The Offord Centre initiative to establish direct links with community programmers across the country was the inspiration of the late Dr. Dan Offord, to whose memory this work is dedicated. As a child psychiatrist and the long-time director of a children’s summer camp, he had first-hand experience with children who needed help in achieving the most they could out of life. He understood how the right help at the right time can make an enormous difference to a child’s eventual health and happiness. He firmly believed that the most effective way to help individuals was by using community programs to give an equal chance for healthy development to all our children.

We would like to express our gratitude to the hardworking organizations and groups named here for sharing their experiences in order to develop effective child and youth programming in Canada. Their co-operation and readiness to discuss practices, successes and challenges have made this work possible. We hope that our collaboration resulted in a greater appreciation for the role of evaluation in their programming. We would also like to thank Dr. Ellen Lipman who helped guide the Hands Across Canada project in Dr. Offord’s stead. The assistance from donations by Sun Life Financial over the two years of the project, on behalf of its employees and Clarica advisors, made this collaboration and learning possible. We also deeply appreciate the interest and assistance of the Sun Life Community Relations staff, in particular, Wilda Graham. Stephen Kingston of MediaDoc, Kitchener, deserves our thanks for his skill in designing the toolkit for web site and publication.

Participating organizations

Albert Park/Radisson Heights Community Association, Calgary, AB
Child and Adolescent Services Association, Edmonton, AB
Program for Adult Learning, Lac La Biche, AB
Wood’s Homes, Calgary, AB
John Maclure Community School Society, Abbotsford, BC
Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society, Kelowna, BC
Kiwassa Neighborhood House, Vancouver, BC
Marlene Street Tenants’ Association, Inc., Winnipeg, MB
Winnipeg Boys and Girls Clubs, Inc., Winnipeg, MB
New Brunswick Association for Community Living, Fredericton, NB
Community Youth Network for Southwestern Newfoundland, Inc., Stephenville, NF
Alexander Society for Special Needs, Wolfville, NS
Ability Online, Toronto, ON
Centre de sante communautaire Hamilton-Wentworth/Niagara, Hamilton, ON
Christie Lake Community Centres, Ottawa, ON
Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre, Toronto, ON
Delta Family Resources Centre, Toronto, ON
Doorsteps Neighbourhood Services, Toronto, ON
Family Counselling Centre of Sarnia-Lambton, Sarnia, ON
Family Services of Haliburton County, Haliburton, ON
Frontier College (National Office) , Toronto, ON
Haldimand-Norfolk Women’s Services, Simcoe, ON
House of Friendship, Kitchener, ON
Learning Disabilities Association of Peterborough and Trent University, School of Education and Professional Learning, Peterborough, ON
Lennox and Addington Interval House, Napanee, ON
Kerry’s Place Autism Services, Kingston, ON
Lakeshore Area Multi-services Project, Toronto, ON
North Hamilton Community Health Centre, Hamilton, ON
Ottawa Carleton New Beginnings for Youth , Ottawa, ON
Overbrook Forbes Community Resource Centre, Ottawa, ON
St. Catharines Resource Service for Youth, St. Catharines, ON
Toronto Children’s Breakfast Club, Toronto, ON
WoodGreen Community Centre of Toronto, Toronto, ON
Wyndham House, Guelph, ON
YES Employment Services and Volunteer Youth in the Millennium, Thunder Bay, ON
Hillsborough River Area Development Corporation, Mount Stewart, PE
Frontier College Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Copyright 2005, Offord Centre for Child Studies. Permission for downloading, reproduction or distribution of all or part of this document is granted for personal and non-profit educational uses only. All other uses require permission from the Offord Centre. Please acknowledge use of the material with the following citation: Shaw, A. T & Racine, Y. A. Evaluation Toolkit for Community Youth Programmers. (2004, Nov.) Retrieved from the Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster Children’s Hospital-McMaster University web site at: http://www.offordcentre.com/. Use of individual tools should include acknowledgement of the original source agency cited. Printed copies of the toolkit are available free of charge by contacting the Administrator, Offord Centre for Child Studies at Patterson Building, Chedoke Site, McMaster University, 1200 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8N 3Z5. Supplies are limited.

Aurelia Shaw
Yvonne Racine
November, 2004