Services – Sample Project Descriptions

Research & Evaluation

Evaluation of the Implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998

WIA represents a massive overhaul of the nation's workforce development system, with an emphasis on streamlining employment and training services, fostering linkages and coordination across categorically-funded programs, and promoting customer choice. SPR was contracted by DOL to study how WIA is being implemented across the nation. This includes looking at the effectiveness of partnership formation between job training agencies, the Employment Service, school-to-work systems, and others programs. The study consists of two major components, including intensive site visits to WIA systems and partner agencies across the nation and the analysis of data gathered from a national implementation tracking system. The study also includes a component, funded by the National School To Work (STW) Office, that examines the extent to which WIA and STW efforts are linked.

Evaluation of the Ford Foundation's Youth Leadership Development Initiative (YLDI)

The goals of this two-year evaluation were to (1) assess the degree to which civic activism is an effective youth development strategy for reaching vulnerable youth populations, (2) identify organizational practices that promote positive youth development outcomes, (3) strengthen the field of youth development through the lessons and best practices of YLDI grantees, and (4) disseminate lessons learned to the larger youth development and funding communities, as well as policymakers. Project activities included conducting two rounds of site visits, administration of a youth survey, providing ongoing technical assistance, culling the learning taking place across the initiative's core partners, reviewing relevant youth development and civic activism literature, and publishing and disseminating results to the youth development field.

The MarcoPolo Multicultural and Multilingual Needs Assessment Project

Dedicated to providing high quality Internet content and professional development to teachers and students throughout the United States, MarcoPolo: Internet Content for the Classroom (now called Thinkfinity.org) is a nonprofit consortium made up of premier national and international education organizations and the MCI/Verizon Foundation. In the MarcoPolo Multicultural and Multilingual Needs Assessment Project (MCML), SPR critically analyzed the educational content and professional development materials and courses available on the MarcoPolo curriculum website from the perspective of multicultural and multilingual education populations. Through a comprehensive needs assessment, we assessed how well the existing educational content and professional development adequately represent, reach and provide for multicultural populations. As a result of this assessment, we provided detailed recommendations for adapting, augmenting and/or supplementing MarcoPolo’s educational content and professional development toward the goal of providing the highest quality Internet-based education resources and professional development for multicultural and multilingual education populations.

This evaluation was commissioned by the Hewlett Foundation to assess the success of their K-12 Education funding strategy and to provide recommendations for future directions. The evaluation itself focused on three levels:

• Grantmaking Process, a candid assessment of the grant application process, post-award procedures, and the working relationships between grantees and funders from the perspective of the grantees.
  
  
• Grantmaking Substance, an evaluation of grantmaking in the context of an evolving education reform field and the impact of individual grants made in the K-12 Education program area.
  
  
• Grantmaking Context, a summary of the Foundation's overall visibility and strength within the Bay Area K-12 education reform community.

To meet these objectives, SPR identified a sample of grantees from the K-12 Education portfolio; staff then reviewed these grantee proposals, funding documents, and evaluation reports and conducted in-depth interviews with grantee representatives. Our goal was not only to document overall impact of the funding cluster, but to also gain feedback from grantees on the grant award process, the role of the Hewlett Foundation in supporting their work, and their perspective on the foundation's contribution to education reform in the Bay Area. In addition to grantees, SPR conducted interviews with several Bay Area education reform leaders and funders. The goal of these interviews was to gain a sense of the impact of the Hewlett Foundation's grantmaking on K-12 education, as well as the impact of the Foundation itself as a funder, partner, and leader in K-12 education reform. The final report synthesized all of these perspectives and provided a range of recommendations for future grantmaking in this area.

The evaluation for the Pathways to College Network (Network)—a large collaborative of foundations, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and the U.S. Department of Education around improving access to higher education among traditionally underserved youth—is both a process and an outcome study. The study examines and makes recommendations on goal refinement, administrative processes, governance, and inter-partner communication for the Network as a collaborative. In addition, the evaluation is measuring partners' progress toward their goals as well as those of the Network, and is assessing the effects of Network activities on multiple levels. For instance, SPR is examining how Network activities and products are influencing the knowledge and behaviors of partner organizations.

