EQUITABLE EVALUATIONS
Equitable evaluations are a tool to assess the effectiveness of our programs and internal structures in a way that is deeply rooted in racial equity and community.
Our intention is to approach evaluations with critical consciousness and a firm understanding of the history, identities, oppression, racism, and forms of unconscious bias that impact the evaluative framework. Awareness of these factors leads to engaging with the community in a way that is impactful, respectful, and provides reliable data without causing harm to the community. Evaluations are approached as an opportunity to learn and grow our capacity to become a learning organization. To that end, our equitable evaluations are rooted in four foundational practices:
RE·Center refers to students as our “True North” and as an organization, we are accountable to the students and community members with whom we work. We remain accountable to these stakeholders using comprehensive equitable evaluations of our programs and institutional practices to ensure that we are fulfilling our mission, leading with transparency, and holding ourselves accountable to our impact on the community.
Open and transparent equitable evaluations are grounded in continuous collaboration with community stakeholders. Evaluation techniques might include hosting focus groups to assess the community’s issues and concerns, to partnering with local nonprofits or other institutions to share resources, and trainings.
At their core, equitable evaluations provide data that can be used to determine the effectiveness of our programs, provide solutions and improvements for programs and office culture, and inform the solutions we provide to our partnering institutions.
Equitable evaluations can provide a direct framework for communication by transparently articulating our goals, comparing our goals to our accomplishments, and delivering the results of this analysis to both the community and our funders.