Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Lucie County, Inc.

Who are the people you serve with your mission?

For the past 27 years, our organization has provided a variety of youth development services to the young people of St. Lucie County. We now serve more than 4,000 registered members with before- and after-school programs in six neighborhood Clubhouses and 15 school-based Clubs and a number of summer camp locations. We also provide specialized services, including our A+ Attendance truancy prevention program, to thousands of children across the county every year. In all, we serve more than 15,000 young people every year. We serve a highly diverse population, but focus our attention on "those who need us most," as stated in our Mission. In fact, 99% of registered members receive free or reduced-cost lunch at school. Our Clubs are located in underserved neighborhoods.

How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?

SMS text surveys, Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), Paper surveys, Constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees, Suggestion box/email,

How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To identify new geographic service areas, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,

What significant change resulted from feedback?

For several years we successfully partnered with local organizations, including CareerSource Research Coast and the county Economic Development Council, to offer summer workforce readiness programs. These programs offered teens the opportunity to learn skills that would help them gain employment Based on feedback from education officials and local agencies, it became clear that there was far more demand and more need than could be met with a summer-only program. We responded with "Into the Future," a year-round workforce readiness program that includes workforce readiness programs, tours of local employers, Social and Emotional Learning, financial literacy and leadership skills, as well as hands-on training. The first class began this summer.

With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,

How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?

The process of sharing feedback has strengthened our relationships with community partners and funders because they recognize that we are being transparent with them. Sharing information also has another important benefit; By doing so, we can work on strengthening our relationships with our partners. When that happens, they and we can work together to provide wraparound services for our children and thier families. This process already is happening with some of our partner agencies. Asking for feedback has improved our relationships with parents of our members because we know we've heard what they want for their children. It also improves parents' attitudes toward us, because they know we're listening to what they have to say.

Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback,

What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback,