Internship program sheds light on evaluation as an alternate path to human services work
The human services field is full of people who want to make a difference, to improve the lives of those around them. They work in education, in public health, in nonprofits and public policy – and in evaluation. Though the work of evaluators may not be as visible as more traditional human service roles, it’s no less vital. Evaluators collect, analyze and translate data into actionable information that helps organizations better serve their communities.
For many organizations across Arizona, that work is done with the support of the University of Arizona’s Community Research, Evaluation and Development (CRED) team, an interdisciplinary group of researchers and evaluators housed in the Norton School of Human Ecology. The CRED team helps their partners with everything from developing logic models, to crafting survey questions, to building accessible reports and information dashboards.
“We like to think of ourselves as a sort of soup-to-nuts evaluation entity,” said Madeleine deBlois, a research scientist with the CRED team. “We want to engage our community partners in all steps of the process.”
The CRED team also introduces civic-minded students to the concept of evaluation-as-service through internships and graduate assistantships.
“We have two to four students working on our team at all times,” said Rachel Leih, another of CRED’s researchers. “We see students working on our team as an educational experience, an opportunity for them to build skills and see a pathway to working in the human services universe without being direct service providers.”
CRED intern Claudia Vega has worked on projects for community partners like First Things First and Tucson Village Farm.
Claudia Vega, a rising a rising senior in the Human Development and Family Science program, said her internship with the CRED team gave her a more expansive view of what helping others can look like.
“I’ve volunteered with a lot of organizations within my community, and as much as I love that work, I was ready for a change” she said. “In working with the CRED team, I’ve learned that I can still contribute to the changes I want to see, but on an institutional level and in a way that I feel better aligns with me right now.”
Leih, deBlois and their colleagues can relate to Vega’s experience. Many members of the CRED team came to the work after having spent time on the “front lines.”
“Most of us have been on the other side of this relationship, running community programs,” Leih said. “I think it really informs our work, both with our partners and with our students.”
A culture of care
The CRED team approaches their interns with a culture of care, emphasizing mentorship, tailoring projects to individual student interests, and creating a safe space for students to take risks and make mistakes.
“Past students have said that some of the internship’s biggest impacts come from working with a group of people that cares about them,” deBlois said. “There’s a lot of time and energy devoted to meeting students where they are and helping them develop in areas where they may not have had much prior experience.”
“We try to give students a diverse set of opportunities,” Leih added. “They generally work on a variety of projects that align with their skills and interests as well as our needs.”
Vega has contributed to several CRED projects, from poring through scientific research on childcare for a project with First Things First, to working on a report about a culinary medicine initiative at Tucson Village Farm. She doesn’t know if evaluation will be her eventual career path, but she’s grateful for the skills, experience and perspective she’s gained through her internship.
“I know at the end of the day that I really want to work in the education field,” she said. “But I’ve learned that education and service can look so many different ways.”
The CRED team acknowledges that a career in evaluation may not be the end goal for all their interns, but they see that as a feature rather than a bug.
“We have plenty of students who come through our office and have no intention to go this direction,” Leih said. “They gain a lot of critical thinking skills, writing skills, data skills. They learn a lot about families and communities across Arizona that will be useful in a variety of careers. And for some, working with our team does open their eyes to another career path in human services.”