Youth Delegates to the National Town Meeting (NTM) will be conducting interviews of key program participants under the supervision of the PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage Corporation. The following document describes the organizational structure, contacts, interview methodology, and query structure of the interview process.

ORGANIZATION / MANAGEMENT

The Youth Delegation is organized in two groups: National Youth Delegates and Detroit Area Youth Delegates. Twenty-one National Youth Delegates will be responsible for interviewing key program participants identified by the PCSD. Approximately 40 Detroit Area Youth Delegates (approximately ten per day over a four-day period) will be responsible for interviewing general program participants from the exhibit areas and NTM program workshops to be identified by the PCSD, GETF, and/or EcoSage.

The PCSD will have management responsibility for identifying the key program participants and arranging the interview schedule. GETF will coordinate with PCSD and schedule Youth Delegates. PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage will jointly oversee the selection of a Youth Delegate for each interview based on Youth Delegate and key participant profiles. EcoSage will manage the interview process and supervise the Youth Delegates, including interview preparation, data collection, and report preparation. PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage will have joint oversight of final report products. The EDS Mobile Internet Café will provide technology support with twelve, networked computer workstations. EcoSage will provide editorial staff and prepare all final reports.

REPORT PRODUCTS / PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Four primary report products will be produced from this process: 1) a Youth Roundtable Document; 2) a National Roundtable briefing document; 3) an Introduction and Process Statement to the National Roundtable; and 4) a Youth Delegate Recommendation Statement to the National Roundtable.

1. Youth Roundtable Document: This document will consist of a collection of data generated by the Youth Delegates over the NTM process. Data collection will start with a preliminary report development at the Shallow Footprints Workshop and continue through the interview process. This document will provide structure and focus for issues to be discussed at the Youth Roundtable.
2. National Roundtable Briefing Document: This document will consist of information collected by the Youth Delegates through the interview process. The information will be organized in relevant categories for use as a quick reference guide for the National Roundtable participants.
3. Introduction and Process Statement: This document will consist of a short, scripted statement to be presented at the opening of the National Roundtable. It will describe the process by which the Youth Delegate Recommendation Statement to the National Roundtable was created.
4. Youth Delegate Recommendation Statement to the National Roundtable: This document will consist of a brief 10 point statement of action items from a youth perspective, referencing the 10 National Goals for sustainable development.

The product development process will consist of the following components:

1. Queries: A series of queries utilizing the 10 National Goals and key indicators of progress stated within each of these National Goals will be developed and approved by the PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage management team prior to April 30, 1999. During the NTM, a process will be in place for NTM participants to develop queries in order to include diverse stakeholder perspectives in the data collection process.
2. Interviews: Youth Delegates will interview key NTM program participants and general NTM program participants in order to collect data from diverse stakeholder groups.
3. Iterative Evaluation Process: An iterative evaluation process including PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage program management and the Youth Delegates will assess and re-assess the data collected and the data collection process, making requisite modifications to the data collection process as may be required.
4. Report Development: EcoSage will provide editorial and technical assistance to the Youth Delegates for data collection, data entry, and report writing. A panel consisting of PCSD, GETF, EcoSage, and Youth Delegate representatives will provide final editorial review.

METHOD OF INTERVIEW

Interviews will be based upon a “Query” method. All queries will utilize the PCSD 10 National Goals and the Indicators of Progress as a key referent. Youth Delegates will be introduced to the key NTM or general NTM participant to be interviewed. A PCSD, GETF, or EcoSage program manager or support staff person will make the introductions and oversee the interview, providing mentoring services to the Youth Delegate as required. Youth Delegates will make a series of queries that have been pre-selected by the PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage management, including queries that may have been developed by NTM program participants and approved by the PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage. Youth Delegates will record the NTM participant responses to the queries, asking for clarification or elaboration of key responses as required. The Youth Delegates will repeat all recorded key responses to the NTM participants to verify its accuracy. Contact information will be provided to the NTM participants for verification of data accuracy.

SAMPLE QUERY

Query Framework: The query framework will follow the 10 National Goals for sustainable development as follows:

A. PRIMARY REFERENT / PCSD GOAL STATEMENT:

GOAL 6: POPULATION: Move toward stabilization of U.S. population.

B. SECONDARY REFERENT / INDICATOR OF PROGRESS:

UNINTENDED PREGNANCIES: Decreased number of unintended pregnancies in the United States.

C. DATA REFERENT:

Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and A Healthy Environment for the Future, February 1996

“Sixty percent of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. High rates of unintended pregnancy contribute to a higher rate of natural increase (excess of births over deaths); this in turn adds significantly to U.S. population growth. In 1992, the U.S. population grew by nearly 2 million due to natural increase. Approximately 1.2 million of these births were due to unintended pregnancies.

These pregnancies affect people in all socioeconomic strata but are most common among younger and poorer women. National family planning efforts are critical to preventing unintended pregnancies before they occur and to achieving national health and social aims.

Currently, the principal program providing comprehensive public family planning services to low-income women and men is under Title X of the Public Health Service Act of 1970. Funding for Title X fell by more than 70 percent in real dollars between 1980 and 1992 and has not been re-authorized by Congress since 1984.”

D. QUERIES BY STAKEHOLDER GROUP:

1. Federal Government: What are the barriers at the federal level to restore comprehensive public family planning services under Title X?
2. State and Local Government: What are the impacts on state and local community services due to the reduction of federal funding resources under Title X? What strategies at the state and local levels have been implemented to decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies?
3. Educators: Should educational resources be utilized to provide public family planning services to youth in an effort to reduce unwanted pregnancies among the teenage population? Does the allocation of such human and financial resources impact the quality of educational mandated under National Education Standards?

Additional stakeholder groups for which queries will be developed: Individuals, non-governmental organizations, professional organizations, youth, businesses, communities, financial institutions, international organizations.

NOTE: Stakeholder groups at the NTM will be request to develop questions within this query framework. All queries will be approved by PCSD, GETF, and EcoSage before implementation into program.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTACTS

PCSD: David Monsma; Frank Finamore.
GETF: Chuck Chaitovitz
EcoSage: Allan Baer, Jim Pittman