Determining and Sharing
the Public Value of 4-H:
Helping Decision-Makers
Get it!
Nancy Franz
Iowa State University Extension
The Hills in Their Glorious
Heights
The hills in their glorious heights
Surround us by day and by night
Sing praise to the hills
Sing praise to the hills
The Hills in Their Glorious
Heights…
 The hills
 Challenge
 Guide
us
us
 Watch us
 Protect us
 Comfort us
Embracing the Public Value of 4-H
 The why and what of the public value of 4-H
 Current public issues and 4-H responses
 Determining the top ten 4-H public values
 Examples of 4-H public value
 Sharing 4-H public value
The Why and What of the Public
Value of 4-H
The Push for Public Value
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AEA 6,000 members
Measuring Excellence databases
Program planning and reporting
Evidence-based movement
Return on investment movement
The political context
Getting to more than feeling good about 4-H
What is Public Value?
The value of a program to those
who do not directly benefit from
the program.
Laura Kalambokidis
University of Minnesota
Extension
What is Public Value
 Service – No
 Facilitation – No
 Content transmission – No
 Transformative education – Yes
4-H Public Value Stories
 Teen Court
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Private – youth stay out of court
Public – reduced court and human services
costs
 Youth Leader Council
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Private – gain public speaking skills
Public – sustain civil society through
leadership development
Examples of Public Value
 Decrease in Medicare/Medicaid and
other health care costs
 Increase number of public leaders
 Reduced need for public assistance
 Decreased use of human services
 Increased effective use of public funds
 Decreased public debt
 Decreased crime rates
Current Public Value Issues
 What are the emerging and current
issues?
Increased
health care costs
Economic recovery
Public infrastructure decline
In Twos
Discuss one current public
issue that 4-H addresses
List 2-3 strategies 4-H is using
to respond to that public issue
Select someone to report to the
whole group
Determining the Top Ten 4-H
Public Values
Group discussion on top ten
Group prioritization of the top
ten
MEASURE THE END CHANGE,
NOT THE JOURNEY TO GET
THERE
+ new programs (1-3 years) show knowledge change
+ established programs (3-5 years) show behavior change
+ mature programs (5-10 years) show condition change
Measuring Public Value
Potential Impact Questions:
 What did participants learn that will change
conditions?
 How have participant aspirations or motivations
changed that impacts conditions? (i.e. intent to
change behavior)
 What are participants doing differently that impacts
conditions?
 How much has a condition changed due to our
program?
 Over time, how have communities changed due to
our programs (longitudinal)
Measuring Public Value
Collect and Analyze Data:
 Case Study
 Observation
 Focus Group/Interview
 Secondary Data
 Survey/Questionnaire
Measuring Public Value
Collection and Analysis Best Practices:
 Hold data parties
 Volunteer and paid staff analyze data
together for multiple perspectives
 Work for objectivity – fight bias
 Discuss negative and unintended findings
 Ensure confidentiality
The Basics of Public Value Story
Telling
Writing Effective Impact Statements: Who Cares?
So What?
 Why Impact Statements?
 What is Impact?
 Writing an Impact Statement
 An Impact Statement
 Audience for Impact Statements
 Impact Statements Follow a Simple Formula
http://www.cals.vt.edu/communications/impactst
atements.html
Creating Public Value Statements –
The Public Value Story Template
The magic formula:
 Title – short public value
 Relevance – why (match with results)
 Response – what
 Results – so what (economy, social,
environment-cost/benefit,
longitudinal)
 Contact information - who
We Have Succeeded When:
People who are not directly
participating in our programs
understand and share our
public value and we prevent
further organizational
decline.
Q&A
Nancy Franz
nfranz@iastate.edu