Technical Assistance & Training

WIA Performance Outcomes Technical Assistance and Training Performance Enhancement Project

As part of this project, SPR and our co-contractor Public/Private Ventures have provided technical assistance and training to states and local workforce investment areas to enhance their performance outcomes under WIA Title IB programs. Technical assistance has included on-site and phone diagnostic and targeted technical assistance consultations related to data systems, program design and delivery, and other issues. SPR and P/PV have also developed and facilitated interactive workshops on the WIA performance measures, improving program design and delivery, contracting and performance, and analysis of WIA data. Two of these workshops have also been adapted for the Internet.

National Job Corps Capacity Building Project

Under the National Job Corps Capacity Building Project, SPR provided extensive technical assistance and training to support the Job Corps system in its efforts to better coordinate with state and local workforce development systems and enhance community involvement. This technical assistance included conducting extensive telephone interviews and site visits to Job Corps and One-Stop centers to collect information on best practices. Based on the information collected during this research, several practitioner toolkits were developed, including one on developing MOUs with One-Stop systems, several regional guides to One-Stop systems, a guide to developing linkages with One-Stop systems and a guide to co-enrollment with partners. Workshops on these topics were also created and presented nationally. SPR also worked with selected individual Job Corps Centers to organize and facilitate local stakeholder meetings to enhance center partnerships with One-Stop systems. Finally, a three module curriculum and trainer's guide on co-enrollment with partners was developed. This curriculum was presented both in-person to Job Corps audiences and adapted for use on the Internet.

Using site visits to local One-Stop systems that had developed extensive and successful local partnerships, SPR identified successful approaches to building broad partnerships. Based on this research, a practitioner's guide entitled, How to Develop and Maintain Effective One-Stop Partnerships was developed. In addition, briefing materials on building effective partnerships with a wide variety of agencies and programs were developed. Workshops on partnership building were also presented at regional and national One-Stop conferences. The project also included the pilot-testing of a modular training program, Partnering for Quality, designed to help local workforce investment partners meet the requirements of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) for an integrated One-Stop service system. The training provided participants with tools, strategies, and case study examples on (1) developing broad partnerships, (2) designing seamless services that meet customer needs, and (3) managing integrated One-Stop systems.

Tri-County Community Asset Investment Portfolio

SPR provided assistance to the local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties to help them develop an accurate understanding of the characteristics of job seekers, incumbent workers, and employers, as well as the resources that are available to address their workforce development needs. This assistance included conducting needs assessment focus groups and interviews, an Internet-based survey of service provider capacity, interviews with workforce development stakeholders regarding gaps and the development of recommendations for how the local WIBs could address those gaps. Four reports were prepared for each local WIB: a Community Needs Assessment, a Community Inventory of Services, a Gap Analysis, and a final Summary Portfolio.

This technical assistance project supported the design, implementation and evaluation of a model facility for court-involved youth—centered on the operation of a day reporting center at the site of the former Rancho Natividad Boys Ranch in Monterey County, California. SPR's technical assistance efforts on this project included the facilitation of an interagency planning process; assistance with the development of a strategy to engage the local Workforce Investment Board and build long-term support through WIA funding; research and review of best practices for multi-service youth development and family-centered approaches to working with court-involved youth; assistance with program implementation, including development of staff training and program tools and the development of a continuous improvement process for the project.

SPR was funded by the Innovation Center (IC) for Community and Youth Development to engage a selected group of civic activism organizations in work on evaluation and planning. Based on the specific needs identified by participating organizations, we provided (1) assistance with youth development survey interpretation and analysis, (2) targeted technical assistance on self-evaluation, (3) a convening of an evaluation learning group meeting, and (4) the development of a curriculum on self-evaluations. Learnings from these efforts fed into an online resource for youth organizations called the Planning and Evaluation Resource Center (PERC). Our work highlighted the principles of civic activism, with an eye towards developing indicators, outcomes, and evaluation instruments to advance the field.

SPR's role for this project was to help the U.S. Department of Labor enhance its "America's Service Locator," an Internet-based, nationwide employment and training service locator. SPR worked to ensure that the locator (1) contained the information needed by both employee and employer customers, (2) described and provided that information in a customer-friendly fashion, (3) provided enough information to describe the wide variety of services available in One-Stop centers, and (5) was seen as a useful marketing tool by One-Stop centers. SPR also participated in the recruitment of additional Department of Labor partners to list their service locations on the Service Locator.

