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Commitment to and use of evaluation and evidence – for program design, community needs assessments, implementation, continuous improvement, or evaluation – varies widely.

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Commitment to and use of evaluation and evidence – for program design, community needs assessments, implementation, continuous improvement, or evaluation – varies widely.

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Some but not all programs have been independently evaluated and some but not all have required local evaluations of participating sites.

Some programs have required (and supported) grantees to collect data and use existing evidence to assess needs, develop action plans, set targets, monitor progress, or make mid-course corrections.

However, these programs generally did not define desired outcomes or metrics from the outset, and data collection has focused more on process measures than on results.

Grantees often lack capacity to collect and use data effectively and may need technical assistance to do so.

Few programs have effectively engaged community members in the collection, interpretation, or application of data.

Many conventional metrics and analytic tools may not effectively prioritize racial equity.

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From a Promise Neighborhood perspective, it's important to align systems that work together. A cradle to career approach is effective, focusing on transition points, and being thoughtful about that. Important to create support streams for each transition.

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Construction of infrastructure (people across systems, and all levels) to support the transitions. This cuts across all our observations on use of evidence, community engagement.

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Establishing process measures, not just outcome measures. Good to track extent support infrastructure is built. It's a way to track maturity in activities. Ensuring you're using continuous improvement and data . systems indicators outside of the primary domain for a specific program

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Federal government is used to collecting data on process measures, than on outcomes. But they don't define values/principles that link process measures to key outcomes. Making sure you're not reinforcing power dynamics that marginalize groups.

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Not a lot of intentionality around defining outcomes. By not defining outcomes at the outset, we focus on output rather than community outcomes. For example, it is easier to talk about jobs created rather than measuring impact on wealth and well being and quality of those jobs. For example, look at job creation, but also look at job quality.

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Building capacity of local people and institutions to use evidence and data as a way to drive process of change you're looking for  - but this is not well invested in. E.g. Casey foundation's training - how do you help leaders use data in a way that drives conversation and change. It's a skill we don't spend a lot of time helping local people do.

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Failure to optimize investment. On negative scale, you may reinforce bad habits, power dynamics. Gives place-based programming a bad name, and hurts public support for them.

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Varying level of focus on implementation and outcomes. In Obama era, there was intentionality around these 6 observaitons. Federal government as the biggest battleship, but faces legislative constraints around pursuing innovation. Mixed level of achievement on the 6 areas.

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New administration will need seriousness around the 6 issues (but they're not the universe) - will require intentionality. Accountability - in every department and agency.

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Exec Order - where does responsibility lie? who at the agency is responsible? Who's waking up thinking about racial equity, building power etc? Without someone being focused on this exclusively - then attaining the outcome will be much more difficult.

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Need to think about implementation as well as politics.

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Other observations? When will you do it, time horizon, how to measure results. Are there clearly defined goals, measures, metrics?

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Recognize limits of presidential power. Think about politics, people, personalities.

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Higher Ed - links to economic mobility, innovation, civic infrastructure that is not only constructed but perpetually maintained. COVID has made this salient. Infrastructure at local level that's bought into a vision. Infrastructure allows you to focus on specific outcomes. Civic infrastructure as invisible AND necessary across predictors of mobility.

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People: important to make sure there's responsibility. Not just having it be 5% of someone's job, but having people be fully focused on these goals.