PEG NEWSLETTER

FALL 2025

FROM OUR FACULTY DIRECTOR

Greetings and Happy Fall!

I'm pleased to share our Program Evaluation Group (PEG) Annual Impact Report '24-'25 with you. The report provides a comprehensive look at the meaningful work we've accomplished this past year.

As I reflect on the past twelve months, it's been a time of shifting landscapes requiring flexibility, creativity, and adjustment. Throughout, PEG has been steadfast in our commitment to collaboration and partnership in service of social betterment. With projects in the domains of food systems, behavioral health, criminal and juvenile justice, social safety net services, workforce development and climate resiliency we provided evaluation support on 29 different projects this past year.

I invite you to take a few minutes to explore the report, and as always please reach out if we can help support your evaluation goals!

-Shawna J. Lee, PhD.

PEG ANNUAL IMPACT REPORT '24-'25

(Click on the report to view)

NEW PARTNERSHIPS

The People's Action Detroit

PEG is partnering with The People's Action (TPA) Detroit on evaluation of a community based adolescent diversion program serving at-risk and court-involved youth in Wayne County. The project is funded under the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program, a part of the U.S. Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, and is a partnership between TPA, Michigan State Police, Wayne County, and the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention. The program aims to reduce recidivism and prevent gun violence among 12-18 year old justice-impacted youth in metropolitan Detroit.

Friends of the Detroit River

Friends of Detroit River received funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund’s Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyles grant program to support design and engineering for up to eight miles of bike lanes along West Jefferson Avenue in the Downriver communities of Wayne County. This project will tie into existing bike infrastructure in Ecorse and River Rouge, providing increased accessibility for the cities of Trenton, Riverview, River Rouge, Wyandotte, and the rest of Ecorse. By improving accessibility to outdoor recreation opportunities, Friends of the Detroit River aims to facilitate physical activity and support healthy lifestyle opportunities in these communities. PEG will document the implementation process focusing on plan elements of community collaboration, design, and sustainability.

Anton Art Center

With funding from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Anton Art Center is partnering with PEG to advance their existing data system to track participant outcomes. Specifically, they aim to develop and implement a comprehensive evaluation system to measure the impact of their programming on the physical health and mental well-being of class participants and gallery visitors. The Art Center will move beyond participation metrics to collect meaningful data that will inform evidence-based program improvements and support long-term sustainability through more compelling storytelling and stronger funding applications.

PEG OUT & ABOUT...

Michigan Food as Medicine Summit

PEG team member Kathryn Colasanti will be presenting and exhibiting at the First Annual Michigan Food as Medicine Summit in East Lansing October 7-8, 2025. The presentation, "Evaluation Workshop for Food as Medicine Programs," is a collaboration with Jae Gerhart and Katelyn Smoger of Trinity Health. The session will highlight lessons learned from evaluating The Farm at Trinity Health and demonstrate tools participants can use to design their own evaluation.

If you are attending the summit, be sure to stop by and say hello!

TEAM MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Leigh Rauk, Ph.D., Assistant Research Scientist, Lead Evaluator

Dr. Leigh Rauk is an Assistant Research Scientist with the Program Evaluation Group (PEG) at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. She specializes in participatory and collaborative approaches to community-based research and evaluation. She received her Ph.D. in Community Well-Being from the University of Miami in 2021. Dr. Rauk completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention in 2022 where her research focused on the intersections of school safety and firearm violence. Her work has spanned a variety of topic areas including youth participation and development; workforce and nonprofit organizational development; and community and social change. She has extensive experience building partnerships with community organizations, designing and leading mixed-methods evaluation studies, logic modeling and theory of change development, and facilitating organizational learning and capacity building trainings. She currently serves as the lead evaluator for several PEG projects. She is also serving in her second year as a board member for the Michigan Association for Evaluation (MAE).

Schedule a meeting with PEG!

YES! Our free one hour consultations continue...

Last year, PEG provided 38 one hour consultations at no cost. We're here to support all of your evaluation objectives including design, data strategies, proposal development and any other evaluation related needs.

Reach out and let us know how we can support your work!

Partnering with you to measure what matters