Assessment
Thank you for your interest in the Culpeper Youth Interest and Needs Assessment (pdf format; includes Executive Summary, Background, Assessment Process, Results and Conclusions, and Moving Forward)
Background
The Culpeper Youth Interest and Needs Assessment was developed to guide the Foundation’s investments in youth related initiatives and for community use to inform conversation and action on youth recreation.
The assessment reflects information collected during a five month long collaborative process led by an independent research firm and advised by a group of community leaders, representatives from local organizations and students. Culpeper Wellness Foundation hired Charlottesville firm Partnership for Strategic Impact to conduct an extensive youth recreation assessment to identify the needs and interests of Culpeper County middle and high school age youth. The 18-member advisory group met monthly to provide objective oversight and guidance to the process. Youth focus groups met during the summer to inform the development of interest surveys for youth and adults who work with youth. The surveys were administered in August and the results were incorporated into the assessment.
Letter to the Culpeper Star Exponent editor
In response to a misleading article about the assessment in the Culpeper Star Exponent, Partnership for Strategic Impact president Maryfrances Porter wrote the following letter to the editor:
I am writing in response to your Sept. 25 article titled “Culpeper adults ID rec center, pool as top youth needs.”
My firm, Partnership for Strategic Impact, was hired by the Culpeper Wellness Foundation to facilitate the process of understanding the recreation interests and needs of Culpeper youth.
I appreciate that the Star-Exponent informed the public about the findings from this project; however, the headline is very misleading and the article very much oversimplifies the results.
While it is true that when asked what activities adults would like to bring to Culpeper, the most frequent responses were a recreation center and a pool, these were only nominated by 24 percent and 20 percent of parents, respectively.
Even though parents most often nominated a recreation center and pool, the youth themselves prioritized someplace that had good food where they could hang out and play games. As far as outdoor activities go, youth most often prioritized a ropes/obstacle course.
The take-home message from the project is that Culpeper youth have a lot of niche interests and there is no silver bullet activity that will satisfy everyone.
I encourage anyone interested in contributing to the ongoing community conversation about youth recreation to read the full assessment, which can be found at culpeperwellnessfoundation.org/youth-interests-assessment/.