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A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

Team member information

UNCG Faculty
Stephen J. Sills; Assistant Professor; Sociology Department; 320 Frank Porter Graham Building; 336-
334-5295 or 336-404-4932; sjsills@uncg.edu .
Dr. Stephen J. Sills (CV Attached) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. He
teaches Research Methods (Soc 301 & Soc 616), Global Social Problems (Soc 202/IGS 233),
Global Society (Soc 344/ IGS333), and Global Identity (HSS 208). Formerly he was director of
Evaluation Research at the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University, where he
oversaw numerous evaluations of social, health, and educational service providers. He is a
member of the American Evaluation Association, has authored papers on Culturally Competent
Evaluation, and is listed in the National Center for Cultural Competence Consultant Pool. Dr.
Sills’ research agenda which includes projects focusing on immigrant access to safe and
affordable housing, access to social and health services, and the protection of labor rights for
migrants in the United States and elsewhere.
Community Partners
Mark Kadel, World Relief North Carolina Affiliate Director, 2029 Centennial St. High Point, NC 27262, ,
336-887-9007, mkadel@wr.org

Mark Kadel is Affiliate Director of World Relief in North Carolina. As director, Mr. Kadel
oversees the program management for Refugee Resettlement and Victims of Human Trafficking.
He has 14 years experience working with refugees and victimized people suffering persecution,
abuse, torture, and unjust imprisonment. Working for nine years the Balkan area of Eastern
Europe, Mr. Kadel and his family have assisted and provided humanitarian assistance to victims
of civil war in both Albania and Kosovo.

Students
Lindsay Levis, MA student Sociology Department. 703 Cliffside Terrace Greensboro NC 27403. (845)
526-4352, lmlevis@uncg.edu .
Lindsay Levis is a second year MA student in the Department of Sociology. This semester she
worked on an internship project at Lutheran Family Services. She has learned both the practical
aspects of how immigrant/refugee social service agencies operate as well as had direct experience
working with service clients. Ms. Levis is also working on a research project related to refugee
resettlement, crime, and assimilation in Greenbsboro.

Krycya Flores, BA student Psychology and Sociology Departments. 3901 Battleground Ave #76
Greensboro NC (336) 554-5585, klflores@uncg.edu .
Krycya Flores immigrated six years ago to the United States from her native El Salvador. Ms.
Flores is double majoring in Psychology and Sociology. She has volunteered for several local
social service agencies that serve the Latino community including Centro La Comunidad
(Catholic Charities, Burlington, NC). She has received numerous awards and honors including:
the UNCG Certificate of Leadership, a Credential in Cross-Cultural Human Services from the
Center for New North Carolinians, and the UNCG Certificate of Excellence in Academic
Performance Currently she is a research assistant for the Discrimination in Immigrant Housing
project.

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A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

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A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

Project information
Project Title: A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

Research questions

Over the course of the past two decades the Triad area has become home to a large Latino population as
well as thousands of refugees and immigrants from Africa, Southeast Asia, Central and Eastern Europe,
and the Middle East. Since 1985, World Relief and church partners have helped resettle over 5,000
refugees and victims of human trafficking in North Carolina. World Relief offers legal support, job
training and English classes to immigrants. World Relief is also engaged in advocacy for immigration and
refugee policy. This project aims to assist the World Relief North Carolina to: (1) design a “logic model”1
that will be used for developing measures of the short and long-term goals of their programs; (2) develop
a multi-method evaluation plan to evaluate their services; (3) implement the evaluation plan (including
data collection, data analysis, reporting, and presentation of report); and (4) offer a unique educational
opportunity to two outstanding student researchers.

Methodology

Evaluation is the systematic application of social science research methodologies in assessing programs
and organizations. It entails a process of data collection and analysis that leads to knowledge that will
enhance the decision-making within an organization or to assess the outcomes of particular programs.
When done correctly evaluations are methodologically rigorous, culturally sensitive, and responsive to the
needs the client organization, while also producing an accurate reflection of program outputs and
outcomes.

