Center for Social Policy: Program Evaluation

Program Evaluation

The Center for Social Policy conducts evaluation projects and collaborates extensively with agency and program staff throughout the design and implementation of an assessment. An important part of this process is an ongoing evaluation of the program's effectiveness. CSP measures the program's progress toward its goals and assesses its actual operation, thus providing a full picture of the ways it is carried out as well as its outcomes. The ongoing assessment also yields valuable information for potential program expansion and explication.

Evaluations in Progress

Homelessness Prevention Initiative

In December 2003, the The Boston Foundation/Starr Foundation, Tufts Health Plan/Mass Medical Society, and Alliance Charitable Foundation pooled resources and distributed $1 million in grant funds to 18 non-profit organizations for the implementation of homeless prevention services. The funding organizations have asked CSP to evaluate the funded projects with an eye to generating cross-site information that will have relevance for state policy making. This evaluation will identify promising interventions that are effective with populations of near-homeless persons with varied characteristics and circumstances. CSP also expects to identify the resolution of issues and obstacles commonly experienced during start-up and ongoing implementation stages in homelessness prevention work. In addition, CSP will be carrying out an analysis that contrasts the costs of prevention interventions with those associated with use of emergency shelters.
Prevention at Work: Homelessness Prevention Initiative (HPI) Interim Evaluation Report (5/06)
Partners in Prevention: Community-Wide Homelessness Prevention in Massachusetts and the United States (6/05)
Year 1 Summary Data (6/05)
Transitions at DTA (4/05)
Interim Grantee Data (11/04)

The Impacts of Enhanced Marketing and Sales Capacity on Alternative Staffing

This research and evaluation project will assess the impacts of an intervention that enhances the marketing and sales capacity of alternative staffing services. Learn More

Addressing the Food and Nutritional Needs of Massachusetts Residents: Vitamin Litigation Project

CSP is assessing food and nutrition programs in Massachusetts funded through a class action settlement. The project will identify innovative programs, including service delivery approaches that target specific populations (e.g., racial/linguistic minorities; rural, urban and suburban residents; children, adolescents, and elders) and specific medical problems (e.g., obesity in children). CSP will highlight promising practices--including new technologies, collaborative methods, and sustainability approaches--and will study ways in which programs resolve obstacles commonly experienced during start-up and ongoing implementation stages.
Interim Report (March 2005)

Quincy Housing First

This project assesses residential stability, access to employment and mainstream benefits, and health impacts of a pilot housing model that targets chronically homeless individuals in Quincy, Massachusetts. Currently implemented by Father Bill's Place (FBP), this model puts housing first and attends to treatment needs after an individual has moved off the streets. This model will provide "housing that works for the 'toughest customers' … who are stuck in the 'revolving door' of the shelter, and who are resistant to services." Specifically, this study will

Assess residential stability over two years;
Assess changes in employment and incomes over two years;
Examine the effects of Housing First on health, mental health, and substance abuse; track access to health services pre and post move into housing; and estimate associated health care costs;
Explore issues related to health, such as general satisfaction and increased social/communication skills;
Include residents' and clinicians' assessment of their health status and access to health care services

Institute for Community Inclusion Collaboration

Tatjana Meschede, Ph.D. consults for the UMass Institute for Community Inclusions (ICI) on research methodology and statistical issues in study implementations as well as new grant applications. Her current project with ICI assesses the impact of a community/parent/individual support model enabling youth's with intellectual disability access to postsecondary education.

Completed Evaluations

Technology Goes Home

Technology Goes Home (TGH) is a Boston Digital Bridge Foundation (BDBF) program that strives to prepare adults for employment opportunities and to help children improve academic performance by offering computer training and equipment to low-income families in Boston. Groups of parents and children learn together in order to strengthen families and build community as well as skills. TGH is offered through Neighborhood Technology Collaboratives and through the children's schools. CSP is evaluating the program and has worked closely with TGH to refine its techniques. Evaluation methods have included site observations at both neighborhood and school-based programs; focus groups with front-line providers and with former program participants, adults and children; analysis of feedback data; pre- and post-program participation skills assessments; and questionnaires assessing program goals, achievements, and satisfaction.
Summary of Current Findings (November 2003)

IMPACT – Information Management, Public Access, Community Transformation

An evaluation of a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) linked to a regional information and referral system. Learn More

One Family Campaign Scholars Project (February 2004)

The One Family Scholarship Project provides educational scholarships to low-income and formerly homeless women. The project is based in the belief that education creates a path out of poverty for low-income women and their families. The project promotes family economic self-sufficiency by supporting women in their efforts to gain the education and skills needed to build a career. Scholarships combine financial aid for expenses such as tuition, books, childcare, and other living expenses, with leadership development training, mentoring, and other supports. Scholars are chosen based on academic promise, leadership potential and financial need. CSP conducted an overall program evaluation and gathered information from current and former scholars, program staff, project mentors, and One Family Campaign programs. Methods employed include focus groups, document review, interviews, observation, and surveys.
Project Executive Summary

Due to the sensitive nature of this report, only a project summary is provided.

Massachusetts Youth Development Collaboration Project (July 2003)

This report evaluates the Massachusetts Youth Development Collaboration Project (YDCP), a five-year grant awarded to the Executive Office of Health and Human Services in 1998. YDCP’s goal was to promote the use of a “Positive Youth Development” approach to addressing the needs of young people, particularly runaway and homeless youth. It emphasized collaboration among youth-serving agencies at the state and local levels, and the development of initiatives catering to young people’s strengths. CSP researchers found that YDCP helped further awareness of positive youth development in a variety of forums in the state. Staff and advisors shaped major policy initiatives in education and health benefits for youth aging out of foster care, workforce development, and coordination of data collection among youth-serving agencies. YDCP also faced considerable barriers, such as capturing high level support, maintaining agency participation, and involving youth members. Among its key lessons is the need for a common framework to enlist support for youth development and the value of integrating youth development principles into administrative practices and technology.
Project Summary

Due to the sensitive nature of this report, only a project summary is provided.

The MASSCAP Information Technology Access Initiative: A Process Assessment (January 2003)