Youth Frontiers evaluation released
The findings of our evaluation of Youth Frontiers—a NSW-wide mentoring program—have been released by the Youth Participation & Strategy Unit in the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS). Overall, the evaluation found the program had an impressive reach across NSW and was achieving positive developmental outcomes for young people. However, it is not making a direct contribution to increasing community participation, so there are some opportunities to strengthen the program’s design.
The report is being used inform implementation of the program in 2017 and strategic decisions about the program mix that will support FACS’ priorities for youth development in NSW. These priorities are set out in the NSW Strategic Plan for Children and Young People.
This report follows on from our evaluation of the initial pilot of the program, the findings of which were used to inform the ongoing roll-out of the program by the four funded providers delivering mentoring to students in Years 8 and 9.
ARTD is continuing to support successful implementation of the program through a monitoring system that includes post-program surveys to mentors and mentees and reports on these.
