Evaluating Impacts of a Museum-Based Program for Transitional Homeless Adults

Abstract

One broad goal of museums is to benefit community members, within their respective museum missions. Some museums are expanding their audiences beyond traditional on-site visitors to broaden and diversify their impacts, including at-risk populations. Evaluation of newly developed museum-based programs is important for program staff, partners, and sponsors to understand effectiveness of, and to find ways to improve, their programs. This study assessed perceived impacts of a museum-based program, Your Story and Mine (YSM), which was developed for homeless adults in mid-Michigan. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six program participants. Based on a three-tier “hierarchy of evidence” framework, developed specifically for evaluating the YSM program, responses were coded and categorized into three levels of impacts: i) knowledge/awareness gain; ii) attitude and behavior change; and iii) group development. An emerging fourth response category, “program features” valued by respondents, was added. Participants’ responses reflected their perceptions of program benefits.