Abstract
Program Development Grantwriting & Implementation: From Advocacy to Outcomes by Richard Hoefer and Larry D. Watson is intended to be a contemporary guide to program development fundamentals and implementation. The text achieves its aims to explain the complete program planning process and equip the reader with the knowledge, skills, and competencies needed to develop successful programs. The authors do a superior job of incorporating social justice, diversity, and contemporary issues. The chapters cover assessing community strengths, program evaluation, budgeting, fund development, marketing, advocacy, and finding joy in the work. Throughout the book, dedicated sections address diversity, difficulties, satisfaction, and lessons from the pandemic. These sections connect the key concepts to real-life challenges, opportunities, and events. A case study from Child and Family Services is a perfect addition as it provides the readers with a practical example of a successful grant and its application. This text is an outstanding resource for students and professionals in the human services. It is a reader-friendly and highly practical text that connects theory and practice based on research. It will likely be used as a reference even after students graduate.
As an overview, this text offers a realistic experience of designing a new program within a human services agency. The text starts with a summary of the context of human service program development and the process of planning programs and understanding the community, and developing funding opportunities. The planning portion of the text has been separated into chapters relating to the planning process with a strong bias toward using research-supported programs. The text explains how to adopt a research-supported program or create a program linked to research based on effective conceptualization when pre-existing research-supported programs are unavailable. The text then explores how to create an information-sharing plan that provides the stakeholders with important information that can be used to market the program to funders and policymakers. The text then concludes with a topic focused on the importance of joy and the effectiveness of program development.
In further detail, the text focused on the larger context of human service program development and the program planning process and required rolls. It then quickly moves on to cover knowledge and skills. The text then focuses on understanding the community and conducting advocacy to plan appropriate programs. The next chapter focuses on finding funding and program planning. This is followed by a section of chapters covering grant writing and fund development and introduces how to plan programs and use research-supported practices. The text then focuses on creating a good program from the ground up. The next set of chapters focuses on vital topics for planning a program, such as developing logic models and evaluating plans, budgeting, financial management, and explaining and expanding organizational capacity. Next, the text speaks about program implementation, which includes implementing and assessing the project that has been created. The use of the logic model is included not only for planning but also as a monitoring and evaluation tool. How to report the program effectiveness and not for profit and marketing approaches are discussed. The text concludes with a chapter on evaluating the program and making adaptations to improve results. The final chapter focuses on the individual, discusses ways to prevent burnout, and discusses ideas of positive organizational and individual psychology, focusing on ensuring that joy is part of the daily experience of human service workers, leaders, and program developers.
A unique and robust teaching tool in the text is the use of a case study from ACH Child and Family Services in Fort Worth. This case study is introduced at the beginning of the text with a scenario including a role-play as if the reader has been appointed as the new executive director and includes an appointment letter and fact sheet. This case scenario is then used throughout the text to bring life to the concepts explained. I found this to be a highlight of the text, creating a practical example of how a grant can be successfully obtained and implemented.
Overall, this text provides a large amount of information through clear and concise writing and well-organized chapters. Each chapter concludes with summary points, key terms, and discussion questions, giving opportunities to review the information from the chapter and test your knowledge. I appreciate the many helpful graphics and charts, which serve as an excellent visual explanation of concepts.
In conclusion, this outstanding text is well-written and serves as a practical guide to developing new social service programs in our challenging times. This text can either be used in its entirety for program development courses or incorporated into other courses as standalone chapters. It is appropriate for both master’s and doctoral level courses in social work and other helping professions. It is a great resource that students will want to keep as a reference throughout their careers.