Rejuvenating Neighborhoods and Communities Through Parks—A Guide To Success www.NRPA.org National Recreation and Park Association © 2011 All Rights Reserved 60 The Whole Measures Process “Whole measures,” a process developed by the Center for Whole Communities, is an approach that can be used either early on in a park revitalization project or toward the conclusion, as a form of outcomes assessment Its value to a park revitalization project relates to the underlying philosophy—one of genuine involvement of the community’s stakeholders from the outset The whole measures process has the following features • It serves as a strategic planning tool that brings together staff, partners, potential partners, and community members to take a big-picture approach to any project before starting it • It offers an easily usable set of criteria for the project that greatly facilitates choices made along the way • It enables a broader set of community and societal goals to be identified • It builds in a useful evaluation tool for outcome measures The process brings to the forefront some questions that should be a part of any project addressing a communitywide need or issue: • Are the issues and needs being addressed by the proposed project ones that are important and critical to the overall well-being of the community? • Are the specific elements or aspects of the project identified before we launch the effort, and do they support reaching the overall project goal? The whole measures process is well suited for a community revitalization process because of its focus on bringing people together prior to the start of a project, as members of an evaluation team This team, after being oriented to the whole measures principles and measurement rubric, identifies the desired and intended outcomes of the project Whole measures is a relatively new outcomes assessment process One of the more expansive efforts that incorporates this approach is reported in the publication “Whole Measures for Community Food Systems,” which was a project of the Community Food Security Whole Measures Working Group The subtitle of the document, “Values-Based Planning and Evaluation,” succinctly describes the whole measures intent of the project The document is available online at http://www foodsecurity org/pub/WholeMeasuresCFS-web pdf Outcomes Assessment Resources The following are links to online resources with information on outcomes assessment and measurement. • United Way: Outcome Measurement Resource Network national.unitedway.org • Association for Community Health Improvement http://www.communityhlth.org/communityhlth/resources/planning.html# • Outcome Tool Kit for Library Assessment http://ibec.ischool.washington.edu/toolkit • Whole Measures. The Whole Communities http://www.wholecommunities.org/measures_of_health
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