Psychology Essays (UOP)

Hsm/270 Stakeholder Influences on Program

Stakeholder Influences on Programs

Samantha Craig

HSM/270

11/13/2014

The PEACE Domestic Violence Agency's mission is to raise education on domestic violence and bring awareness to the victims in Portland. The program does this directly through their services and help empower and promote recovery for survivors. PEACE is fully committed to reducing domestic violence and sexual assault by providing education to the community.

In the Human Services field, there are many things that should never be overlooked or ignored. There are also expectations by the stakeholders that must be met by the staff, clients and management that are involved within the program. When people see or hear the word stakeholders, they will immediately think of those who have a financial stake in the program. However, even though they do hold a major part within the organization this also covers management, staff members, volunteers, clients and the community surrounding the organization. "Each stakeholder has his or her own influence on the programs plan as well as the success of the organizations program." (Yuen & Terao, 2013)

When stakeholders are involved they can have a positive or negative effect on the organizations program. This can in turn can affect the funding and other major accounting information. Along with other decisions that can be related to the targeted population, community volunteers and even the staff and administration. Each one of these stakeholders can have a huge influence on the program in different ways based on the needs and expectations.

First, and one of the most vital stakeholders in the PEACE Domestic Agency would be the funders. When the program submits our grant proposal it will go to the two potential funders. These would be the Small Grants Program and the Investors Program. Each one of these grant programs have a specific amount of funding they will provide, but out program has to meet their expectations and set qualifications to receive it. How PEACE goes about this is by providing enough detail in the grant proposal. This requires to state our programs mission, goals and objectives and a full clear and detailed timeline of how we'll go about to make those three things happen. If our objectives and mission do not meet the funding institutions then that could cost us the funding needed to continue. If the funding does go through then they are allowed to request documentation of where the funding is going, or even conduct evaluations to see if the program is succeeding in their mission. If they feel that the funding was misused or that no progress is being made it could damage the program.

Second, is the staff and administers of the program itself and evaluate their needs and expectations for the PEACE program. Staff members go into this based on their qualifications and understanding of the targeted population. They want to help those who have faced domestic violence, have family members in jail and need help, or those who are younger and in the system and want to be rehabilitated and need the extra help. If the staff has a clear idea of what is expected of them then it helps them with their work area. This also works with what they can expect from the company such as benefits and pay. If the staff is unhappy and their needs are not met then they could leave the program and then the clients suffer and the program could lose benefits due to the fact that they do not have enough staff members to keep it up and running. They will also evaluate their fellow peers on how they feel they do within the program and will be submitted to the administrators

The administrators are just as important, and have some of the same needs such as pay and benefits. Offering competitive pay helps compensate for those who have been involved longer. They also have more responsibilities such as taking control of the documents being made on progress of clients and the program. They also administer the evaluations given by the staff members and the clients. If certain evaluations are shown up as a negative effect on the program then it is their responsibility to take charge of making those changes to help benefit the program's success rate. If those documents and papers were to get lost then the PEACE administrators would not have the right things to make the grant proposal. This could lead to funding lost or taken and poor knowledge on whether or not they are meeting their own goals and objectives promised to the community.

Third, would be the targeted demographic or also known as the clients. Their needs and expectations are the most important. This is because the entire program is designed and funded around them. PEACE Domestic Violence Agency is set towards the demographic of those who have either suffered at the hands of physical violence by family members, or the ones who have done the violence and what to be rehabilitated and are looking for help to end the cycle. The clients are why the program is there and are to follow the timeline that the program has set forward for them by their designated staff member. At the end of the program the client can then fill out an annonous survey saying which staff member they were assigned to and answer questions based on the staff members help and based on how they feel the treatment helped them or not. This information will then go to the administrators who will conduct the evaluation If there are lots of bad reviews on the programs steps or on the staff then then measures will be taken to better that situation.

Last, but certainly not least would be the community in which the program takes place. The community has a huge stake on the program because they are the ones who can dictate whether or not they feel that the program is even helping out their area or not. A survey should be given before the program even starts to see what they know of Domestic Abuse and if they think that is a problem within their area. The community has needs and expectations of their own and if they feel that they are being heard then they are in apt to support the cause. If the program has an understanding of the communities knowledge of the program than they can better suit the program to their needs and help educate them on what domestic abuse is. As the program continues to grow giving out sporadic evaluations help the program keep tabs on the community's progress at recognizing the signs of abuse and get their opinion on how they feel the program is coming along.

In conclusion, there are many stakeholders that can be involved in a program by an organization. PEACE Domestic Violence Agency's stakeholders are the funding institutions or grant programs, staff and administrators, community and the targeted demographic. Each one of these are just as important as the others and each have their own needs and expectations that need to be met by the program. The stakeholders can have either a positive or negative effect on the program and just depends on how the evaluations take place and show whether or not progress is being made. If there is not any then change needs to be made or it could end the program.

References

Appendix B

Yuen & Terao. (2003). Practical grant writing and program evaluation. Retrieved from the University Of Phoenix eBook Collection