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Evaluation Proposal: Nutrition for All

Alesha L Cooke

Section 1: Conceptualization of Evaluation

This evaluation will examine the effectiveness of the Nutrition for All program to
increase healthy food intake among Cottage Grove, East Greensboro households and positively
impact the food insecurities in the community. The evaluation will be formative and will answer
the following questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

How is the program being implemented?

How is the community receiving the program?
Is the program making progress towards achieving program goals?
Are there any unforeseen challenges and barriers to achieving goals? If so, what are they?

The key stakeholders involved in the evaluation will be program participants, Cottage
Grove community residents, community leaders, the partnering church, clinic staff, volunteers
and student interns, participating grocers and funders. It is assumed there will be identified areas
of needed improvement since the program is new. There are some contextual factors to be
considered during the evaluation. These include location and accessibility.

Section 2: Program Description

The purpose of the program is to provide nutrition education to the Cottage Grove, East
Greensboro community. The program will offer education on multi cultural food options and
recipes to serve the diverse ethnic groups of the area. The education will be incorporated into
cooking classes accompanied by multi cultural cupboards. Located in the kitchen/pantry area of
the clinic will be a cupboard representative of each group. The cupboards will mirror the healthy
food items that could be found in cupboards at their own home. Also, the program will conduct
grocery shopping services to show residents how to eat healthy on a budget. There will be
monetary assistance provided to support active participation in activities. There will also be
cooking classes offered at the clinic for program participants. The goals of the program are to 1)
Increase healthy food intake among clinic patients 2) Increase capacity of families to provide
nutritious meals for their households 3) To promote healthy management of chronic illness.
The beneficiaries of the program are overweight or obese children, adolescents, and
adults, as well as those diagnosed with gestational diabetes, heart disease, and newly diagnosed
diabetics. Additionally, clients of the clinic who are screened for nutrition education for
acculturation will be automatically referred to the nutrition education program. The program will
be implemented and run out of the Mustard Seed Community Health Clinic. This will be the
initial evaluation of the program to identify strengths, weaknesses and areas of improvement.
Figure 1 shows the program logic model which provides a detailed overview of program goals,
activities and outcomes.

Figure 1 Logic Model.

Section 3: Evaluation Plan

The four broad evaluation questions can be further broken down into specific questions
examining progress towards projected goals and objectives:
Specific Evaluation Questions
Planning:
o Was a needs assessment conducted?
o What stakeholders were involved in the planning process?
o How was the target population identified?
Implementation:
o
o
o
o
o

How well is the program being implemented?

What, if any challenges and/or barriers to achieving program goals are present?
How many patients are participating in each aspect of the program?
Are activities being conducted according to proposed timeline?
Is the multi cultural cupboard representative of all ethnic groups present at the clinic?

Results:
o Are participants purchasing healthier food items?
o How often are households of participants purchasing food from grocery
stores/supermarkets that offer healthy food options?
o Are participants empowered to prepare healthy meals at home?
o Are participants knowledgeable of healthy food preparation?
o Is there a decrease in fast food consumption?
o Have all participants been able to access food items native to their own ethnic
background?
o Are there fewer visits to the clinic related to nutritional deficit and poor chronic illness
management?

Evaluation Design
Many of the questions to be answered during this evaluation are related to behaviors and
knowledge. A cross sectional design study will be used to conduct the evaluation. The evaluation
will be formative and will assess progress towards projected goals and objectives as well as
strengths, weaknesses obstacles and barriers. Program staff will be used to identify encountered
obstacles and barriers surrounding implementation. All other stakeholders will contribute to the
uncovering of strengths, weaknesses and barriers to program goals achievement.

Variables
The variables to be measured during the evaluation are:
Intermediate
o
o
o
o

Increased knowledge of food preparation

Raised awareness of healthy food options for a native diet
Raised awareness of how to access healthy food locally
Increased knowledge of how to shop for nutritious food items

Outcome
o Increased capacity of community members to provide healthy meals for their families
o Improved chronic disease management

Data Collection
Interviews, surveys and questionnaires will be used to collect data from all evaluation
participants. Interview will be held during the execution of the evaluation with all parties
involved in implementation of the program. This will include all program staff, volunteers and
participating supermarkets. The interviews will be conducted by the evaluator face to face or via
phone depending on convenience of participant. Interview will be used to provide qualitative
data that frames the strengths and weaknesses of program implementation and projected
sustainability. Surveys will be mailed to program participants. The survey will be self reported
and used to explore behavior change as a result of participation in program. The survey will
answer the results/outcomes related questions of the evaluation. Lastly, clinic records will be

examined to notice any changes in the nature patient clinic visits. It is believed that the program
will reduce chronic disease management and nutritional deficit visits to the clinic. The interview
questions and survey will be created by the evaluator during the planning stages of the
evaluation.

Evaluation Crosswalk
Figure 2 provides a visual of the four measures of the evaluation as well as the type of
data collection.
Figure 2 Evaluation Crosswalk.
Key Evaluation
Questions

Surve Structure
y/
d
Scale interview

How is the
program being
implemented?

Self
Report
/ Log

Direct
Observati
on

How is the
community
receiving the
program?

Is the program
making
progress
towards
achieving
program goals?

Are there any

challenges and
barriers to
achieving
goals? If so,

Archiva
l
Record
s

Cas
e
Stu
dy

Preand
Posttest
Cont
rol
Grou
p

Tim
e
Seri
es

what are they?

Section 4: Reporting Plan

At the conclusion of the evaluation a final report will be compiled. The report will
identify program strengths, weakness, areas for improvement, areas of success and
recommendations. The report will be available to the public via the Mustard Seed Community
Health Clinic website. Further a copy of the report will be disseminated to clinic staff and
funders. The report can potentially be published through journals related to nutrition, chronic
illness and health.

Section 5: Detailed Budget

Section 6: Timeline

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Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Planning
Meet with
program staff
and volunteers
to discuss
goals of the
evaluation
Create survey
instrument
and formulate
interview
questions

Execution
Conduct
interviews
with program
staff,
volunteers and
grocers
Mail surveys
to program
participants
Provide
feedback
forms to
participants
Perform
analysis of
data

X
X

Report
Create
evaluation
report
Present
evaluation
findings to
stakeholders