As part of Prebys Foundation’s Healing Through Arts and Nature initiative, we’ve partnered with the Nonprofit Institute to launch the Impact Learning Labs—a year-long, cohort-based series empowering 17 youth-serving nonprofit organizations across San Diego to design, implement, and evaluate arts and nature–driven health and well-being programs/interventions. Over the past year, these nonprofits have engaged in hands-on workshops and peer learning circles, piloting culturally relevant, participatory evaluation techniques—ranging from visual journals and community mapping to dynamic feedback loops—that capture both quantitative and qualitative health outcomes. At this mini-roundtable symposium, each cohort organization will:

Articulate community need(s) that informed/inspired their arts or nature-based response.

Showcase bespoke strategies for measuring programmatic impact, demonstrating how intentional, culturally grounded methods foster deeper engagement and more meaningful data.

Share impact stories and real-world examples of improved well-being, resilience, and social connection facilitated through these interventions.

Reflect on lessons learned and highlight best practices and challenges encountered—both in program execution and in evaluating health and well-being outcomes.

By spotlighting these innovative, grassroots evaluation methods and their tangible results, the Healing Through/Impact Learning Labs roundtable will equip attendees with inspiring models, applicable toolkits/practices and an expanded network dedicated to healing through art and nature. Join us as we celebrate collaborative discovery and chart a path forward for community-centered impact and evaluation.

Learning Objectives

1. Explore Equitable Evaluation Framework™ Approaches and Its Transferability: Participants will examine diverse applications of an equitable and community centered approach to evaluating health outcomes, reviewing concrete examples (e.g., asset-based community assessments, culturally responsive indicators) and identifying how these approaches can be adapted across different program contexts.

2. Engage in Peer Knowledge Exchange for Evaluation Practice: Participants will actively share and compare evaluation tools, data-gathering techniques, and lessons learned—building a community of practice where collective insights enhance relevant organization’s capacity to measure impact.

3. Map and Leverage Local San Diego County Resources: Participants will be able to identify a number of arts, nature, and evaluation support organizations within San Diego County (e.g. outdoor exposure orgs, art centers, museums, university partners, and data hubs) and ideate strategies for collaborating with or integrating these nearby resources into their own programs.