Teen Summer Program Evaluation for the National Building Museum
Client: National Building Museum | Location: Washington, DC
We used evaluation to help the National Building Museum plan for the future of Investigating Where We Live, a long-running summer program that brings together creative youth to explore the built environment.
OVERVIEW
In 2018, we worked with the National Building Museum to evaluate Investigating Where We Live, an award-winning summer program that brings together creative youth from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to explore, document, and interpret the built environment in D.C. neighborhoods. Youth in the program use their findings to design and install an exhibition at the Museum.
Our evaluation came at a time when the National Building Museum sought to make data-informed decisions about the program’s future after more than twenty years of running the program.
APPROACH
We first developed our understanding of the program through contextual observations, visiting field sites and observing interactions among museum staff and youth participants. Later, we led interviews with stakeholders representing a variety of perspectives to gain a holistic understanding of the program’s broad value and impact, including:
Youth participants from both the most recent and past program years
National Building Museum involved in bringing the program to life
Museum peers with experience organizing youth programs at other institutions, and
External program stakeholders (city officials, funders, and partner organizations)
We analyzed these data points to surface key trends and insights about the program’s successes and challenges and led a collaborative workshop with the museum to unpack opportunities to strengthen the program moving forward.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
We found that the program was highly valued by all those involved; its strengths lie in how it interweaves the National Building Museums’ holistic approach to the built environment with a focus on community investigation, pairing historical learning and creative arts, and providing youth agency in the museum.
Our collaborative discussions with the Museum focused on how they might grow connections with city officials to deepen community connections, support youth socio-emotionally in the program, and actively engage alumni after their program experience ends.
