Research & Evaluation
WHEDco is a leader in analyzing and sharing the impact of our initiatives, and adjusting program content for maximum impact. The Research & Evaluation Department investigates program processes and outcomes in order to share findings with our funders, our board and our community members as well as to provide feedback to our program directors.
The Department’s primary responsibilities are: developing research or evaluation questions, managing data (gathering, organizing and cleaning data), analyzing data and sharing findings in the form of presentations and reports. The Department also will conduct periodic community needs assessments in order to discover potential new avenues for programming and keep abreast of needs for new client populations.
WHEDco’s Department of Research and Evaluation recently published The Home-based Childcare Microenterprise Network Report in May of this year. The study found that the Home-based Childcare Microenterprise Network operated by WHEDco is a proven, cost-effective business development model that helps women with difficult prospects for finding traditional employment to support their families through home-based microenterprises.
Established 13 years ago, the program:
* Enables women to generate sustainable earnings by becoming successful entrepreneurs;
* Provides quality childcare in a home-based setting tailored to family needs; and,
* Creates greater accountability and monitoring for the health and safety of children.
Through training, tax and licensing assistance, professional support and other resources, WHEDco’s program helps women with little formal academic preparation to build their skills and gain a foothold in the job market.
- To read the full report click here!
Publications:
South Bronx Community Fitness Assessment Report
Key Finding Youth Winter 2008
Report Brief Youth Winter 2008
Evaluation Report Youth Winter 2008
Ongoing and future projects:
Family Support program evaluation
Intervale Green Community Needs Assessment
Head Start Early Childhood Discovery Center program evaluation
Selected findings:
Urban Horizons Retrofit
- WHEDco has completed a professional energy audit and our efforts are already paying off: WHEDco’s energy efficiency measures have cut tenants’ electricity usage by 12.9% in the last year; Urban Horizons’ 335 tenants’ electricity bills decreased 6.1% last spring while citywide residential electric bills increased 8.2% during the same time period.
Family Support Services
- From January 1 to May 31 of this year, a total of 70 clients received services through intensive case management. Furthermore, at Urban Horizons, 99% of clients (68 of 69) who initiated short term goals, 72% of clients who initiated intermediate term goals and 100% of clients who initiated long term goals within the period 1/1/09 through 5/31/09 completed them on time.
- From March 2008 to February 2009: 486 people enrolled in Single Stop, a program which offers free and individualized counseling about public benefits, legal issues, financial decisions and family services. WHEDco staff helped clients receive over $1.5 million in cash and non-cash benefits.
- Our food pantry lines are the longest we have seen since it opened three years ago and the number of seniors seeking emergency food has doubled due to cuts in federal and state programs for the elderly. The number of people served by the Food Pantry has increased from 573 in January, to 752 in April.
Education & Youth Development
- During the 2008-09 school year, our youth programs served nearly 950 students. Project STEP, a program for middle school-ers that focuses on issues of social justice and academic excellence, expanded to include all of the 6th - 8th graders at PS/MS 218.
- Last year at PS/MS 218, 98% of the students attended the program at least 60% of the time and the total participation rate was 92%.
- Over 60% of the students last year had been attending the program for at least 3 years, 12% for at least 7 years.
- 100% of the parents at both PS/MS 218 and PS 2/PS 63 would recommend the program as a safe place for their children.
- 71% of students in Project STEP were admitted into high-performing high schools, compared to only 48% of students not in the program.
Head Start Early Childhood Discovery Center
- Over the past five years, 467 enrolled children originated from 25 countries and spoke 14 distinct languages; since 2004, 97% of children return for a second year. As of May 2009, 405 children were on the waiting list.
