Glebe Youth Service has a long history of supporting the local community. In recent years the service has become a hub for Indigenous children and families.
After Dark, one of their main programs, offers a safe space on Friday and Saturday nights where young people can have access to youth workers, learn new skills and connect with their community. After Dark nights include a healthy meal and activities like basketball, music, art, movies, Hip-Hop nights, and cultural workshops.
But After Dark faced an uncertain future this year, when it came time to re-apply for its funding.
Funding renewal is always a stressful time in the community sector.
Securing funding is becoming more precarious and reliant on demanding reporting. While reporting is important for tracking progress, carrying out rigorous evaluation can be a significant resource drain for small organisations, who often don’t have the time, funds, or staff to invest in it.
Having worked closely with the community for decades, Glebe Youth Service knew that the After Dark program was valuable and important to the community, but it did not have the tools to convey this effectively.
This catch-22 is familiar to many organisations in the community and not-for-profit sector – needing to demonstrate and quantify impact to secure funds, but without access to the means or expertise to conduct the evaluation, nor the budget to engage consultants.
The Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion has a longstanding partnership with the Glebe community through the work of the Social Impact Lab and recognised that university knowledge and expertise could fill the gap Glebe Youth Service needed.
UTS carried out a pro bono program evaluation, talking to young residents, former participants and community leaders and stakeholder to comprehensively understand its impact on the community and individuals.
Listening to former youth of the area as we carried out the evaluation, the huge impact that this program has was very clear. The benefits it provides can affect and change the trajectory of people’s lives for many years to come.
- Dianne Moy, Social Impact Lead at the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion.
This evaluation helped to quantify and communicate how After Dark meets community need, tracks against its program objectives, and understand the community’s thoughts about the program – painting a picture of the its true value.
UTS also developed evaluation tools that Glebe Youth Service can continue to use to understand program effectiveness, capture community opinions, and shape possible improvements and changes.
After the resulting report was submitted, Glebe Youth Services received funding approval for an additional two and a half years.
We are so proud of the work GYS does in the community, and it was so motivating to see that reflected back in this report. This report really shows the importance of this program in the Glebe community, and the impact it has had, and is still having, on young people in the area.
- Emily Whitehouse, Chair of the Glebe Youth Service Management Committee.
This win for the Glebe community means staff contracts can be renewed for longer, giving the organisation and its programs more stability and better services.
‘Extended funding allowed the community to feel that their needs are being heard and they are being supported not only by the youth services but also by the broader community and governments,’ says Dianne.
‘More young people will now have a space where they can be youth, they can connect to their friends, community and be supported in culturally appropriate ways.’