Designing for Impact — Why Intentional Program Design Changes Everything

In the first episode of Opportunity in Practice, Dr. Iris Bond Gill tackles one of the most overlooked drivers of program quality: design. Drawing on her work with DC youth providers through a new capacity-building initiative with the DC Department of Employment Services, Iris breaks down why the outcomes we see in our programs — good and bad — are never random. They’re the product of how those programs were designed.In this episode, you’ll learn: ∙ Why strong program design starts with youth outcomes — not activities ∙ How the Positive Youth Development framework’s 6Cs help practitioners define what meaningful impact actually looks like ∙ How to use a logic model to connect what your program does to the change you want to see in young people ∙ How a new tool — the PYD-Integrated Logic Model — brings these two frameworks together in one practical, actionable resourceWhether you’re designing a new program from scratch, refining one that’s already running, or trying to tell a stronger story about your work to funders and partners, this episode will give you a framework you can apply right away.