Problem:
Comment on this post strategy and what you would propose as another possible strategy. Explain this choice. Support this post with specific references to the resources below and to other scholarly sources-also, in-text citation for this post. Elevate USA is dedicated to empowering urban youth through mentoring, education, and opportunities to develop leadership skills. One performance improvement strategy to facilitate positive social change at Elevate USA is implementing a data-driven evaluation system to assess mentoring effectiveness, increase student engagement, and improve graduation rates. The overall goal of this strategy is to create support for long-term success in education for at-risk youth by establishing a SMART goal for the project: "Within the next 12 months, Elevate USA will improve student retention by 15% through quarterly training for mentors, tracking participant progress, and monthly meetings for academic support."
Strategy and Social Change Impact
Nonprofit organizations require performance management systems to measure results, establish accountability, and ensure their activities support the mission. According to Poister et al. (2015), effective performance management systems should be integrated into an organization's strategic planning process by including measurable outcomes and enhancing continuous improvement processes. The use of a mentoring evaluation system enables Elevate USA to collect data on attendance, academic performance, and student satisfaction to assess whether mentoring relationships positively impact youth outcomes.
In addition, evidence-based mentoring programs support social change by improving educational outcomes, reducing risk behaviors, and increasing at-risk youth's involvement in their communities. It was found that youth participating in structured, monitored, and trained mentoring programs achieved better outcomes (McQuillin et al., 2022). Additionally, Benjamin et al. (2023) discussed how nonprofits that continue to evaluate their performance can better respond to community needs and improve their overall effectiveness as organizations through the use of established evaluation methods. Using systematic evaluation processes at Elevate USA will help the organization identify programmatic gaps, improve mentor success, and support underserved youth. Need Assignment Help?
References:
Benjamin, L. M., Ebrahim, A., & Gugerty, M. K. (2023). Nonprofit organizations and the evaluation of social impact: A research program to advance theory and practice. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 52(1).
McQuillin, S. D., Hagler, M. A., Werntz, A., & Rhodes, J. E. (2022). Paraprofessional youth mentoring: A framework for integrating youth mentoring with helping institutions and professions. American Journal of Community Psychology, 69(1-2).
Poister, T. H., Aristigueta, M. P., & Hall, J. L. (2015).Managing and measuring performance in public and nonprofit organizations: An integrated approach (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.