Data Management & Performance Measure Systems

This series of six projects was conducted to help the Department of Labor meet its mandate to establish performance accountability for employment and training programs operated under the Workforce Investment Act and the Job Training Partnership Act. These projects addressed accountability issues for adults, dislocated workers, and youth as well as programs for Indians and Native Americans and for migrant and seasonal farmworkers, Employment Service Programs, and trade programs under TAA and NAFTA/TAA. These projects were designed to: (1) help DOL choose measures of performance, (2) help determine numerical national standards for each performance measure, and (3) provide a methodology for adjusting the performance standards of local areas to account for differences in local economic conditions and client characteristics. Training sessions were also developed and presented on performance standards and related topics.

This project combined qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the effectiveness of the State of Illinois' $68 million investment in over 100 agencies and organizations contracted to provide employment services to recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Performed for the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the evaluation included (1) a survey of all contractors funded under two distinct programs—Illinois Job Advantage and Welfare-to-Work; (2) in-depth site reviews of programs operated by 30 contractors to provide a detailed description and analysis of contractor operations and how contractors interact with local welfare offices; and (3) a multivariate analysis of how outcomes vary among TANF recipients served by different programs and different contractors, and how outcomes differ for TANF recipients served by employment service contractors and those not served.

Philanthropic Services

Evaluation of the Kellogg Foundation's Capitalizing on Diversity Cross-Cutting Theme

The primary goal of this multi-year project is to support the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Capitalizing on Diversity Cross-Cutting Theme and the foundation's efforts to integrate diversity throughout its grantmaking. In the first year, SPR provided the foundation with a preliminary assessment of the impact of the Capitalizing on Diversity Cross-Cutting Theme and developed a learning plan for integration of diversity at the foundation by 2004. Since then, we have provided ongoing technical assistance towards achieving diversity integration goals through such project activities as: developing conceptual frameworks of diversity grantmaking, supporting the development of integration benchmarks and indicators, facilitating foundation-wide dialogue, producing case studies on diversity grantmaking, creating a diversity grantmaking toolkit, serving on advisory committees for foundation initiatives, conducing research on immigrant populations, and leading trainings on integration of diversity in grantmaking.

The California Endowment Diversity in Health Evaluation Project

The California Endowment enlisted SPR to support foundation efforts in building the capacity of the health evaluation field to utilize multicultural approaches needed for building and sustaining healthy communities throughout California. Ove r the course of this two year project, we worked to: (1) expand the Endowment's network of diverse evaluators to better reflect and meet the needs of program staff, grantees, and the evaluation department; and (2) enhance available resources through publications and convenings on the incorporation of diversity into health evaluations.

The goal of this evaluation is to support WFN's efforts to unleash philanthropy for women and girls' funds. We will evaluate WFN's technical assistance efforts to increase its members' capacity to increase their assets and provide ongoing feedback and technical assistance on WFN's self-evaluation goals. Additionally, we will assess the extent to which creating a comprehensive Knowledge Management System is an effective and sustainable approach to sharing information among members to enhance their fundraising capacity. We will use a formative and summative approach to answer the core research questions on (1) Increasing the Capacity of Member Funds, (2) Strengthening Network for Learning, and (3) Increasing the Funding Base. The research questions include, how accessible, useful, and applicable are the knowledge, tool and TA to member practices? How does WFN function as a network? How does WFN build off the existing strengths of WFN and member funds? Do the capacity of member funds change as a result of WFN interventions? Which approaches or combinations of strategies are most effective in increasing members' capacity? What are the lessons learned from WFN's capacity building efforts? How does knowledge management enable WFN to function better as a learning network? How effective is WFN in convening, collaborating and leveraging knowledge to learn from each other? What changes in funds/philanthropic assets and giving occur as a result of WFN's efforts? How are WFN's capacity building efforts affected the role of women of color within WFN's member organizations?

Project activities include documentation and assessment of WFN's capacity building efforts, technical assistance, site visits to member funds, and an annual survey to member funds.

Evaluation of the Katrina Women's Response Fund

In response to the destruction and massive displacement caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Ms. Foundation for Women (MFW) and the Women’s Funding Network (WFN) created The Katrina Women’s Response Fund. The Katrina Women’s Response Fund focused on ensuring that the priorities of low-income women, women of color and their families were central to the Hurricane Katrina relief, recovery and rebuilding process. SPR conducted an external evaluation of the Fund and focused on outcomes arising from the grants and the approach furthered by MFW and other women’s funds, with a particular concentration on how the initiative promoted the leadership of women of color. This report highlights a number of key findings related to the leadership of women of color in community coalitions, social change grantmaking, grantmaking in response to a natural disaster, and engaging local policy makers and decision makers.