Programme concept test study of the Amber programme

Summary

This is the final report for the programme concept test study of the Amber programme. It was commissioned by the Youth Futures Foundation and conducted by Cordis Bright between June 2021 and April 2023.

This work is part of our of our What Works programme.

Who?

Amber Foundation work with highly marginalised young people experiencing homelessness often with additional complex needs such as substance misuse, experience of trauma and mental health conditions and disabilities. This group of young people experience significant labour market disadvantage and low education, employment and training (EET) outcomes.

Number of participants: 203

Study aims ​

• Identify how the support model operates and underlying mechanisms of change
• Support Amber to understand resident’s outcomes and which elements of delivery work were most effectively and why​
• Support improvements to the programme delivery and data collection processes, to build organisational capacity
• Assess the feasibility of further impact evaluation.

Evaluation approach

The two-year evaluation included a process study to develop and test the Theory of Change, understand resident’s outcomes and identify any refinements which could be made to improve delivery.

The mixed method evaluation drew on evidence from:

• monitoring and outcomes data
• qualitative research with 75 residents, 26 staff members and 14 external stakeholders

Key insights

• Indicative evidence of improvements to the self-reported self-esteem and wellbeing of the young people being supported
• A third of residents (33 per cent) left the centre and secured employment, however over half of residents (56 per cent) left the centres in an unplanned way, without completing the full programme of support
• Identified strengths: staged model addresses a broad range of needs in sequence; compassionate and skilled staff members; opportunities for residents to connect to their local communities
• Recommended improvements: to improve the consistency of delivery across sites; enhance staff training to support the broad range of resident needs; bolster the follow-up support offer to improve the sustainment of housing and EET outcomes when the young people left the centres; data collection improvements to ensure that the measures align with the Theory of Change
• External factors such as the local availability of support services, suitable accommodation and EET opportunities are likely to shape young people’s ability to sustain positive outcomes.