
What are the future capacity building plans for your organization?
VIII. Partner Organizations and Capacity Building
How did you initially assess the capacity of each CEY partner organization? Did you or the partners conduct a formal organizational needs assessment? Please describe the findings.
How similar or different are partners’ needs and strengths?
In what ways are capacity building activities that occur through the CEY-funded partnership directly tied to the partner organization’s needs? How do you accommodate organizations with different needs and at different levels of capacity?
What is the role of your organization in the capacity development of the partners? Who conducts the capacity building activities? (Probe for: when; duration; location of activities; intended impact; how will impact be measured; how has organizational capacity changed)
Describe the activities that have occurred this year and how they are intended to help the partner organizations.
Are you satisfied with the organizational capacity activities that have occurred?
What are the future capacity building plans for your partners?
Do any of the partners have unique circumstances that present challenges for participation in the partnership or capacity building activities?
IX. Capacity Development of the Partnership
Considering your partnership as a whole – what are the strengths and weaknesses of the capacity of the partnership?
What are the capacity building plans for the entire partnership? What types of activities have occurred? What was the process for choosing these activities? Who delivered the partnership capacity building services? Describe future plans for enhancing your CEY partnership’s capacity.
How does the context of your local community affect capacity building efforts?
On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being low and 5 being high, how successful have capacity building efforts been thus far? Please describe for yourself, your perception of partners’ capacity changes, and for the partnership as a whole.
On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being low and 5 being high, how would you assess the capacity of the partnership to achieve its mission/goal? Please explain your choice?
Overall, what have been the biggest changes in the capacity of the partnership?
What aspects of the partnership still need the most work?
Are you satisfied with the progress of the partnership?
X. Successes, Challenges and Promising Practices
Has the CEY funding helped your organization leverage other funding or resources for the partnership? Please describe.
Overall, what have been the major successes associated with this grant and capacity building of the partnership?
Overall, what have been the major challenges associated with this grant and capacity building of the partnership?
Other than the specific capacity building described – how have CEY funds been used?
Do you feel your partnership has the “right” mix of organizations? The “right” number of organizations? Do you plan to make any changes in the composition of your CEY partners in the next year?
Are you conducting an evaluation of your CEY project? Describe the types of data you are collecting and outcomes you are examining. What have your findings been to date? Have you made any changes in your design or action plans as a result?
Throughout this process, what types of lessons have you learned?
If you were giving advice to other organizations attempting to establish a similar partnership and conduct capacity building efforts, what would it be?
If you were to start this process over again, is there anything you would do differently?
Do you plan to sustain this partnership after CEY funding? Describe your plans.
Federal Requirements and Administration of the CEY Program
How clear are the federal requirements for separation of religious activities for faith-based organizations that receive federal funds? Was this an issue that you or your partners faced? What questions did you have? What sources did you use to find answers?
How would you rate ACF’s communication about operational expectations and requirements? Which issues needed further clarification? How timely was the information you received? What suggestions do you have for future programs?
Are there aspects of ACF’s administration of the CEY program that have been particularly helpful? Are there aspects that have presented challenges?
How would you rate the assistance provided by The National Resource Center (Dare Mighty Things)? What assistance was most helpful? In what areas would you have liked more assistance?
What recommendations do you have regarding the design or management of the CEY demonstration program?
Appendix
A A-
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Abt Single-Sided Body Template |
| Author | NicholsonJ |
| Last Modified By | USER |
| File Modified | 2008-07-02 |
| File Created | 2008-07-02 |