Reference no: EM133797371
Assignment:
Can you help with completing this section of my capstone final project?
In this section, you will define and defend the method you have chosen to evaluate your policy or program, then carry out the evaluation by answering in detail the questions appropriate for your chosen evaluation.
The questions for my chosen evaluation are:
Who is the target population, and is the program addressing and reaching them?
• What services does the target population need, and does the program address one or more?
• How should the program best deliver those services or activities? Consider feasibility and the accuracy of the reach.
• How will the program work with the target population to sustain the program? Consider how feasible, appropriate, and acceptable the setup is for all the stakeholders.
• Look over the logic plan for the program. Assess feasibility, who is really being reached, acceptance by stakeholders, and so on. Is the plan complete, or are there holes?
What is the logic plan for the program? What I wrote or what the organization has planned for the program?:
• What resources does the project need? Is it receiving them? Is it enough?
The program that I'm evaluating is the YMCA Food Pantry in Houston. My emphasis is how it meets immigrants, refugees and vulnerable populations. Vu et al. (2020) have noted that food security is defined as consistent access to enough food for a healthy, active life. In 2017, about 11.8% of U.S. households, which is roughly 15 million households, faced food insecurity at some point. This means around 40 million people were living in homes without consistent access to enough food. Food insecurity is linked to negative health effects in both children and adults, such as mental and behavioral issues, including cognitive impairment, depression, suicidal thoughts, and poor school performance, as well as chronic illnesses like asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, and end-stage kidney disease. Furthermore, food insecurity is associated with higher overall healthcare costs (Vu et al., 2020).
According to the Migration Policy Institute (2023), immigrants and refugees constitute nearly 25% of the population in Houston, Texas, a city renowned for its diversity. In 2019, it was found that about 43% of these foreign-born residents had low incomes, defined as family incomes falling below 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL), which was $25,750 for a family of four that year. Notably, this low-income share was 12 percentage points higher than that of U.S.-born citizens, of whom 31% had low incomes. The situation was even more stark among unauthorized immigrants, with approximately 60% having family incomes below 200% of the FPL, the highest share among all immigrant groups (Lacarte, Fix, and Batalova, 2023).