YMCA Crewe capturing the impact of their work with young people

The Foyer has used outdoor survival to help build confidence and resilience.

The Foyer has used outdoor survival to help build confidence and resilience.

Crewe YMCA is a Foyer that provides a home and support for young people.

Some of their work can be measured in specific qualifications and achievements. Other work is softer; just as important but harder to track.

The Foyer started using the Impact Assessment App to track a healthy conversations project begun with the Foyer Federation.

This not only supports young people with day to day choices they make about their health but also offerers challenges and new experiences. The Impact Assessment  app allowed them to capture what people were experiencing in routine ways but also on special occasions, such as the 24hr survival challenge.

From Project Working to routinely capturing progress.

YMCA_CreweJoel Lewis, from the Foyer, said “It works well for us and now we have moved it from just one project to starting to capture the progress of all the work we do with the people who live here.”

“Not only do we capture their voice, their direct experience, but we use it to make notes from the workers.  By using the hashtag #notes we can separate out what the young people are saying from what the staff are saying and analyse them separately.  It also allows you to work with people to show how they have progressed and lets you track progress through a range of different programmes.”

“The benefit  is being able to report on a almost infinite range of softer outcomes, the challenge is integrating into how we do our work on an hour by hour basis. “

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