Evaluation Tool for Community Development Coalitions

Assessing the impact of community development coalitions over time is relevant to Extension professionals who may wish to measure success and lessons learned. We describe an evaluation tool in which coalition members and key informants assess community goals before the existence of the community coalitions and after the coalitions have been operating, utilizing a retrospective pretest. The responses of coalition members are posted, and a facilitated discussion allows members to change their ratings. Key informants are then interviewed using the same questions. The responses of informants and coalition members are compared, resulting in a comprehensive yet quick evaluation.