Toward an Empowerment Zone Evaluation

Traditional social and economic development program evaluations are based on measurable program goals, with discrete program components, a control group, and the potential to generalize from findings. Although this works for programs with welldefined outcomes, limited participation, and a narrow focus, it does not work for programs that depend on community action or seek to promote community development. Strategies for social change involve comprehensive, flexible programs that do not lend themselves to conventional evaluation methods. In this article, the authors describe how they attempt to overcome the difficulties of more traditional evaluations through action research. The authors present what they believe to be the most important elements of action research and describe how they incorporate those elements in their approach to evaluating the Empowerment Zone program.