Measuring Community Change

1. Measuring Community Change Mary Emery: SDSU Milan Wall: Heartland Center for Leadership Development Liz Weaver: Tamarack Tom Kelly: Anne E. Casey Foundation

2. Purpose • Several year effort with multiple stakeholders looking at what we can learn about successful community change • Many community change initiatives • Lots of investment in community change • Do these initiatives make a difference? • How do we know? • Measuring change is difficult

3. Hierarchy of Community Impacts Prepared by Milan Wall, Co-Director Heartland Center for Leadership Development

4. Why Another Evaluation Model? • Designed for the community leader • Scientific jargon is minimized • Is easy to utilize • Is not time-consuming • Allows for the assessment of impacts from the start of implementation

5. Hierarchy of Community Impacts

6. Hierarchy of Community ImpactsA Leadership Development Program Example • Activities • Has a program been created? • How many people are engaged? • Outputs • What is the program producing? • Are participants attending?

7. Hierarchy of Community ImpactsA Leadership Development Program Example • Commitments • What are the graduates saying and what are they doing? • Expressed Commitments • Acted Upon Commitments • Outcomes • What community betterment has resulted from the graduates’ actions?

8. Hierarchy of Community ImpactsA Leadership Development Program Example • Indicators of Systemic Change • What long-term changes have been affected? • has the pool of people engaged in community leadership roles become more diversified? • Are there more young people or people of color, or at least new faces among emerging and engaged leaders?

9. Thirteen Cities. One Goal. Reduce Poverty.

10. The Complex Nature of Poverty “Poverty is a complex issue. There is no single cause and no one solution. Its successful reduction, and ideally its eradication, require a set of linked interventions undertaken by all orders of government working in collaboration with communities.” Poverty Policy Sherri Torjman, Caledon Institute of Social Policy October 2008

11. Vibrant Communities An experiment designed to test a specific way to address the complex realities of poverty through local level action. Theory of Change: Guided by 5 principles & assisted by extra supports provided by national sponsors – local organizations and leaders could revitalize poverty reduction efforts in their communities and generate significantly improved outcomes.

12. Part One – Exploring Principles The Communities

13. The Approach

14. Sustainable Livelihoods Approach – Assets Pentagon • Inner resources • Self-awareness • Self-esteem and self-confidence • Hope and motivation • Basic material goods and services • Emergency supports • Food • Housing • Transportation • Dependent care Personal Assets Physical Assets • Income, Savings and Sources of Financial Security • Employment income • Non-employment income • Savings and financial assets • Reduced debt/costs • Relationships • and Networks • Civic participation • Support networks Financial Assets Social Assets Human Assets • Skills, knowledge, education & health • Health • Life skills • Financial literacy • Education • Employment Skills

15. Four Levels of Community Outcomes • Policy and Systems Change • Increased Community Capacity • Increased Community Engagement • Decreased Poverty

17. Working Collaboratively, Communities can … Raise the profile of poverty. Build a constituency for change. Encourage collaborative ways of working. Begin to shift systems underlying poverty. Contribute to the asset-building efforts for a large number of people.

18. VC Success Factors • Influential and credible convener(s) • Cross-sector, connected leadership table • Challenging community aspiration • Clearly articulated purpose and approach • High degree of resident mobilization • Research which informs the work

19. Want to learn about Vibrant Communities Canada and its work? www.tamarackcommunity.ca

20. Tom Kelly Annie E. Casey Foundation tkelly@aecf.org September 20, 2011 Measuring Community Change

21. 10 Implementation sites 2000 to 2010 White Center Hartford Providence Milwaukee Oakland Des Moines Indianapolis Denver Louisville San Antonio

22. Critical Success Questions • Can positive outcomes be achieved for large numbers of children and families in a neighborhood of concentrated poverty? • Can impactat the neighborhood level influence local leaders, organizations, systems, and funding? • Can this work be sustained? • Can this work be scaled?

23. Achieving Dual-Generation Results Economic Opportunities Families have increased earnings and income Site Strategies Programs and Initiatives Technical Assistance Co-investments Families have increased assets Social Networks Children are healthy and prepared to succeed in school Effective Services & Supports • WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE RESULTS • Broad agreement on results • Data, performance measurement, and managing to results • Partnerships among residents and institutions • Effective services & programs, linked to policy • Leveraging the resources of other funders and systems • Resident leadership

24. The Stages of Systemic ChangeBeverly ParsonsInSites Transition Awareness Exploration New Structures Pre- dominance Maintenance of Old Systems Key Elements of ChangeVision Public & Political Support Networking Teaching & Learning Roles & Responsibilities Policy Alignment

25. Core Capacity Matrix

26. Annual Assessment of Site Capacities

27. Process of Core Capacity Measurement • Common cross-site understanding of stages, key elements (capacities), and definitions • Individualized indicators based on local context for each capacity and stage • Participatory reflection and self-assessment of key stakeholders/actors (facilitated by evaluators) • Change measured against local baseline