This proposed evaluation relies on a mixed-method, culturally matched evaluation design (Greene,
Caracelli, and Graham 1989, Greene and Caracelli 1997, Bryman 2006; Sills and Child 2007). It will rely
on “complementary” qualitative and quantitative methods to allow for “triangulation” or increased
reliability and validity of evaluation findings. The faculty PI is experienced in the design and
implementation of formative and summative evaluation projects for more than two dozen clients using
mixed-method designs.

Student researchers will be employed in ethnographic observations of the program and individual
interviews with program staff and program clients. These students have both been chosen for their
methodological expertise as well as familiarity with local immigrant/refugee serving institutions. From
the analysis of the interviews they conduct a survey of clients will be developed. The goal of this survey

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See http://www.uwex.edu/ces/lmcourse/#

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A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

is to provide feedback on client satisfaction, identify overlaps with other agencies providing the same or
similar services identify areas of need for new services, and to assess program impact on accomplishing
stated short and long-term goals. Interview transcripts and survey data together will be analyzed and
synthesized into a final report. Findings, especially those concerning the need for new services or revision
of existing service, will be used to develop future grant applications to local and national funding sources.

Reporting

In addition to an evaluation report and team presentation of findings to be held at UNCG and coordinated
by the Office of Leadership and Service-Learning, this project will be submitted to the Society for the
Study of Social Problems 2008 Annual Conference in Boston. Similarly, a manuscript will be prepared
for submission to the American Journal of Evaluation or other relevant topical journals on program
evaluation for refugee/immigrant communities.

Additional Funding

It is the intent of the research team to expand the scope of this project in late 2008 by pursuing local and
national foundation funding.

Project duties and timeline

Activity 2008
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Sills and Kadel to meet and
develop program logic model and
goal statements
Sills to draft evaluation plan
Sills, Levis, and Flores to engage
in staff interviews
Sills, Levis, and Flores to engage
in interviews with clients
Levis and Flores to administer
survey of clients
Sills, Levis, and Flores to analyze
data
Sills, Levis, and Flores to draft
evaluation report
Kadel to review and comment on
report
Sills, Levis, and Flores to finalize
evaluation report
Presentation of findings

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A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

Begin developing additional grant


proposals

Budget Summary
This proposal requests $2000. In addition to the $1000 matching fund for the Undergraduate Research
assignment, the project proposes to pay the graduate researcher $9.97 an hour (plus .03% unemployment
insurance) for a total of 100 hours (70 hours of data collection and 30 hours of data processing).

Total Unemployment
Hours Salary Wages .03% Total
Project Data Collection &
Analysis (10 weeks total @ 10
hours per week) 100 $9.29 $929.00 $71.35 $1,000

Project completion statement

This project as outlined above will be completed on or before June 30, 2008.

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A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

Project Narrative

Project impact on Agencies

This project will help World Relief North Carolina to develop and implement an evaluation plan for their
services. The resulting data will help them focus on revisions to current programs to maximize the use of
personnel and other resources, eliminate duplication of services, and to improve the overall quality of
their program. The project will also supply data need for new development opportunities. Finally, some
indirect benefit will come from capacity building as the agency staff and university researchers develop a
logic model for service provision.

Broader impact of Project

Publication and presentation of findings in scholarly journals at national conferences will facilitate
review, replication and theoretical integration thus advancing the fundamental knowledge of innovation
and organizational change especially in the study of refugee-serving social service organizations.

Impact on students

This project affords both an undergraduate and graduate student researcher opportunities to engage in
primary data collection and to assist in the analysis of the data and reporting. The project will provide
direct training in the ethical considerations of research involving human subjects (aka IRB certification).
The student researchers will also further develop their skills in the methods of qualitative and quantitative
research, the use of analysis software in coding and analyzing transcripts as well as scanning and
analyzing survey data. Informal learning will also occur through participation in the interviews and
observation of the social service agency. The students will be exposed to a network of professionals and
community leaders. They will develop an understanding of non-profit agencies and social service
provision. Finally, vital skills such as writing for an academic audience, presentation design, and
conducting literature reviews will be reinforced.

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A Program Evaluation World Relief North Carolina Refugee Resettlement Services

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