In the last few weeks, a few of us around the office have been talking about changes we’d like to make in our lives… exercising more, eating healthier and managing stress more effectively. Before coming to the Improve Group, I worked as a Health Coach and helped people set realistic goals for themselves to make long-lasting changes in their health, from quitting smoking to losing weight. As New Year’s resolutions are on many of our minds this time of year, I’d like to give you a few quick tips for making changes.

Start small and build on your successes over time. Oftentimes, when we want to make a change, we try to do it all at once. We go from never exercising at all to trying to exercise 30 minutes a day, five times a week. That’s a big change and it takes a while to build up to that. We can get very discouraged if we don’t meet our goals and then give up entirely. Instead, I’ve found that people are more successful when they start small (exercise 15 minutes twice a week) and gradually build on those successes until they get to their ultimate goal (30 minutes of exercise five times a week).

Don’t make goals that require 100% performance. Even if you’d really like to eat healthy meals seven days a week, when you are first making a change, it’s important to give yourself some room for error. Aiming for five to six times a weeks means that you can slip up and still meet your goals.

Tell others of your goals. Having a buddy to check in with can be a huge motivator!

Set your goals based on your actions, not the outcome. When you control the action (healthy eating and/or exercises), that will eventually lead the to the desired outcome (weight loss, for example).

Best of luck in 2009 from Liz and all of us at the Improve Group!

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Once again the federal government is offering Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Program grants to school districts around the United States. This comprehensive grant brings local educational agencies (LEAs) an opportunity to implement an “integrated, comprehensive community-wide plan designed to create safe, respectful, and drug-free school environments and promote pro-social skills and healthy childhood development. Plans must focus activities, curricula, programs, and services in a manner that responds to the community's existing needs, gaps, or weaknesses.”

The Improve Group has extensive experience as an evaluator for Minnesota LEAs who have received the SS/HS grant. We have also assisted districts in writing the evaluation portion of their application. The following is al list of Minnesota schools districts that have all had SS/HS program evaluation collaborations with the Improve Group:

Climax-Shelly, Fisher, Greenbush Middle River, Norman County East, Norman County West, Oklee, Plummer, Red Lake Falls, Roseville, Spring Lake Park, Stephen-Argyle, Tri-County.

Plans submitted for this grant must address the 5 key elements:
1. Safe School Environments and Violence Prevention Activities.
2. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Prevention Activities.
3. Student Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Supports.
4. Mental Health Services.
5. Early Childhood Social and Emotional Learning Programs.

Applications are available January 5, 2009 and the deadline for submission is March 4, 2009. Applicants who have not yet received a SS/HS grant will be given priority. For more detailed information on SS/HS click here. To download application go to:
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html.

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By Leah

Greetings from my sabbatical! From Dec. 15-January 31, I am catching up on the mountain of "that looks interesting" reading that has been piling up on my desk for... years. My goal is to learn new approaches in planning, evaluation and research that our clients can benefit from.

Today I have been reading up on business strategies and reflecting on how these business strategies could be applied in the nonprofit and public sector. One article focused on scenarios as an alternative to forecasting. Because forecasts use previous trends to try to make predictions, they are very bad at accounting for major shifts or changes in the broader environment (which I'm sure anyone - including me - who has bought a house in the last four years can attest to...)

Scenarios use a number of factors in the current reality, and then think about what would happen if those factors were taken to greater or lesser extreme. For example, in our current reality, tax revenues, endowments and contributions are all down significantly. In the next several months, the declines may level off and we might see economic recovery as people look for buying opportunities, or the declines might continue worsening. A nonprofit or a public agency would then think about how to best position itself given those various scenarios. Does the nonprofit need to be prepared to take drastic measures? Does a public agency need to maintain as many programs as possible, potentially with some delayed spending?

Even before I started reading the article, I was listening to today's MPR Midmorning on Nonprofit Survival - and got to have the final comment of the hour! Essentially, the guests were trying to analyze where the "scenarios" were headed in the coming months. My comment was that I have observed nonprofits becoming increasingly savvy about evaluation over the last nine years, and feel they are better positioned in this downturn than in the past because they have valid, reliable and meaningful data with which to make decisions.

One of the benefits of sabbatical - not having to leave my house on this frigid day! Stay warm out there (you can ignore that part, California, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia and Florida friends!)

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I don’t think the following funding opportunity is going to need much explanation. Let’s just put this one in the category “preparing for a new year.”

This week’s pick: The FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) Investor Education Foundation has a grant program to assist non-profits and researchers who “engage at-risk audiences such as seniors and first-time investors by offering them access to unbiased information about the markets and fundamental financial issues.” Projects of particular interest may include:

• using behavioral finance to improve saving and investing
• meeting the financial and investor education needs of underserved audiences
• creating new marketing and distribution channels for financial and investor education
• helping Americans manage their finances and investments in retirement

There are no set minimum or maximum number of grants that will be awarded. Start applications by submitting a three-page project concept for review. Projects of interest will be notified to submit a full proposal. The FINRA Foundation will hold conference calls to answer general questions about grant opportunities. Register in advance for the Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2:00 p.m. (EST) or the Thursday, Jan. 8, 11:00 a.m. (EST) call sessions by sending an email to finrafoundation@finra.org. To learn more about this opportunity click here.

