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Project Highlights

In 2021, the Heising-Simons Foundation

embarked on a new initiative, Families Lead California, to fund family leadership development and advocacy work that responds to the unique needs of Black, Indigenous, and families of color (BIPOC families) and their communities.

SPR served

as the foundation’s learning and evaluation partner for its first year. We worked with foundation staff and community stakeholders to co-design an equitable evaluation framework for identifying and understanding progress toward outcomes for Families Lead California.

Our formative approach

supports learning and continuous improvement for the foundation and community stakeholders. It assesses progress toward both shared goals and those unique to each organization and ensures that BIPOC families’ priorities inform policy and practice within California’s early childhood system.