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Evaluating Inclusion: The Progress and Success of the Amigos Program in Peterborough High Schools, as well as Tools and Best Practices for Feedback
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By Morgan McNamee and Yasaman Ahanin, Completed for: Heads Up For Inclusion; Supervising Professor: Hayley Goodchild; Trent Community Research Centre, IDST 4220Y - Assessment of Development Practices, This report is the culminating piece of a four-month evaluation of the Amigos school Program of Heads up for Inclusion. The project had two objectives: 1) Evaluate the success of the Amigos school program since its implementation in 2001 from the perspective of teachers, students and parents/guardians of the participants, and 2) To research and provide the host with best evaluation practices for the program in the future. A literature review of best practices for inclusion of similar programs around North America was completed prior to data collection, while primary data was gathered using semi-structured interviews conducted in February and March 2018. Three interviews were conducted with different stakeholders who are involved with or have been formerly involved with the implementation of the program.
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Community Gardening in Peterborough: Growing More than Food
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By Abby Sparling, Completed for: Nourish; Supervising Professor: Stephanie Rutherford; Trent Community Research Centre, ERST 4830Y - Community-Based Research Project, Community gardening is integral to the creation of sustainable local food systems, providing fresh, healthy, nutritious food, while fostering resilient community spaces. The purpose of this study is to build on existing knowledge about the social benefits of community gardens and explore their application in the context of Peterborough. This research is conducted on behalf of Nourish, a community organization actively working to address food issues. Through this research, the social values of community gardening in Peterborough will help inform Nourish programming, outreach, and future grant proposals. In Peterborough, the unique social benefits experienced by community gardeners revealed a health-conscious orientation, supported by evidence of social cohesion and enhanced food security.
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Best Practices for Educating Youth About Drug Use in Peterborough
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By Farren Goos, Completed for: Peterborough Police Service; Supervising Professor: Sharon Beaucage-Johnson; Trent Community Research Centre, FRSC 4890Y - Community-Based Research Project, The purpose of this project was to determine the best practices for educating youth about drug use in Peterborough. In order to identify best practises, extensive online research was conducted to determine what the evidence says about the most effective tools and methods for delivering drug education messages, the importance of police involvement in delivering these messages and the current drug education curriculum. Surveys were administered to local organizations to capture what resources local Peterborough agencies are currently using in their youth drug education and to establish local agency’s needs in order to improve youth drug education.
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Project Assessment and Evaluation: The Aspire Program
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By Emily Amanda Wessels, Completed for: John Howard Society Peterborough; Supervising Professor: Hayley Goodchild; Trent Community Research Centre, This report provides an analysis and evaluation of the Aspire program based out of the John Howard Society of Peterborough. This program aims at assisting youth ages 17-25 in achieving their personal career and training goals through mentor-based relationships. Methods of analysis include literature review and semi-structured interviews. A review of academic and grey literature on engaging young adults in positive development through mentoring relationships was completed. The semi- structured interview aspect of the research focused on identifying the aspects of successful mentoring relationships that have lasted more than three months and assessing the effectiveness of the Aspire program as it is currently practiced. Currently there are six mentoring matches at the John Howard Society which have exceeded three months in length. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with mentors and mentees involved in the program. The interviews focused on the participants’ experiences in the program and were not life history type interviews. The data obtained was transcribed and analyzed using coding and grounded theory. The data collected suggests that that mentoring relationships can contribute to positive youth development. In particular, mentoring relationships that last a year or more tend to show increased signs of positive youth development. The report finds the prospects of the Aspire Program in its current position are positive, however implementation in some areas of the program could be improved. The areas of weakness require further investigation and action by the management of the program. However, these results are based on a small sample size so may not be generalizable to the program as a whole. The report also investigates the fact that the analysis conducted has limitations. Some of these limitations include; data limitations as a result of the small group of interviewees.
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