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The nonprofit Network of Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) recently released a report, From Volume to Value: Transforming Health Care Payment and Delivery Systems to Improve Quality and Reduce Costs, that urges reforms that could save billions of dollars and make expanding health insurance to the uninsured more affordable.

According to NRHI, the high cost of health care expenditures – estimated to $2.2 trillion in 2007- is due in large part because health care payment systems encourage volume-driven health care rather than value-driven health care. Under the current volume-driven payment systems, health care providers have strong incentives to provide more services to more individuals, but are financially discouraged to provide better services and improve health outcomes.

NRHI recommends that payments move towards a value-driven system, where insurers pay health care providers a single amount that covers all the services a patient needs instead of separate fees for each services. Additionally, insurers should move from a system that pays more to correct errors and preventable complications to a system that rewards health care providers for successful health outcomes. NRHI argues that such a system shifts responsibility to health care providers to increase quality and control costs.
The report also addressed the following health care issues:

• Encourage patients to use higher-quality, lower-cost doctors;
• Protect patients from service rationing (providing patients with a fixed amount of health care services, regardless of need); and
• Help health care providers change to new payment systems and lower-cost care.

The Improve Group staff has worked with multiple clients regarding public health issues regarding improving health care quality and access. As a small business, we also feel the need to look for the best health care coverage at the best cost for our own company and its employees. In these turbulent economic times, for an increasingly aging and socioeconomically diverse society, finding solutions in improving the quality and access health care are becoming increasingly important. Thus, there are many opportunities for evaluation, research and strategic planning to address these important issues.

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It has become more difficult over the years to have access to many of the grant opportunities that are out there. Foundations and other grant giving organizations have change or tightened their guidelines with the changing fiscal environments. The funder I am highlighting today has put forward a unique way to gather information from organizations from which they might be interested in soliciting applications.

This week’s pick: The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation works to help low income, young people, ages 9 to 24, by assisting them in becoming independent and productive adults. They are seeking nonprofit organizations that provide services to this targeted group and will grant funds that will help these organizations develop and sustain their programs and increase their outreach in serving youth. Since the foundation does not accept proposals they have posted a Youth Organizations Survey on their website. Nonprofits can fill in and submit the survey and, based on their responses, may be contacted by the Foundation for closer examination.

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Catherine Jordan, Executive Director of AchieveMpls with Dr. Leonard Sax

Thanks to AchieveMpls and their funding education partner Comcast I was fortunate to attend an afternoon session on factors leading to the current loss of ambition and resilience in today’s male youth. Our presenter was Leonard Sax, MD, PhD, a noted family physician and research psychologist and the author of author of the book "Boys Adrift: What's Really Behind the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys."

After speaking to parents and teachers through his years of practice, Dr. Sax repeatedly heard the message that the girls seemed to be more driven that the boys. Girls were also matriculating to college at a higher rate and graduating in bigger numbers. It led him to wonder what was happening with our boys.

Dr. Sax’s research came to focus on 5 factors he felt were affecting the culture of underachievement in boys and men:

1.) Changes in education in the last 30 years - Teaching practices that set boys up for failure
2.) Video games - Game pursuit causing boys to separate from the real world
3.) Medications - Prescribed drugs causing irrevocable damage
4.) Endorphin Disrupters - Chemicals found in everyday objects bringing harmful physical changes
5.) Decline/disintegration of the masculine ideal - Role models for manhood lacking authority & intelligence

As a mother of two boys, ages 12 and 8, I found the talk a bit unnerving and very helpful. The presentation gave a glimpse into what to look for in the schools and teachers that are educating my sons (teachers understanding of differences in how boys learn), along with enforcing parenting objectives that will help the boys grow in a healthier direction (ex: less video games, more physical action).

I would encourage parents to lake a look at the written works of Dr. Sax which include the well-received book, “Why Gender Matters - What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences."

If you would like to learn more, Dr. Sax has a very insightful blog: http://www.boysadrift.com/blog.php. On his blog he sites many articles and studies on the topic of gender in education.

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When I watch the news and read books and magazines I am reminded of the global picture and the need to be conscious of what is happening to my neighbors around the world. It is very easy for each of us to get tunnel vision when we consider how difficult things are financially here in the United States. However, we are still a very rich and blessed country compared to the long-standing suffering that goes on in other parts of the world. I was very pleased to discover the following foundation that strives to ease pain and bring basic needs to children around the world.

This week’s pick: The Dorthea Haus Foundation grants funds to non-profit organizations in all parts of the world “to aid and assist in providing the basic needs of food, shelter, health and education to children, and to relieve the suffering of children with mental and physical handicaps through medical research or other means.”

The average grant size in 2007 was around $17,000 and there is a rolling deadline to apply. A phone call to the foundation or letter of inquiry should proceed an application for funding. Programs that serve vulnerable children who are sick, handicapped, orphaned injured or disfigured will be given preference. For additional information please click here.

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