The Development of Performance Measures for a small After-School program serving South Asian Youth in New York City Swati Desai, Ph.D. Rockefeller Institute of Government, S.U.N.Y. Albany, NY Presented at INVALSI/APPAM Conference, Rome, Oct 3-5

Why Performance Measurement System in Not-for-profit Organization? Performance Measures are necessary to provide better services, innovate more rapidly and innovate costs more responsibly. In doing so, the organization eventually demonstrates the impact of its programs and attracts additional resources.

Five Important steps that creates successful Performance Measurement system Leadership Commitment Data- driven decision making culture Support of outside experts to improve internal capacity Designated position to manage performance measurement system Dynamic System, Change the system as organization changes.

SAYA! Through academic, leadership. Sports, arts and counseling programs, South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!) presents youth with the possibility to expand their horizons and realize their dreams. SAYA! provides these services in two boroughs of New York City, Brooklyn and Queens.

NEED Of all Metropolitan areas in US, New York metropolitan area has the largest South Asian population. In NYC, one out of 20 youth is South Asian and the proportion of South Asian Youth to Non- South Asian youth is growing In the borough of Queens, one out of 8 Youth is South Asian. Borough of Brooklyn is home to 19% of South Asian Youth One out of 4 South Asian Youth is foreign born and almost all of their parent are foreign born.

NEED Over one quarter of NYC South Asian Youth are poor and more than half of NYC South Asian youth are low income. In Queens and Brooklyn where most of South Asian youth reside, South Asian Youth are poorer than all youth. A large proportion of this youth come from the family of low wage workers.

SAYA! Last year, under new leadership, SAYA! went through a strategic planning exercise. As a result of this workshop with staff and the board members, SAYA! developed a more defined mission statement and developed short term, medium term and long term outcomes as shown in the attached Logic Model

SAYA! runs its programs in selected Queens and Brooklyn middle schools and high schools (3 schools funded by NYC’s Dept. of Youth and Community Development, the rest of programs funded by individual donors, foundations and some of the legislators) SAYA! also runs its program in a religious institution (Queens Gurudwara) And it also serves youth at its home base in Queens SAYA! served 650 youth in 2011 and 2012, but over its 16 years of existence, over 7,000 youth were served by SAYA!

SAYA’s Performance Measurement System SISTA (SAYA Information System for Technical Assistance) SISTA will focus on short term outcomes listed in the logic model SISTA database resides into a Google-based SAYA! database. SISTA is based on S.A.G.E. Cohort Program Model

Goals of the performance Measurement System Track individual student progress Measure results of each program Empower students by engaging them in the Performance Measurement System Greater degree of institutional accountability More accurate information on students SAYA! serves Facilitate grant writing and donor reporting

S.A.G.E. Support: Provide academic support to overcome challenges Action: Action-based learning in Desi Girls and Desi Men’s Society, SIPS and Taking Action through Power Lunches, High Chais, Poetry Competitions Guidance: Provide guidance through Chalo College, SAYA!’s college and career readiness program Enrichment: Develop team work, goal setting and increase self esteem through artistic expression, sports and wellness to supplement the academic work.

S.A.G.E. S.A.G.E. is targeted and scalable model and is designed to work for a small cohort of youth over multiple years. Multiple years participation develop healthy relationship with staff and provide individualized support to youth both academically and non-academically. S.A.G.E. is implemented through SISTA in 9 out of 12 SAYA! locations

S.A.G.E. - SISTA Data for the performance system is collected through the following elements: Class Roasters Attendance Sheets Program mid-point Youth check-in –provides feedback to instructors about youth’s progress and makes instructors aware of personal issues Weekly Facilitator Program Debrief – Collects weekly feedback for continuous improvement Individual youth survey at the beginning and the end of the semester- Measure the impact of programs on youth’s development and well-being Facilitator Feedback Form – Facilitator receive feedback on their performance

Preliminary Results In , SAYA! served 183 youth at the Elmhurst center who participated in more than one activity. 361 youth participated in the school-based programs and 103 youth participated the Target Cohort Model in schools. Currently the S.A.G.E. model is implemented in programs that use the Target Cohort Model. Early results indicate that the average SAT score increased by 220 points. All 47 youth who participated in College readiness 1:1 were accepted into college. Pre and post youth survey showed that at the end of the program : youth had a better understanding of high school graduation requirement, they have learned to manage their stress better and have learned to relate with adults and their peers better

Keys to Success and Barriers to Implementation SAYA! has been able to implement the performance measurement system because it has strong support of the leadership, the board, staff and youth. For a small not-for-profit like SAYA!, it is hard to dedicate both financial and staff resources to the performance measurement system. There is a concern that it might take resources away from the service delivery and no separate funding is available to develop performance measurement system. SAYA! is committed to the performance measurement system to monitor and manage the program