Authentic youth engagement & positive youth development Breakout Session Authentic youth engagement & positive youth development

The 84 Movement Focusing on Positive Developmental Outcomes for Engaging Youth in Tobacco Prevention word@the84.org

What is The 84?

The Youth Development Approach An approach to supporting youth that focuses on outcomes necessary for adolescence and adult life based on their capacities, strengths, and formative ideas. Advancing Youth Development Curriculum: BEST Youth Worker Certificate Training, Health Resources in Action

Thriving Young Person Activity

Civic Engagement

Public Speaking and Presentation Skills

Peer Leadership

Statewide Leadership Team

Community/Sense of Belonging

Contact Information Facebook.com/The84Movement @The84Movement The84Online Carly Caminiti Project Manager ccaminiti@hria.org Natalie Vanatta Program Coordinator nvanatta@hria.org

A New Approach to Evaluating Youth Tobacco Control Movements The Student Panel Cassandra Wood cwood@lunginfo.org

Youth Movements in Pennsylvania and Delaware Kick Butts Generation (KBG) is a Delaware-based group for middle and high school students focused on ending youth tobacco and nicotine use. KBG members regularly host interactive events within their schools to educate their peers about the tobacco industry and the health effects of using tobacco, to raise awareness about lung cancer, and to increase KBG participation.

Youth Movements in Pennsylvania and Delaware The Tobacco Resistance Unit (TRU) in Pennsylvania aims to protect youth ages 12 to 18 from tobacco and nicotine products and marketing through efforts in community outreach, education, prevention, and cessation. TRU is newer than KBG and due in part to the size of Pennsylvania vs. Delaware, TRU chapters operate with less centralization

KBG and TRU Evaluation An independent evaluation of both youth movements has been conducted by the Research & Evaluation Group at Public Health Management Corporation since 2012 (TRU) and 2014 (KBG).

Evaluation Challenges School-based group chapters operate in relative isolation, but require coordination of efforts. It is difficult for the evaluators to measure collective progress towards outcomes if groups are not conducting similar activities. Additionally, it can be challenging to ensure that groups report their data using consistent protocols.

Evaluation Challenges High turnover makes it difficult to identify which members are best able to provide feedback. Tracking KBG and TRU membership has been challenging. Not only do students graduate, but some do not maintain active membership after first signing up.

Evaluation Challenges for KBG and TRU Youth use a variety of methods of communication, making them hard to reach. KBG and TRU members have varied preferences for communication – no one method (e-mail, phone, social media, etc.) will work well for the entire population.

Evaluation Challenges for KBG and TRU Youth do not typically have the attention span to complete long surveys. We’ve learned to keep all paper surveys to one page, front and back. Otherwise, questions will be left blank. When we collect data from youth at large events, we have to limit the questions to essential questions about those events.

Evaluation Challenges for KBG and TRU Statewide events (e.g., youth conferences) offer an opportunity to collect data from a large number of members. However, it is difficult to collect in-depth data from youth in these settings due to competing interests, including scheduled activities and social opportunities.

Assembling a Youth Feedback Panel Our goals: Identify a group of KBG and TRU members who are eager to share their feedback with the evaluation team and willing to do so via online surveys Develop timely online surveys that ask in-depth questions that can inform short- and long- term program decision-making

Assembling a Youth Feedback Panel Who was invited to join? 341 TRU and 261 KBG members with valid e-mail addresses Note: E-mail addresses were collected from online member registrations and from online registrations for a recent KBG conference in Delaware. Because adult group advisors register youth members and do not always collect members’ e-mail addresses, e-mail addresses were not available for all members. Additionally, over 15 percent of the e-mail addresses were not valid.

Assembling a Youth Feedback Panel What are the incentives to join? 1) The opportunity to make your voice heard… …and to receive gift cards after completing surveys.

Assembling a Youth Feedback Panel What other incentives did we consider? KBG/TRU Gear (t-shirts, etc.) We decided gift cards ($5 gift card for everyone or a raffle of several larger gift cards) would be a more effective incentive, especially for less-involved group members. Promoting membership as an extracurricular leadership opportunity that could be listed on college applications. We decided it was more important to preserve group anonymity in order to solicit candid feedback. We also want to make sure we’re not just soliciting feedback from group “leaders”, but also from newer or less active members.

26 youth panel members, including: Who joined (so far)? 26 youth panel members, including: 8 TRU members, 18 KBG members Members represent 20 ZIP codes 85% of members are willing to respond to a survey at least once a month

Who joined (so far)?

Highlights – 1st Panel Survey 26 panel members received an online survey on policy and advocacy interests and training needs 20 members responded, yielding a 77% response rate Respondents received $5 gift cards of their choice iTunes, Starbucks, and Dunkin’ Donuts

Highlights – 1st Panel Survey

Highlights – 1st Panel Survey

Highlights – 1st Panel Survey

Highlights – 1st Panel Survey 70% of members are more interested in talking to youth about the dangers of tobacco than advocating for policy change. Future work with TRU and KGB should highlight the utility of policy change for tobacco prevention.

Next Steps Continue to use the youth panel to collect timely feedback to inform ALA programming. Upcoming survey topics will include social media campaigns and youth group recruitment; additional topics may be identified in the coming months as well.

Next Steps Offer more opportunities to join the youth feedback panel. This will increase the diversity of our panel respondents and improve the reliability of future survey findings. TRU members are underrepresented on the panel, but one opportunity to recruit more TRU panel members will be at an upcoming advocacy day at the Pa. Capitol, which is typically attended by 100+ TRU youth.

Next Steps Continue to offer gift card incentives for youth panel members who complete surveys. If the panel grows, consider raffling several larger incentives rather than providing all respondents with a small incentive.

Next Steps Regularly share survey findings with ALA staff, TRU and KBG advisors, and youth feedback panel members. It is important for members of the youth panel to know that their feedback is valued and will be used to make program decisions.

Questions?/Contact Information PROGRAMS Cassandra Wood TRU Coordinator 412-321-4029 ext. 224 cwood@lunginfo.org Matt Coyle KBG Coordinator 302-737-6414 ext. 512 mcoyle@lunginfo.org EVALUATION Maya Gutierrez PHMC Senior Project Director 215-985-2557 mgutierrez@phmc.org