What's Up with OPP?!

Over 500 Hartford youth, between the ages of 14-18, celebrated the accomplishment of gainful summer employment coordinated through Workforce Development at Our Piece of the Pie®,Inc.(OPP®). The celebration was held on Friday, August 15th, 2014 at 20-28 Sargeant Street, Hartford, CT, 06105.

In the past, OPP has celebrated with youth in public parks, but this year the organization hosted a Block Party on Hartford’s Sargeant Street between Garden and Huntington Street. This year, the Block Party was for not only for the program participants, but also for neighborhood and local community members,to partake in as well. The Block Party featured many local food and craft vendors, as well as a Talent Showcase. In addition to the vendors and showcase, organizations like The Mobile CPR Project and Charter Oak Health Center’s Mobile Unit educated the youth and other attendees on important life skills.  

Over 500 youth worked this summer at various job sites, gaining important life and job proficiencies, including the development of a resume. There were over 400 youth working for area businesses and organizations including TJ Maxx, Shop Rite, and CVS, among many others.

“Summer Youth Employment placements truly are invaluable when it comes to giving the youth the opportunity to acquire significant work and life skills,” says Bob Rath, OPP President & CEO at OPP. “Not only that, but also it engages young people in a learning experience that is fun. We hope it has had an educating effect on them, teaching them about teamwork and the importance of coming to work every day.”

The Summer Youth Employment Learning Program was funded by Capital Workforce Partners (CWP), the region’s workforce investment board – Developing Tomorrow’s Workforce Today.

Support OPP this month with just the click of a mouse! The Giving Library will donate $5.00 for every person that shares our impact video from their site!  1. Visit http://www.givinglibrary.org/organizations/our-piece-of-the-pie 2. Click the “Share Now” button; 3. Register or log-in with facebook; 4. Click “Share on Facebook” or “Share on Twitter.” 5. OPP will receive $5 per share!

Nelton was a member of OPP's Journalism and Media Academy program last year and upon graduation enrolled in our Pathways to Manufacturing program at Asnuntuck Community College.  Nelton came into the program focused and poised to do well.  Despite helping out with child care responsibilities at home, Nelton achieved perfect attendance for his entire first semester.  His academic performance in the classroom and in the workshop combined with his attendance record and great attitude put him in position to attain an internship.  Nelton continued his great performance throughout his summer courses and quickly received a second internship through the college in his second semester at Altra Industrial Motion and has already received great reviews.  Nelton says "Joining the Pathways to Manufacturing program has been a very rewarding decision.  I am excited about my future opportunities in the field after graduating!"    

Join our CEO and several other leaders using performance measurement to enhance their services in this webinar taking place on Tues, October 22nd at 3pm.

During my time of working with OPP, it has opened up my mind about future jobs and changed my perspective on working. Not only did OPP allow me to have experience working in the field of Journalism, they taught me how to be prepared for work, what questions to ask, how to dress and also how to have a great attitude especially when on interviews.

I was never the type to actually go out and look for a job because I would say to myself, “No one will hire you” or “You’re not good enough for the position” but Our Piece of the Pie raised my confidence within myself and my work progress to show me that I have the will and mindset to do whatever I want, when I want. There shouldn’t be anything stopping me from achieving my dream job and they surely gave me a wonderful, mind-blowing experience this summer that actually made me want to work with them again for a while. Not many students like myself have the connections to get a job and I am surely grateful that OPP has worked with us to make us comfortable with the working field. Now, many of the students I know have wonderful jobs that actually wanted to hire them after the internship. That is the support we need for a brighter future and making the youth of today better than they were last year.

I worked with Northend Agents over the summer and I must say, it was actually different than I thought. Working there, made me realize that being a journalist is actually what I want to do with my life and it has so many advantages to go with it. We got to go out of the office to interview people that we have never met. For example, two of my former co-workers went out to interview the Chief of the Hartford Police this year and they absolutely loved it because they were so nice and they invited them to come back! Can you believe that?

http://www.opp.org/News/news_docs/Path%20Academy%20Approved%20Press%20release%20061213.pdf

I started with OPP more than a year and a half ago. I came on board at an exciting time as OPP started on their evaluation journey after many years of managing organizational performance - using data to track performance and outcomes of our signature Pathways to Success program. Organizational performance management makes sure that we meet our goals in an effective and efficient manner. Evaluation moves beyond whether we meet our goals or not, to asking the question, is Pathways to Success making a difference in the lives of young people. Positive findings of an evaluation are powerful proof that we are making a difference in the lives of youth. It can also show a program's strengths and weakness and ways to improve to have an even greater impact in the lives of youth.

To do an evaluation right, especially the first time around, there are a few important elements to incorporate into the evaluation. First, you want to make sure that the theory of change is clear, outlining how the activities that you are doing is leading to the outcomes you expect. For example, a hypothetical theory of change could outline that classroom instruction (an activity) is responsible for graduating from high school (an outcome). Second, you want to make sure that what is outlined in your theory of change is what is actually happening in the program. This second element is called a process or formative evaluation.  Third, you will need to compare the youth from your program to similar youth who have not attended your program. If your youth are doing better than youth who have not attended your program, it shows that your program is making a difference. This third element is called a summative or impact evaluation.

OPP has embarked on the evaluation journey. We have hired Metis Associates, Inc., a reputable company with an established history of conducting evaluations with similar organizations. Our formative evaluation began in October 2012 and will be completed in June 2014. The formative evaluation takes place in three phases: Phase 1 involves reviewing documentation about Pathways to Success, reviewing our data management system, developing data collection tools, and getting approval to proceed to Phase 2. Phase 2 involves the actual collection of data and finally Phase 3 will cover data analysis and reporting. OPP has completed Phase 1 of the evaluation and moved onto Phase 2. We are currently in the middle of our data collection activities.

As part of Phase 2, Metis also provides quarterly reports based on their data collection. In May 2013 we received our first quarterly report from Metis. The report outlined the evaluation process thus far, including the different methods of collecting data (surveys, observations, interviews) as well as thinking through how our different pathways align with the services we provide. The report also summarized some early, preliminary feedback, including:

Staff had reported that our data management system, ETO, is comprehensive and the data entered was accurate. As with any system, there were areas identified that could do with some further refinement. We continue to work on ways to grow the system to meet the ever growing needs of the staff and the organization.

Youth reported that they highly valued their relationships with their Youth Development Specialist (YDS) and are satisfied with their YDS overall. In support of this, staff and youth noted the importance of building trust. Youth also rated mutual respect as an important quality they would like to see in an OPP staff member.

I look forward to the continuing the evaluation process!

http://www.opp.org/docs/PathwaysCollegeStrategies_StudentSuccess.pdf

Read Our Piece of the Pie's most recent issue brief on Community College success and strategies for improvement.