Evaluating an asset-based effort to attract and retain young people

The loss of young people is a common issue facing many small towns and rural areas across the United States. Numerous community development strategies have been implemented to attract and retain these young people to help sustain local communities and economies. This paper discusses one such strategy and explores the evaluation methodology used to measure its effectiveness. An asset-based community development initiative aimed at attracting and retaining young people was introduced in northern Wisconsin and the western edge of Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 2008. A survey of the community's young people led to the creation of an asset map for the range. Community residents worked to strengthen, promote, and connect its young people to these mapped assets. A 10-year evaluation plan was created to measure the effectiveness of this community-based initiative. A variety of qualitative and quantitative measurement tools were used to evaluate the resulting short-term changes in learning and mid-term changes in action. The evaluation process identified both programming strengths and weaknesses that could be valuable for other community development professionals working to attract and retain young people in their own rural small towns or communities.