Using Data to Empower Youth Program Participants at Changeist

At Changeist, we use radical data technologies to study youths experiences at our afterschool program while expanding these youths agency and stakeholder power. We'll discuss our justice-oriented approach to data use in youth services and explain how we mobilize data to rapidly adapt to youth needs and deliver programming.
*Many people think of young peoples' growth as something that unfolds naturally or is guided by adult influences in their lives. In actuality, people drive their own development as they interact with their environments. This means that the success of youth services and programs depends on their ability to provide high quality interactions and youth need to meaningfully engage with these services.
*At Changeist, we are using radical data technologies to study youths' experiences at our afterschool program while expanding these youths' agency and stakeholder power. We utilize the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) as a framework for collecting experience data in the moment via text message.
*By text messaging our participants brief surveys throughout the program day, we capture quantitative and qualitative data on their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral experiences (e.g. "What are you learning?") as well as information about their context (e.g. "What are you doing right now?").
*As a staff, we democratically deliberate on what our youth are telling us in this data. We use this data to learn, grow, and track progress. Our team has committed to collectively holding ourselves accountable to those we serve!