Deh Kidz in Jamaica: An Evaluation Report about a Community Organization Serving Children and Adolescents

Abstract

This report details the evaluation of a community organization serving children and adolescents in Jamaica. The short-term goal of this study was to offer recommendations to the community organization. The long-term goal is to enhance services in order to improve child and adolescent outcomes in Jamaica. This study highlighted present trends for child and adolescent services in this community organization and provides an analysis that seeks to enhance those same services in the future. Recommendations include suggestions for increasing social programs, for increasing the impact of social programs on this inner-city community, and for exploring an approach to programming that benefits children and adolescents from this community.Children and adolescents living in the inner city of Jamaica face the harsh realities associated with the poverty and physical decline of the community (United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF] Jamaica, 2007). In 2003, Jamaica's total population was approximately 2.65 million, of which 977,000, or 37%, were children and adolescents under the age of 18, half of whom lived in poverty (World Bank, 2003). Overall, despite declining growth rates, the level of all inner-city investment in social resources and services over the past three decades has not kept pace with the demands of supporting the basic needs of children and adolescents (World Bank, 2003). Consequently, children and adolescents in Jamaica have poor access to housing, education, employment opportunities, social services, and basic amenities (Aleph, 2002;Black, 2001; UNICEF Jamaica, 2006). This lack of essentials for children and adolescents weakens their opportunities to grow in secure foundations that generate emotional, social, and economic development (World Bank, 2004).Living circumstances for children and adolescents in Jamaica have deteriorated to a deprive level (UNICEF Jamaica, 2006). Socioeconomic conditions in the community under study continue to contribute to high unemployment, intimidating levels of criminal activity, and disproportionate poverty (Black, 2001; United Nations, 2006). Conditions in this inner-city community are also complicated by political tribalism, subcultures, and turf wars, which in turn have led to the physical destruction of the area and stigmatization and victimization of residents by the wider community.The following research question formed the framework for this study: How effective have child and adolescent services been in this community organization?Deh Kidz in Jamaica: Evaluation of a Community Organization Serving Children and Adolescents 281 MethodologyThe community organization that is the subject of this report is located in a well-known, southern part of a large, inner-city community in Jamaica.This organization is a member of a larger association that exists for the promotion and well-being of children and adolescents. The organization takes a holistic approach by supporting physical, mental, social, and spiritual development. This study was an improvement-based, summativ...