MPS’ Program Development Work with Points of Light Results in ServiceWorks 2.0

For over a year, MPS staff has dedicated hundreds of hours in various capacities to the ServiceWorks program at Points of Light (POL).  This groundbreaking national program helps underserved youth and young adults from low income families develop leadership and life skills needed to prepare for future careers.

Two years into the program, POL wanted to build off lessons learned and readjust their strategic goals. Using a detailed gap analysis developed by MPS staffers Jeremy Faircloth and Tyler Sycamore last winter, MPS consultants Ben Eden and Ashley Rezai helped POL develop the next iteration of ServiceWorks.

The MPS team created logic models, which documented the inputs and outputs for each pillar of the ServiceWorks program. In addition, they determined that the program’s workflow could be streamlined by creating several high-level work breakdown structures and identifying the benefits and constraints for each one. “Logic models are really helpful for understanding how a program functions – from planning through implementation,” noted Ben. “We were able to gauge the effectiveness of the program based on the metrics laid out in the model.”

POL used the input provided by MPS to present a redesigned program structure to their Serviceworks sponsors at CITI.