‘Evaluation is storytelling’: Amplifying Youth and Youth Worker Voice, Part 2
This is the second of a two-part interview with Kathe Rogers, Managing Director of YouthREX, originally published by Mass Culture on February 10, 2025. In part two, Kathe reflects on how YouthREX supports building evaluation capacity and advancing evidence-informed youth work.
The conversation with Kathe shifts to YouthREX’s tools, including the Youth-Friendly Measures Inventory. “This resource has been incredibly popular – even globally,” Kathe notes. “It’s part of our commitment to ensuring that youth programs can access a variety of tools to collect both qualitative and quantitative data, and to building their capacity to lead evaluation work.”
She emphasizes the importance of qualitative approaches, saying, “Stories are data, too.
“By making evaluation tools accessible, we help programs gather meaningful data in ways that align with their capacity and resonate with youth. This includes generating themes from stories instead of solely focusing on numbers.”
Kathe also describes YouthREX’s newly launched Data Hub, which compiles Ontario-specific youth wellbeing data. “It allows programs to explore trends, generate visualizations, and use this information in proposals or program designs,” she explains. “Our goal is to make data relevant, accessible, and meaningful, an approach modelled on YouthREX’s Knowledge Hub, which connects shared knowledge to youth work practice.”
Reflecting on partnerships with grassroots programs, Kathe shares insights from her years of experience. “Youth workers are often a first point of contact for young people,” she says. “During the pandemic, we saw how programs adapted quickly to meet changing needs, with youth workers showing immense dedication despite limited resources. Their willingness to continue understanding and improving their impact has been inspiring.”
Creative approaches to evaluation, like digital storytelling, also play a significant role in YouthREX’s work. Kathe recounts a community-engaged research project in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood, where youth used Photovoice to document their community. “They took photographs and shared the meanings behind them,” she says. “This method allowed them to express love and connection to their community in ways that challenged deficit-based narratives.”
She also describes a recent example involving a small youth program exploring the use of digital storytelling. “We discussed giving youth the tools to interview each other or share their stories creatively,” she says. “This approach captures qualitative data rooted in lived experience, emotion, and feeling – offering insights that traditional methods can miss.”
As the conversation concludes, Kathe reflects on YouthREX’s mission. “At the heart of it, our work is about creating spaces where youth and youth workers feel seen, safe, and supported,” she says. “Evaluation is not just a requirement – it’s a tool for learning, adapting, and amplifying the voices of youth and youth workers.”
Her final thoughts encapsulate the essence of YouthREX’s work. “It’s about ensuring that the experiences and agency of youth and the people who support them are not only heard but truly understood.”
As the interview comes to an end, it’s clear that Kathe Rogers is deeply committed to supporting youth workers and grassroots programs in creating meaningful change. YouthREX’s work is not just about developing evaluation tools – it’s about empowering organizations to amplify the voices of youth and the people who support them, ensuring their stories are valued and understood. With YouthREX’s guidance and support, evaluation becomes more than a reporting task – it transforms into a powerful tool for learning, adapting, and driving positive outcomes in communities across Ontario.
Look for part one of this interview with Kathe on REX Blog.
Mass Culture is a Canadian collaborative support organization that harnesses the power of research to learn and generate new insights, enabling the arts community to be strategic, focused, and adaptive. Evaluative Thinking is a program from Mass Culture designed to support the arts sector in continuous learning, reflection, and adaptation.
