Measuring Up at 10 years old.

Did you know....

• 82% of participants in Oasis's Arts Apprenticeship Program felt that the program helped them be more in control of their own bodies;
  
• 83% of participants in Oasis's RISE program felt that the program helped them gain leadership skills;
  
• 32% of Oasis girls would like Oasis to offer technology training.

Those are just some of the findings revealed by Oasis's Measure Up evaluation project, conducted in 2009. The nine-month initiative was developed with two objectives in mind: 1) to determine the needs of girls in San Francisco, and 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of Oasis's programs.

Measure Up was conducted by Oasis alumni, working with Oasis For Girls staff and Youth in Focus (YIF), which supports youth-led action research, evaluation, and planning to advance social justice. Through YIF's Stepping Stones package, the Measure Up team received intensive training, coaching, and program development support.

The project sought to examine two primary questions:

• "How do girls ages 13 to 21 feel about the accessibility of health, safety, and girls' programs in their neighborhood and surroundings?"

• "How has Oasis made a difference in the lives of girls they've served and what are some of the ways to change Oasis?"

From December 2008 to February 2009, the Measure Up youth staff conducted interviews, focus groups, and online surveys. They then spent two months analyzing the data they collected; in May 2009, they wrote, produced, and published a summary report of their findings.

The evaluation report confirms the importance of Oasis' emphasis on girl-focused youth-development programs, which were widely praised by the study's respondents. It also reveals several unmet needs, including the desire for additional programs in technology training, tutoring, and mentoring.

Today, Measure Up is already affecting things at Oasis: many of the girls' recommendations are now being developed into pilot programs and the organization has aims to begin Measure Up/Phase II, to help us develop an enhanced array of programmatic evaluation tools.

We offer our heartfelt thanks to all of those who helped make this project possible; Measure Up has exceeded our expectations, enhanced our understanding, and will inform our work for years to come.

READ THE REPORT IN IT'S ENTIRETY: MeasureUpEvaluation2009.pdf