A9 - Program Design and Implementation: The Right Idea - Making it Work - PART 1

This workshop is intended to inspire providers and researchers to consider practical and innovative ways to partner. It features two initiatives that were developed by community programs and child welfare agencies and strengthened by the evaluation and technical assistance efforts of research partners. The two collaborations, including program representatives and their research partners, will present initiatives that address the well-being of children and families. Workshop participants will hear about the specific programs, how collaborations started and grew over time, challenges faced, opportunities created, innovations made, and progress achieved, including grant funding, program improvements, and child and family outcomes. The collaborations will present their own experiences and engage participants in discussion, providing suggestions and feedback about potential contributions of emerging programs, how outcomes can best be considered and measured, workforce implications, etc. The workshop is designed to encourage additional practice to research partnerships in support of evidence based programs and services in child welfare.

The two projects to be highlighted grew out of quality community programs that benefited from the support of researchers:1) A supportive housing child welfare initiative. The Intensive Supportive Housing for Families Program (Connecticut Department of Children and Families, The Connection, Inc., and University of Connecticut) is a recent recipient of a major federal grant intended to reduce foster care placement, reduce length of stay, improve access to evidence-based interventions, and improve child and family well-being; and 2) A client-centric approach. FourOaks’ TotalChild project (The Bridgespan Group, Four Oaks Family and Children’s Services, and University of Iowa) is designed to help vulnerable youth achieve success as adults, by focusing on all the barriers that a child may face in the short-term. The intended impact and theory of change, along with the independent evaluation, are supporting a complex human service organization’s transformation (its systems, workforce, and way of dealing with clients, communities, funders and other stakeholders) - to be accountable for long-term results.

Presenters: Vivian Tseng, William T. Grant Foundation, New York, NY; Alex Neuhoff, Partner, The Bridgespan Group, New York, NY; Miriam Landsman, National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice, University of Iowa School of Social Work, Iowa City, IA; and Anne Gruenewald, Four Oaks, Cedar Rapids, IA