Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design Archives

10 Jan, 2024

Bringing Your Program to a New Community

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2024-01-09T20:49:50-05:00January 10th, 2024|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Capacity Building, community engagement, program design|0 Comments

A major barrier to introducing a new program to a community is pushback.

From staff concerns to not assessing whether the program is needed, failure to determine if your program is the right fit for a new community can lead to negative outcomes for the program and for your organization.

Bringing a new program to a community your organization has no relationship with requires careful consideration and a thoughtful approach. Here are key factors to keep in mind:

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4 Jan, 2024

Ask Nicole: We’re Facing Pushback For Expanding Our Programs

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2024-01-09T18:24:15-05:00January 4th, 2024|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Ask Nicole, Capacity Building, Partnerships, program design, Sustainability|0 Comments

Have a question you’d like to be featured? Let me know.

There comes a point in the life of an organization where it considers expanding its programs and services.

This strategic move can open up new possibilities, build and strengthen community bonds, and enhance overall effectiveness, including:

Becoming responsive to emerging community and societal needs
Onboarding of more staff and volunteers
Receiving more funding
Generating opportunities to connect to a more expansive collaborative network
Shifting from in-person to online

While the idea of expanding your organization’s programs can be tempting, many organizations venture into uncharted territory without being intentional about WHY and HOW they expand.

This leads to pushback from other organizations, community members, and even staff.

There’s different levels to pushback against program expansion. Here are two ways to look at it:

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20 Sep, 2023

Try This: In Person vs Online Workshop Prep

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-09-20T15:21:17-04:00September 20th, 2023|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Facilitation, Try This, Workshops|0 Comments

*Try this out and let me know how it goes for you.*

As an introverted workshop facilitator, I used to believe that online workshops were easier to facilitate than in person ones.

Now I see that online workshops aren’t easier or harder; they just have their own set of quirks.

There’s benefits and drawbacks to choosing a workshop format, especially if your workshop is being facilitated for the first time.

These considerations are just as important for previously facilitated workshops. The ability to pivot a workshop from and to either format requires an understanding of your workshop’s logistical needs, participant experiences, and workshop objectives.

This activity is ideal for:

Program staff responsible for facilitating workshops, meetings, or trainings

What you’ll need:

Your workshop’s agenda and activity breakdown
A method to take notes (laptop, whiteboard, Google Docs, pen/paper, etc.)

The steps:

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23 Aug, 2023

Stop Prioritizing “One Size Fits All” Solutions

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-08-23T14:10:46-04:00August 23rd, 2023|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Data Driven, Evaluative Thinking, Grantmaking, Nonprofits, program design|0 Comments

A principle in program design is that, if a program is placed in a new location, the program will still perform as expected.

From a program evaluation perspective, we understand that a program’s location presents both challenges and opportunities, as the physical location (whether it’s an actual neighborhood or virtual) is often as unique as the program itself.

So, when you’re evaluating a multi-site program, not only are you assessing the extent that differences in outcomes are due to variations in project implementation, you’re also sensitive to the fact that you’re doing a side-by-side comparison.

Why? Because if you’re a staff member that’s been placed in this new program location, and you’re experiencing the uniques characteristics and quirks of the program’s location in real time, the evaluation can yield results that you’re already aware of. Plus, you’ve most likely informed your staff’s leadership well before the evaluator showed up and this can be frustrating when you need leadership’s help in addressing issues and you’re not being listened to.

A program in multiple locations may have the same outcome goals, but will always be impacted by the conditions it’s operating in.

Every organization has unique needs, capacities, and challenges. Yet funders often make .”one size fits all” requests”. From organizational priorities and resource constraints to lack of internal buy-in and strict accountability, grantees can become resentful of funders when they’re expected to fit into a box as opposed to working together in ways that are flexible and makes sense to both the funder and the grantee.

Funders should let go of one-size-fits-all solutions and play a more crucial role in providing support and guidance to their grantees. They can do this by:

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17 Aug, 2023

Try This: Update Your Logic Model

By Nicole Clark, LMSW|2023-08-16T22:18:56-04:00August 17th, 2023|Categories: Workshop, Program, & Curriculum Design|Tags: Data Driven, Evaluative Thinking, Logic Models, Try This|0 Comments

*Try this activity and let me know how it goes for you.*

When logic models are viewed as a valuable planning and learning tool and used with other programmatic tools, it increases the likelihood that your organization will use them.

So, let’s update your program’s logic model!

This activity is ideal for:

Anyone responsible for designing and/or implementing programs and services

What you’ll need:

A program or service logic model

The steps:

This activity assumes that your program has a logic model, as you won’t be able to update it if you don’t have one.

Visually, your logic model could look like this:

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Bringing Your Program to a New Community

Ask Nicole: We’re Facing Pushback For Expanding Our Programs

Try This: In Person vs Online Workshop Prep

Stop Prioritizing “One Size Fits All” Solutions

Try This: Update Your Logic Model

This Is A Custom Widget