Issue 18: November 2008

Featured Article: IG Gives Thanks
by Leah Goldstein Moses

Thank you all! At this time of year we want to stop and thank the great clients we had the privilege to work with in 2008. These are the top five reasons we loved our work in the last year:

1. Creativity. In 2008, we got to work with people who wanted to try new ways to answer their questions. We developed the new Image Grouping Method of Evaluation© in collaboration with City House to help adults with a wide range of literacy define, document and share the changes they’ve made with the help of the program. In other client projects, we used video, story telling, illustration, and talking circles to engage people in demonstrating outcomes.
2. Working with passionate people. What do the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Chicago Opera Theater, Immigrant Law Center, Girl Scouts USA and Hispanic Scholarship Fund have in common? Like all of the 30 organizations we worked with in the last year, they have staff and volunteers who are passionate about making a difference in the world. When they came to the Improve Group for help with evaluation or strategic planning, they did so to become even more effective in their work and have a greater impact on the compelling issues that they care about.
3. Learning new things. Some of the things that we learned this year were exciting, others downright startling. For example, we learned from Lutheran Social Services that the waiting list for a subsidized housing voucher in some communities is more than five years; families often end up trying many different programs in the interim in order to meet their needs (a “housing first” philosophy is gathering momentumto address this issue). Another issue that sparked our interest over the last year thanks to the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota was mentoring; researchers have identified capable, caring and committed adults as one of the key elements contributing to positive youth development—as demonstrated in several youth testimonies compiled by Mentor.
4. Contributing to our community. The most exciting part of our work is seeing our clients take the ideas we develop together and put them into action. The Austin Public Schools strategic plan is guiding everything from assessment to curriculum to staff development. After growing from just a dozen units to 44 permanent supportive housing units, New Foundations will use our evaluation results to create a more structured program design that is still responsive to the varying needs of its families.
5. Collaborating. How do you administer 15,000 surveys? With a LOT of help! Our work with Suburban Ramsey Family Collaborative (SRFC) is one very large scale example of the relationships with our clients that we rely on to gather data, analyze results, and share successes and challenges. We are very fortunate that many of our clients are themselves exemplars of collaboration, from the dozens of districts and agencies that make up SRFC, to the three state agencies that make up the base of the 20-year partnership in South Carolina’s Arts in Basic Curriculum.

Theokas, C., & Lerner, R. M. (2006). Promoting positive development in adolescence:The role of ecological assets in families, schools, and neighborhoods. Applied Developmental Science, 10(2), 61-74.

Upcoming Grants and Requests for Proposals
by Susan Murphy

It is November, the month where we celebrate giving. The Improve Group is pleased to have this opportunity to expand our once-a-week Grant Gazing notices from our blog. It was hard to pick just a few grants to highlight this month. If you have any questions regarding theses notices or need an evaluation partner for a project you are pursuing, please call the improve group at 1-877-467-7847.

• The National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest have partnered with The Institute of Museum and Library Services to fund The Big Read. This initiative will grant nonprofits between $2,500 to $20,000 to conduct month-long, community-wide reads between September 2009 and June 2010. Grant recipients will also receive support to “attend an orientation meeting, educational and promotional materials, an Organizer's Guide for developing and managing Big Read activities and inclusion of the organization and activities on the Big Read Web site.” Deadline to apply is February 3, 2009. More details can be found here.
• Arts Connect All is a program of VSA Arts and the MetLife Foundation which helps to create inclusion and access in the arts for students with disabilities by helping “to encourage arts organizations to create or enhance multi-session, inclusive education programs by strengthening partnerships with local public schools.”  Nonprofit 501(c)(3) performing and/or exhibiting arts organizations are eligible to apply if are located in and partnering with school systems in select metropolitan areas.  Application packets are due by Friday, Dec. 12, 2008.  Ten grants of up to $15,000 will be awarded.
• The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation is offering help with “bricks and mortar” needs through their once-a-year capital funding grants. The application process begins with a Letter of Inquiry which must arrive at the Foundation by Jan. 8, 2009. Applicants are encouraged to contact foundation staff to discuss their project before submitting. If invited to apply, full proposals will be accepted by Feb. 15th. Grants range from $25,000 to $100,000.