The Heller School for Social Policy and ManagementReturn to this website's homepageBrandeis University

Senior Fellow and Lecturer

dhughes@brandeis.edu  •  Heller-Brown Building  • 343  •  781-736-3609

Expertise

Community Youth Development; Systems, Community and Organizational Change; Evaluation and Learning; Results-Based Strategic Planning

Courses

  • HS 256f - Community Building for Managers
  • HS 335f - Perspectives on Youth Policy, Program Management, and System Design

Scholarship

  • Curnan, Susan; Lanspery, Susan; Kingsley, Chris; LaCava, Lisa; Hughes, Della; Melchior, Alan; Perlmutter, Anna. Practical Advice Guides: Smart Strategies to Employ, Educate and Support Youth in Employability Development Programs.. The Center for Youth and Communities for: 2013.
  • Curnan, Susan; Plachta Elliott, Sara; Relyon Media; Hughes, Della. Performance Monitoring Status: 2016 Goals, All Neighborhoods – A Performance Monitoring Dashboard for The Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods Good Schools Initiative
  • Leavitt, Tom; Plachta Elliott; Hughes, Della. Brightmoor Neighborhood, Chadsey Condon Neighborhood, Cody Rouge Neighborhood, Northend Neighborhood, Osborn Neighborhood, Southwest Neighborhoods Snapshots of the Systems of Supports and Opportunities. Detroit, MI The Center for Youth and Communities for The Skillman Foundation: 2013.
  • Moldow, Erika; Leavitt, Tom; Hughes, Della. Snapshot from Artists For Humanity Year One Evaluation Report, September 2011 – September 2012. Waltham, MA The Center for Youth and Communities for Artists for Humanity: 2013.
  • Moldow, Erika; Pineros Shields, Alexandra; Dorhn, Blake; Hughes, Della. Creating Caring Communities for and with Youth Who Have Dropped Out or Are at Risk of Dropping Out of School. Boston, MA The Center for Youth and Communities for The Hyams Foundation Teen Futures Initiative: 2013.
  • Curnan, Susan; Hahn, Andrew; Bookman, Ann; Hughes, Della; Jacobs, claudia; Isenberg, Lanni; Rabinow, Lainey. Moving From Talk to Collective Action: Effective Strategies for Alleviating Hunger and Food Insecurity in America, A Report on Brandeis Research and Interviews with Members of the Corporate Coalition. Waltham, MA The Center for Youth and Communities and The Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy for the Corporate Coalition Fighting Hunger in America: 2012.
  • Hughes, Della M. Unitarian Universalist Association Living into Covenant Pilot Logic Model and Survey Report. Denver, CO 2012.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Curnan, Susan P.; LaCava, Lisa; Dursin, Sheri. Unitarian Universalist Association Leap of Faith Initiative Pilot First Cohort Evaluation Report. Boston, MA 2012.
  • Hughes, Della, LaCava, Lisa; Dursin, Sheri. Unitarian Universalist Association Leap of Faith Initiative Pilot Year Two Evaluation Report. Boston, MA 2012.
  • Hughes, Della; Bookman, Ann; Jacobs, Claudia; Leipsitz, Margaret. "Draft Plan for Expanding Participation In Snap and Implementing A Coalition Communications Plan.
  • Curnan, Susan P.; Hughes, Della M.; Lanspery, Susan (eds.). Resilience, Resolve, Results: A Compilation of Readiness Phase Studies of The Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods and Good Schools Initiative, 2008-2010. Detroit, MI Center for Youth and Communities for The Skillman Foundation: 2011.
  • Curnan, Susan P.; Hughes, Della M.; Lanspery, Susan. From Tower to Ground: Systems and Policy Change in the Good Neighborhoods/Good Schools Initiative. Detroit, MI Center for Youth and Communities for The Skillman Foundation: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Curnan, Susan, P.. Unitarian Universalist Association Leap of Faith Initiative Pilot Logic Model. For the Unitarian Universalist Association: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Lanspery, Susan. Resilience, Resolve, Results: Background of the Readiness Phase of The Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods and Good Schools Initiative. Detroit, MI Center for Youth and Communities for The Skillman Foundation: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Moldow, Erika; Lanspery, Susan. Changing the Odds for Kids: What Capacity Do Selected Basic Services in the Six Good Neighborhoods Provide for Young People and Their Families?. Detroit, MI Center for Youth and Communities for The Skillman Foundation: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Moldow, Erika; Lanspery, Susan. Changing the Odds for Kids: What Capacity Do the Supports and Opportunities in the Six Good Neighborhoods Provide for Young People and What Characteristics of a System Are in Place?. Detroit, MI Center for Youth and Communities for The Skillman Foundation: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Moldow, Erika; Lanspery, Susan; J.F. Morgan Associates. Building Neighborhood Capacities to Support Youth and Families in the Good Neighborhoods and Good Schools Initiative. Detroit, MI Center for Youth and Communities for The Skillman Foundation: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Pineros Shields, Alexandra; Moldow, Erika. The Hyams Foundation Teen Futures Initiative Year Two Report. Boston, MA Center for Youth and Communities: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M.; Pineros-Shields, Alexandra; Moldow, Eriks; Khera, Gagan. The Hyams Foundation Teen Futures Initiative Year One Report. For The Hyams Foundation: 2011.
  • Hughes, Della M., Prue Brown, Marie Colombo. The Skillman Foundation’s Theory of Change and Ecological Model. for The Skillman Foundation. Detroit MI: 2010.
  • Hughes, Della M., Susan P. Curnan, Gagan Mia Khera, Jane Morgan, Sujata Shetty. Brightmoor Alliance Profile, Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance Profile, Chadsey/Condon Community Organization Profile, Osborn Neighborhood Alliance Profile, North End-Central Woodward Community Governance Council Profile. For The Skillman Foundation Good Neighbohoods Initiative. Waltham, MA: 2010.
  • Hughes, Della M., Gagan Mia Khera, Susan Lanspery, Jane Morgan, Sujata Shetty. Action Planning Report, Changemaking Report, Context Study, Governance Report, Leadership Capacity Development Report; Small Grants Report; Initial Good Neighborhoods Readiness Phase Implementation Evaluation Synthesis Report. For The Skillman Foundation Good Neighbohoods Initiative. Waltham, MA: 2009.
  • Hughes, Della M., Gagan Mia Khera, Susan Lanspery, Jane Morgan, Sujata Shetty. Brightmoor Neighborhood Report, Chadsey Condon Neighborhood Report, Cody Rouge Neighborhood Report, Northend Neighborhood Report, Osborn Neighborhood Report, Southwest Neighborhoods Report. For The Skillman Foundation Good Neighbohoods Initiative. Waltham, MA: 2009.
  • Hughes, Della M., Gagan Mia Khera. Helping Families Improve Child Outcomes: The Family Support Initiative of the United Way Of Rhode Island. For the United Way of Rhode Island. Waltham, MA: 2009.
  • Hughes, Della M., Susan Lanspery, Chris Kingsley, Lee Farrow, Julia Kirst, Tammy Tai. Networking to Make a Difference: A Practitioner’s Guide to Developing a Sustainable Youth Workers’ Alliance. For Health Resources in Action and the South End/Lower Roxbury Youth Workers' Alliance. Waltham, MA: 2009.
  • Hughes, Della M., Susan Lanspery, Chris Kingsley, Tracy Cutter. Training and Networking: Encouraging News: A Report on the Outcomes of the Collaboration between the BEST Youth Worker Certificate Training and the South End/Lower Roxbury Youth Workers Alliance. For Health Resources in Action and South End Lower/Roxbury Youth Workers' Alliance. Waltham, MA: 2009.
  • Hughes, Della M., Tracy Cutter, Chris Kingsley. Evaluation Report: Creative Transitions Initiative. For the Hampshire Educational Collective, MA Department of Youth Services and MA Cultural Council. Waltham, MA: 2009.
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Profile

