query: evaluating grassroots organizing
Discussion list for COMM-ORG
colist at comm-org.wisc.edu
Thu Jul 24 10:53:10 CDT 2008
[ed: thanks to Margo and Dan for replying to Dan's query.]
From: Margo Hittleman <mjh17 at cornell.edu>
Dan,
I recently completed a several-year action research project with the
staff at a multi-cultural community center in central New York State. We
set out to address a key funder's demands for "better logic models" in a
way that could be relevant to internal desires to strengthen
programming. Along the way, we ran into a variety of "barriers" -- not
just in organizational capacity, but in terms of how "accountability" is
defined, what is valued, etc.
In writing about the work we did, I point to a tension between two
different frameworks for understanding community-based work. Each frame
directs our attention to very different understandings of just what the
important "work" is, and has very different implications for evaluation,
accountability and program improvement.
Outcome measurement ("logic") models arise from the values, assumptions
and logics of one of those frames, but do a very poor job of capturing
the values, assumptions and logic of work seen through other conceptual
frames. In fact, such models marginalize important kinds of work that
many community staff see as "the essence" of what they do. In the
process, they advantage some organizations and further disadvantage others.
Staff in a variety of kinds of community organizations seem to find what
I describe relevant to the challenges they face in the current
"outcome-dominated" accountability environment.
So far, I have written about this research in 3 ways:
DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
"Counting Caring: Accountability, Performance and Learning at the
Greater Ithaca Activities Center" (2007). http://hdl.handle.net/1813/5050.
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR COMMUNITY PRACTITIONERS (27-pages)
"Counting Caring: Attending to the Human in an Age of Public Management"
(2008).
http://devsoc.cals.cornell.edu/cals/devsoc/outreach/cardi/publications/upload/counting-caring.pdf
ACADEMIC PAPER
"When Do We Stop Asking 'Why'?: Exploring the Possibilities and
Challenges of Collective Critical Reflection for Staff and
Organizational Development" In the Proceedings of the Adult Education
Research Conference (2007).
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/CASAE/cnf2007/Proceedings-2007/AERC%20CASAE%20Hittleman-2007.pdf
Finally, I have some current small projects going to develop approaches
that can help both community organizations and funders build an
evaluative capacity that draws upon a richer, more diverse understanding
of community-based "work" than outcome measurement alone allows.
I'm happy to chat more if you'd like.
Margo Hittleman, PhD
Coordinator, Natural Leaders Initiative
Ithaca, NY
(office) 607 272-2292
(email) mjh17 at cornell.edu
**********************************
From: "tutormentor1 at earthlink.net" <tutormentor1 at earthlink.net>
I encourage you to take a look at the Tutor/Mentor Connection's
Organizational History and Tracking System (OHATS) which is at
http://www.vattsystems.com/ohats/Home.aspx
It is intended to tract actions by staff and partners that lead to more
volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs serving high poverty neighborhoods of
Chicago. The goals this tracks are: a) collecting information, b)
increasing public awareness (number of people who look at the information);
c) increasing the flow of volunteers and dollars to volunteer-based
tutor/mentor programs in Chicago; d) facilitating understanding/training;
e)uses of technology; f) strategic events.
More than 1000 actions have been documented.
My organization is a small non profit. We operate a single tutor/mentor
program and created the T/MC to build infrastructure that would help us,
while helping all other tutor/mentor programs in the city.
We've been using this to document actions by staff and volunteers since
2000. The idea came from the Work Group on Health Promotion at the
University of Kansas. You can read some background at
http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/OHATS/Intro_OHATS.htm
The version you are looking at now is new, and just went live in the past
few months. It replaces an earlier version launched in 2000, which enabled
us to document, but did not have featured that enabled visitors to review
the tables to see the type of information you can see now. Because of the
weaknesses of the first version, you can see a drop in documentation
between 2003 and 2006 when we had to take the system off line due to spam
attacks. It's now back on line with interactive features and more security
controls. All of the work of building this new version was done by
volunteers.
If any of you are evaluators who are looking for a project to work with,
we'd like to have your help. The person who created this is focused more in
other areas now, and making sense of the data requires someone with
experience in evaluation.
If any of you want to look deeper into this email me and I can provide some
more info.
Dan Bassill
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Cabrini Connections
800 W. Huron
Chicago, Il. 60622
Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
> --------
> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
> --------
>
> [ed: thanks to Bill for the resource.]
