Age range

Website: www.thinkdetroit.org

Mission/Goals: Think Detroit is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building character in young people through sports and technology.

Sources: www.guidestar.org; www.thinkdetroit.org

Notes: Think Detroit is in the final stages of a planning process with The Skillman Foundation to perform an overarching evaluation of the youth they serve.

Type of Evaluation: Outcomes Monitoring

Objective: Demonstrate whether participation in the Think Detroit computer-training program can be attributed to any change in youth's educational aspirations, computer usage, television habits, and family interaction.

Impact/Outcome Findings: The low response rate for this evaluation causes the authors to make only limited and cautious comparisons between the initial and follow-up groups. There appear to be negligible effects on participants in the Think Detroit computer-training program. After participation in the program, there was no change in the percentage of youth who aspired to a graduate education and no change in television watching habits of participants. There was a change in terms of occupational aspirations. Prior to the program, about 52% of participants desired technical and service occupations such as mechanics, computer technicians, etc. After the program, only 15% of participants held such career aspirations, and nearly 80% said they wanted to be involved in a variety of professional occupations. Daily computer usage also increased after participation in the program. At the baseline, 12% of the participants reported daily use of the computer. After the program, nearly 27% reported that they used a computer daily.