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See below to download a PDF of the complete report.
The following are brief excerpts from the report.
An Evaluation of the
Williston PLACE Program, 2007-08
September 26, 2008
By Amy L. Powers, Andrew Powers, and PEER Associates, Inc.
Introduction
The PLACE Program in Williston, Vermont
The PLACE (Place-based Landscape Analysis and Community Education) Program is an innovative program in placed-based education for towns in Vermont provided by the University of Vermont (UVM) and Shelburne Farms. The PLACE program provides local residents with a forum for exploring and understanding the natural and cultural history of their town landscape. Working directly with local schools, town commissions, historical societies, and conservation organizations, PLACE staff members develop an integrated series of presentations, field trips, workshops, web-based, and printed materials
designed to facilitate residents' understanding of the natural and cultural history of the local landscape.
Since its inception in 2001, PLACE has collaborated with a host of local and regional partners to facilitate programs in ten communities. In 2005, the PLACE program began experimenting with an institute model. The PLACE Institute coordinates service learners from UVM as they collaborate with local residents on place-based research and programming. In 2007, the PLACE program added an additional piece to the program offering while working with the town of Williston. Williston residents formed a task force to plan for a Vision to Action forum, titled Williston into the Next Generation (WING). The WING forum, which spanned a weekend in the spring of 2008, gathered over 100 residents together to share ideas about Williston’s future, identify specific projects for town improvement, and determine action steps to put those
projects in motion.
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Evaluation Methods
In the spring of 2008, Shelburne Farms hired PEER Associates, Inc., an external evaluation firm, to conduct an evaluation of the Williston PLACE program. Williston PLACE was chosen as a key focus because of the program’s innovation at this site to engage the community at a new level through the Vision to Action Forum and its surrounding activities. Program staff and a key funder were identified as the primary stakeholders in the evaluation. This evaluation sought to understand several questions, including:
- In what ways has Williston community members' enthusiasm about their community changed since Williston PLACE began?
- In what ways has Williston community members' level of engagement in their community changed since Williston PLACE began?
- In what ways has Williston community members' intentionality about creating change in their community changed since Williston PLACE began?
- How do participants perceive the various aspects of PLACE (presentation series, educator involvement, Vision to Action forum, Steering Committee participation)? Do these multiple components complement, enhance, inhibit, or create synergy among each other? Are different outcomes associated with different types of participation? (Note: The extent to which we can answer to this last question is dependent upon the ways in which we can break down the survey data by groups, which may be dependent upon response patterns.)
- What factors would continue to motivate community members' enthusiasm for and participation in their community?
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Conclusions
Based on the evidence from surveys and interviews, PLACE seems to have catalyzed and coordinated existing community projects and priorities, and to have energized the core citizens involved. At the same time, by introducing the participation of new people, PLACE is helping Williston to create a new and more inclusive arena of civic engagement aimed at bringing diverse community members together with the common purpose of working toward a future grounded in an understanding of the landscape and its human and natural history.
While many of the participants came to PLACE already very enthusiastic about, motivated for, and engaged in learning about and working for the benefit of their community, the data suggest that they came away from PLACE events even more so. The task now for this committed group of citizens is to continue to draw in wider participation to bring forth not only action but results from the vision.
Synergy between the different elements of the PLACE program helped to increase participation and foster a more informed level of dialogue. Further value could be extracted by creating additional, explicit links between elements of the program that would result in lasting partnerships between various elements of the community.
While the programmatic commitment of the PLACE program is complete, it is likely that program outcomes could be sustained and enhanced with further inputs. Capacity building, educator professional development, and general ongoing contact and support would help to more firmly establish the civic processes put in place, and the practice of place-based education in the schools.
With its multifaceted approach to community engagement, the PLACE program has had a meaningful impact on the town of Williston, with many of the outcomes yet to emerge. A lifelong resident, reflecting on PLACE and another previous community effort, painted a promising picture for the future:
I feel progress has been made and I see more progress on the horizon. I see an opportunity to move forward in a community way toward what people want Williston to be…. There is good evidence that we can come together, and have done so for other projects, and this can continue with this WING effort. The community got motivated, and it was an amazing community effort. That can continue happening here. I'm seeing the stirring.
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