Research & Insights / Measuring and Communicating Impact: A Framework for Creative Youth Development Outcomes and Indicators
Measuring and Communicating Impact: A Framework for Creative Youth Development Outcomes and Indicators
In collaboration with the Mass Cultural Council, EdVestors leads the Youth Arts Impact Network (YAIN), a cohort of over 125 youth arts organizations that work to strengthen the local youth arts community and build the capacity of the larger Creative Youth Development (CYD) field. During the 2025-26 school year, YAIN is using an updated CYD Outcomes and Indicators Framework, developed by a Taskforce composed of CYD professionals and practitioners, to drive conversations and share best practices among YAIN members at community convenings.
During a YAIN convention in December 2025, EdVestors shared the newly designed framework. Thanks to Karla Duque, an EdVestors Bloomberg Arts Internship alum, these new user-friendly resources provide an overview and the full menu of possible indicators for organizations to consider.
The new framework includes three key areas:
CREATE: Creativity and Craft, Voice, and Storytelling.
Organizations provide young people with spaces to develop their cognitive, creative, and artistic skills as they design strategies for artistic action and pursue learning through multiple contexts.
CONNECT: Self-Discovery and Healing, and Connection, Collaboration, and Mutual Learning.
Organizations provide ways for young people to explore and strengthen their personal and social identities.
CATALYZE: Social Justice and Cultivating Leadership.
Organizations support young people in catalyzing change in their lives and communities.
CYD organizations should be able to find aspects of their organizations in the list of indicators. This can help to identify what's working well and where improvements are needed, ensuring that programs truly meet young people's needs and support their interests, relationships, and opportunities for growth and change.
YAIN convening attendees will explore these updated indicators to:
- Learn how to concretely utilize the menu of indicators for their program development and evaluation,
- Improve their ability to use their data to tell their story effectively, and
- Work collaboratively as a network to build a collective voice for advocacy and increase the ability to build bridges with other areas of interest to the CYD community, such as mental health, public health, and workforce development initiatives.
We are excited to share these new resources and hope they inspire and support Creative Youth Development practitioners and organizations as they tell their stories of impact and develop a common language for the field.
For the CYD Outcomes and Indicators Framework, click here. For more information about the Youth Arts Impact Network click