Della M. Hughes is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Youth and Communities of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Prior to this position, she held an appointment for 11 years as Executive Director of the National Network for Youth in Washington, D.C. (the largest membership organization of unaffiliated youth-serving organizations in the U.S.), and Oasis Center, a community-based youth-serving organization in Nashville, Tennessee. She is also the winner of the Hospital Corporation of America Prize of $20,000 for Excellence in Management.

Currently, Hughes is in her sixth year as the Co-Principal Investigator and Evaluation and Learning Partner for The Skillman Foundation Good Neighborhoods and Good Schools Initiative, a ten-year comprehensive community change effort in six Detroit neighborhoods designed to ensure young people can be safe, healthy, and graduate from high school prepared for college and careers. She works not only with a Brandeis-based team but also with evaluators and consultants from Detroit and across the country to build capacity, create alignment among the initiatives various strategies, develop and conduct evaluations, develop and implement a performance measurement system, and create opportunities for learning in multiple venues. Her other relevant experience includes serving as the PI for The Hyams Foundation’s Teen Futures Initiative and the Artists for Humanity evaluation and learning projects. She also directed The Skillman Foundation’s Youth Sports and Recreation and Youth Development Culture and Arts evaluations, the MY TURN Business Expansion and Evaluation Readiness studies, and served as a senior evaluator for The Hitachi Foundation’s Investment in Global Corporate Citizenship. From 2007-2009, Hughes served as the Director of the Massachusetts Task Force on Youth Aging Out of DSS Care.

Hughes particularly enjoys working with complex, results-oriented, systems change initiatives. She holds advanced degrees from Vanderbilt University Divinity School and the University of Tennessee School of Social Work.

 

Degrees

Vanderbilt University
M.Div.