Evaluation

As the organization approached its 15th year in operation, the board of the Guelph Enabling Garden (GEG) collaborated with CESI’s Research Shop to complete an evaluation of the garden and the GEG horticultural therapy programming. The evaluation engaged program participants, volunteers, and other garden users as a means to assess how well the needs and priorities of these groups were being met by the current horticultural therapy programs, events and structure of the physical space.

This research was conducted by CESI’s Research Shop in collaboration with the Theatre of the Beat (TOTB), a not-for-profit theatre company. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the TOTB Restorative Justice Theatre Program, which works with incarcerated persons at the Grand Valley Institution for Women. From May 2018 to April 2019, a variety of tools were used to assess the perceptions of the program amongst facilitators, inmates participating in the program, audience members for the theatre performances, and prison staff.

This report was prepared for the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington. It shares the findings from an evaluation of the Rural Emphasis Campaign, which aimed to create a dialogue around the issue of and solutions for rural youth homelessness in Wellington County. Specifically, it reports on data collected through surveys which examined the extent of awareness for youth vulnerability in the community, the effectiveness and impact of the campaign, and ways to improve the campaign’s presence within the community.

The evaluation of the Targeted Walk-In Service program (TWIS) was conducted in collaboration with Canadian Mental Health Association Waterloo Wellington (CMHA-WW). This evaluation is made up of two components; a key informant interview study and a literature review. The key informant interviews were conducted with TWIS service providers to explore their insights regarding service delivery of the program and the implementation of client satisfaction surveys.

This project is a follow-up to the first phase of a program evaluation conducted in collaboration with Focus on Nature in 2018. The aim of this second phase of the program evaluation was to identify what volunteers gained out of their involvement with Focus on Nature, why they continued to be involved, and why they might discontinue their volunteering commitment.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the impacts of a one-day nature photography workshop for students conducted by Focus on Nature. Surveys collected feedback from 154 students to assess what they learned from the program and how their participation affected their sense of connection to nature. Surveys also looked at the experience of volunteers involved in the program. The report is accompanied by a 1-page infographic summarizing the main findings of the survey.

The Active Citizen Project leverages the research and teaching resources of the University via the Guelph Lab, linking them with initiatives at the City that engage citizens in the governance of the city – from policy making to service design/delivery and budgeting.

This report was prepared for the Children's Foundation of Guelph and Wellington's Food & Friends Program. It shares the findings from an evaluation of student nutrition programs in Guelph, Wellington and Dufferin, which will be used to inform, support, and enhance programming moving forward. Specifically, it reports on interviews and surveys which examined the opinions and experiences of students using these programs, as well as of program coordinators, in order to better understand the value and benefits of universal nutrition programs.