Impact of adventure and outdoor education at a non- profit sailing and kayak center: An Organizational Impact Analysis
Drevos, Nicholas (2025)
2025
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202505059175
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202505059175
Tiivistelmä
The focus of this thesis was central to the needs of Piers Park Sailing Center, a non-profit organization whose mission specifically aims to empower local youth through community sailing and marine science. On a broader lens, the organizational mission is to provide access to a more inclusive Boston Harbor, a historically exclusive entity. Data was needed to affirm that the mission is being met personally and is visible to members within its own community. Data was also needed to analyze the impact that the mission had in relation to its target group.
Existing literature was used to facilitate analyses and data collection that could provide insightful quantitative and qualitative data methods that ultimately could affirm or deny the meeting of the mission, alongside the positive impacts toward the individual person and community at-large.
The commissioner’s need of an in-depth mission analysis was met with thorough research practices with the aim of producing a comprehensive impact assessment, zeroing in on both the broad and specific impacts that the mission and programming of Piers Park Sailing Center provides for its participants and community. This tool was necessary for a personal insight of the validity of programming that not only benefits the Sailing Center’s continued flourishment, but also as an approachable document for the substantial amount of youth staff who may identify more with the experiential work that they have begun pursuing.
This document will be integrated with the mission analysis functions of the Sailing Center, and is something that will be utilized for future reference as a means of the continued pursuit of impacting the empowerment of the youth of Boston, the development of East Boston, and the continued investment of striving toward equitable access to the Boston Harbor.
Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews among the Piers Park Sailing Center staff and community members, which ensured for personalized data that is relevant for the target group that the mission directly seeks to impact. This thesis directly contributes to the ultimate development of Piers Park Sailing Center through its emphasis on missionoriented impact and a fostering of organizational assessment through the lens of its own target group. Such data propels the Sailing Center toward a more educated and ultimately empowered youth who are working towards conscious, mission-oriented empowerment.
Existing literature was used to facilitate analyses and data collection that could provide insightful quantitative and qualitative data methods that ultimately could affirm or deny the meeting of the mission, alongside the positive impacts toward the individual person and community at-large.
The commissioner’s need of an in-depth mission analysis was met with thorough research practices with the aim of producing a comprehensive impact assessment, zeroing in on both the broad and specific impacts that the mission and programming of Piers Park Sailing Center provides for its participants and community. This tool was necessary for a personal insight of the validity of programming that not only benefits the Sailing Center’s continued flourishment, but also as an approachable document for the substantial amount of youth staff who may identify more with the experiential work that they have begun pursuing.
This document will be integrated with the mission analysis functions of the Sailing Center, and is something that will be utilized for future reference as a means of the continued pursuit of impacting the empowerment of the youth of Boston, the development of East Boston, and the continued investment of striving toward equitable access to the Boston Harbor.
Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews among the Piers Park Sailing Center staff and community members, which ensured for personalized data that is relevant for the target group that the mission directly seeks to impact. This thesis directly contributes to the ultimate development of Piers Park Sailing Center through its emphasis on missionoriented impact and a fostering of organizational assessment through the lens of its own target group. Such data propels the Sailing Center toward a more educated and ultimately empowered youth who are working towards conscious, mission-oriented empowerment.