Impact evaluation of complex community-engaged programs and initiatives since 1997.

After a career evaluating complex community development programs and initiatives, I have started an independent consulting practice to support social and environmental justice efforts. I believe evaluators must actively value and integrate multiple ways of knowing, prioritize connections and relationships, and be open to emergence and unforeseen possibilities. The expert model is no longer adequate.

I am experienced using evaluation strategies that embrace the complexity of systems change efforts and engage program stakeholders in the evaluation process. This participatory approach dramatically increases the potential for evaluation to strengthen change efforts.

I offer the following consultative evaluation services:

  • Ripple Effects Mapping (REM)

  • REM Training and Coaching

  • Social Network Analysis (SNA)

  • Community Readiness Assessment

  • Dr. Chazdon conducted an interactive and practical training for my team. His training style was interactive, approachable, and highly flexible to the team's needs. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with him! The training set our team up to be able to use Ripple Effects Mapping on our first project with ease and Dr. Chazdon was available to help us along the way. Thanks to his expert guidance, we now incorporate Ripple Effects Mapping on most projects as one of our evaluation strategies.

    -Lisa Goldman Rosas, Office of Community Engagement at Stanford University School of Medicine

  • The Ripple Effects Mapping process has allowed our school district to take qualitative evaluation beyond the typical satisfaction survey and tell an in-depth story of these powerful outcomes to students, families, our community and prospective funders. We are extremely grateful to Scott Chazdon for introducing us to REM and for the ability of this process to extricate the "veins of gold" that lie within our student programming.

    -Eric Anderson, Achievement and Integration Coordinator at Stillwater (MN) Area Public Schools

  • Our work with Scott Chazdon has helped guide the future of our food sovereignty and cultural programming that serves our tribal communities. Scott guided us through our first Ripple Map evaluation process and it was a wonderful and valuable experience.

    -Courtney Kowalczak, Environmental Institute Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

  • We called Dr. Chazdon with an idea to adapt the Ripple Effect Mapping (REM) method to working with tribal communities and incorporate Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (TIK) into this method. From the beginning he was open and excited about the idea, flexible and amenable to a collaborative process of creating a new method, and working with a diverse team.

    Dr. Danica Brown, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board

  • Scott was hired by our organization to train evaluators in the use of Ripple Effects Mapping (REM). Our training sessions were very thorough and I could quickly tell that we were learning from the most knowledgeable person on the subject. I was lucky enough to also facilitate my first REM session with Scott, which was so helpful as I took the training wheels off.

    Isa Kibira -Serve Minnesota

  • One of Dr. Chazdon's many strengths is being able to demonstrate, through the evaluation process, the value of community partnerships and their collaborations that result in positive outcomes. He worked with several community organizations in Northeast Minnesota guiding them through the Social Network Analysis and Ripple Effects Mapping process. Scott is a great listener, tailors approaches to meet the unique needs of each participating community, and presents high quality reports that are helpful and meaningful in moving community efforts forward in action.

    Zane Bail, Chief Operating Officer
    Northland Foundation, Duluth, Minnesota

My 4 Core Principles

Programs must build relationships and trust in order to be impactful

1

Evaluation should be generative, not extractive

2

When working on complex issues, contribution is more important that attribution

3

Objectivity is not attainable or desirable

4

“Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.”

– Dalai Lama

Get in Touch

Email me at schazdon@gmail.com or by calling (612) 251-2178