Activity: Program History
The purpose of this activity is for participants to reflect on the origins of their program and how and why the program has changed over time. Participant working groups should begin by discussing their program’s evolution. The following prompt is designed to help the working group bring the program’s history to light:
• Think of yourself as biographers working to tell the life story of your program. As you recall your program’s history, specific considerations might include: how and why the program began, how it has changed over time and why and the degree to which it continues to change.
Following the discussion, the group should try to capture the program’s history in a schematic way using either a blank version of the “State of the Program” graphic used in Figure 5, or any other graphic representation that enables the group to best communicate the story of the program’s history. If there are several working groups engaged at the same time, use the opportunity to have working groups take turns sharing and describing their illustration and program history with the larger group. These brief presentations should include a description of how the program has evolved so far and a brief description of the factors that have influenced its evolution – funding changes, community needs, and so on.)
Figure 5.
