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Session Title: Examination of the Role of Evaluation in Denver's Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness: A Review of Evaluation on Policy and Practice
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Panel Session 709 to be held in Room 104 in the Convention Center on Friday, Nov 7, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Human Services Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Katie Page,
OMNI Institute,
kpage@omni.org
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| Abstract:
When the Mayor of Denver adopted the issue of homelessness, accountability and evaluation emerged as a priority. No one predicted how evaluation results would dramatically influence policies and practices at every level, from government contracting to the use of data at local non-profits. This session will explore three different perspectives of evaluation's impact on policy and practices as they relate to the Denver's homelessness initiative. The panel will discuss how Denver addressed these questions and how government, evaluation, and non-profit practices were impacted. As evaluators are included in shaping the way that cities address social problems, issues of neutrality, research rigor, ethics, and data collection and analysis techniques must be carefully examined. Participants will hear about the experience of this effort and engage in honest discussion on the challenges faced by cities focused on systemic social problems, ways to address these problems and how this impacts the field of evaluation.
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Government Perspective and Lessons Learned from Incorporating Evaluation in a Major City Wide Initiative
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| Jamie Van Leeuwen,
Denver Human Services,
jamie.vanleeuwen@denvergov.org
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Jamie Van Leeuwen, who leads up Denver's Road Home, the Mayor's Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness will present his experience and lessons learned about building an aggressive evaluation plan into a major city wide initiative. Dr. Van Leeuwen will discuss the development of a community-led planning process involving members from the public, private and nonprofit sectors as well as formerly homeless individuals to provide advice and consult. Through measurable goals, objectives and outcomes, the evaluation was intended to ensure accountability of funding but ultimately provided this and a means to improve government infrastructure, build evaluation capacity and strengthen relationships to critical stakeholders.
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Evaluators Perspective and Lessons Learned From Incorporating Evaluation in a Major City Wide Initiative
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| Katie Page,
OMNI Institute,
kpage@omni.org
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OMNI Institute was selected to be the evaluator for Denver's Road Home, 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness initiative. Katie Page, the evaluation project lead will present on the implementation of the evaluation plan, focusing on how evaluation activities surfaced the need to change current policy and practices in government, in local services agencies, and within the evaluation design in order to provide meaningful evaluation. Importantly, this involved the coordination between various stakeholders and partners, as well as a community wide commitment to standardized systemic evaluation tools and methodology. Ms. Page will discuss how this work surfaced issues of neutrality, research rigor, ethics, and data collection and analysis techniques and how Denver responded to these issues.
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Local Agency Perspective and Outcomes of a Detoxification Program Targeting Homeless Individuals
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| Mark Wright,
Denver Cares,
mark.wright@dhha.org
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Mark Wright, Director of Denver C.A.R.E.S. will present on the evaluation findings of his Denver's Road Home project. Denver C.A.R.E.S. became Colorado's first public addiction treatment and Detoxification program in 1975 and has been providing a safe Detoxification for public inebriates for over 30 years. Over 67% of the 23,000 admissions to Denver C.A.R.E.S. reported being homeless. In support of Denver 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, Denver C.A.R.E.S. began to work with various organizations to add 48 residential treatment slots and 50 housing vouchers aimed at reducing the overall Detox admissions of homeless clients. At the end of 2007 a total of 109 clients passed the one-year mark following their enrollment into substance abuse treatment. Detox admissions of these clients totaled 4,439 in the year prior to entering treatment. The overall admissions during the year after their enrollment totaled 1181, representing a 3,258 decrease in admissions or a 73% reduction.
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