Sustainability

In this episode, “Sustainability,”, Elevate Youth Programming sat down with Drs. Asari Offiong and Mindy Scott from Child Trends to discuss steps program staff can take to plan for sustainability. Although there is no uniform definition of sustainability, discussions of sustainability often focus on the ability to maintain an intervention or its outcomes after some initial period. Defining sustainability for your program at an early stage is important, so appropriate structures and procedures can be developed to achieve your sustainability goals. These goals should extend beyond continued funding and could focus on other components such as implementation partners, staff training, and community support. In this episode, we discussed components of sustainability and provided examples of frameworks and tools to support sustainability planning. Dr. Offiong is an adolescent health researcher with nearly a decade of experience leading youth development programs and conducting mixed-methods, community-based research in various metropolitan areas across the United States with non-profits, school districts and government agencies. Dr. Scott is an expert on fatherhood and healthy relationships, who leads research and evaluation projects aimed at building the knowledge base around healthy-relationship programming for young people The Elevate Youth Programming podcast was developed by RTI International and funded by FYSB. The Elevate Youth Programming content does not reflect the opinions of FYSB nor its training and technical assistance contractors but offers topics to provoke thought and provide grantees with tips and strategies to enhance programming.