Billy Graham Youth Foundation Evaluation (2019-current)

In 2020 the Billy Graham Youth Foundation (BGYF) had a network of 5 academies across New Zealand in Mid Canterbury, Naenae, Cannons Creek, Te Awamutu and West Auckland, with another getting underway in Snells Beach.

2020 was also the second year of a 3 year evaluation to help the Foundation and academies understand the impact they are having on young people and their host communities, and identify where there are opportunities for improvement so the Foundation and the academies can achieve their vision of:

“Champion Young People, Contributing To Their Communities.”

In 2019 the evaluation showed that young people said their academy helped them improve their fitness, confidence, behaviour and relationships. Family, whānau and community partner feedback also showed the academies contribute towards growth and development in their young people.

The evaluation for 2020 reinforce the earlier findings and looks at the unique challenge of the COVID pandemic lockdown, which saw the academies adjust by providing online workouts and challenges, phoning their members and gifting skipping ropes and food packages. The young people, families and whānau feedback shows they greatly appreciated the innovation, contact and support.

This evaluation project has a 3-year time frame, through to end of March 2022. The first step involved developing and testing an evaluation framework before rolling it out across the boxing academies using the Billy Graham model for boxing and youth development. The evaluation sits alongside scaling the Billy Graham model nationally. The Foundation wants to have “national impact at the local level” and “learn as we go”.

Project lead: Tony O’Connor