>
> From:
> "Ward, William" <wward at health.usf.edu>
>
>
> A good friend of mine, Al Wolfe, created a system for tracking the types
> of interactions among non profit organizations which could be used to
> determine some aspects of community organizing:
>
> * Alvin Wolfe
> * Reviewed work(s): Research Methods in Social Network Analysis by
> Linton C. Freeman; Douglas R. White; A. Kimball Romney
>
> * American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 92, No. 3 (Sep., 1990),
> pp. 824-826 (review consists of 3 pages)
> * Published by: Blackwell Publishing
> <http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black> on
> behalf of the American Anthropological Association
> <http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=anthro>
> * Note: This article is a review of another work, such as a book,
> film, musical composition, etc. The original work is not included in the
> purchase of this review.
>
> Bill Ward
>
>
>
> Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
>
>> --------
>> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
>> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
>> --------
>>
>> [ed: thanks to Bob, Michelle, Corey, Kathy, and Matt for replying to
>> Dan's query.]
>>
>> From: "Robert O. Bothwell" <bob at bobbothwell.org>
>>
>>
>> Dan: You might want to review my work, Foundation Funding of Grassroots
>> Organizations, which might offer some insights from funders'
>> perceptions. See http://comm-org.wisc.edu/papers2001/bothwell.htm
>> Bob Bothwell
>>
>> *******************************
>>
>> From: Michelle Renee <mrenee at ucla.edu>
>>
>>
>> Hi Dan,
>>
>> I would check out the work of Research for Action
>> http://www.researchforaction.org. They are in your backyard and have
>> done some fantastic work in collaboration with community organizations.
>> Another good start is the recent report from the Annenberg Institute for
>> School Reform-- they developed very interesting indicators of the impact
>> of community organizing for education reform
>> http://www.annenberginstitute.org/CIP/ (it can be downloaded from the
>> left side of the page).
>>
>> Best,
>> Michelle Renee
>> Postdoctoral Fellow
>> UC All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity
>>
>> *******************************
>>
>> From: "Shdaimah, Corey" <CSHDAIMAH at ssw.umaryland.edu>
>>
>>
>> Hi Dan
>> This might may be a bit of a side issue, but one of the concerns coming
>> out of the push for accountability often involves the benefits and risks
>> of collaborations between academic researchers and grass roots
>> advocates. These collaborations are mandated sometimes by funders or
>> considered strategically important by advocacy groups. Grass roots
>> groups may not have existing capacity to do evaluations completely on
>> their own, and so may have to work with others who do. From the other
>> side, many academics (myself included) seek work that is relevant and
>> makes a difference out in the world and so are drawn to collaborative work.
>> I have written a couple of pieces on that with a colleague, Roland
>> Stahl, on a project that we did with the Women's Community
>> Revitalization Project in your neck of the woods (Philly).
>>
>> The one most that is most relevant for practice is:
>> Stahl, R., & Shdaimah, C.S., (2007) “Collaboration between community
>> advocates and academic researchers: Scientific advocacy or political
>> research” British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm069
>>
>> David Koppisch and Amy Hillier also did a piece on another
>> Philadelphia-based collaboration that addresses similar issues.
>> Hillier, A. and Koppisch, D. (2005) ‘Community activists and university
>> researchers collaborating
>> for affordable housing: Dual perspectives on the experience’, Journal of
>> Poverty, 9(4), pp. 27–48.
>>
>> While I can only hope that someone would consider our work seminal :) I
>> do believe that both of these articles might provide some reflection and
>> concrete advice that might be useful.
>>
>> Best
>> Corey
>>
>>
>>
>> Corey Shdaimah, LL.M., Ph.D.
>> Assistant Professor
>> Academic Coordinator, MSW/JD Dual Degree Program
>> School of Social Work
>> University of Maryland, Baltimore
>> 525 West Redwood Street
>> Baltimore, Maryland 21201
>> 410-706-7544
>>
>> *****************************************
>>
>> From: Kathy Partridge <interfaithfunders at yahoo.com>
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I want to let Dan and the list know that we at Interfaith Funders are
>> also interested in doing a thoughtful critique of the "outcomes based"
>> or "accountability based" or "logic model" of evaluation that seem to be
>> increasing in popularity amongst grantmakers. We are both concerned
>> that the model is not a fit for community organizing and want to present
>> that concern to our colleagues, but are also wanting to explore how
>> community organizations can better describe their work using the model.
>> Dan, I'd be very interested in staying in touch with you about your
>> research.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Kathy Partridge
>> Executive Director
>> Interfaith Funders
>> www.interfaithfunders.org
>> 2719 Denver Ave.
>> Longmont, CO 80503
>> Voice 720-494-9011
>> Fax 708-585-6434 Cell 303-594-6434
>>
>> ************************************
>>
>> From: matt oppenheim <oppenm at earthlink.net>
>>
>>
>> I AM ALSO EAGER TO GAIN NEW KNOWLEDGE IN THIS AREA, ESPECIALLY
>> UNDERSTANDING HOW PARENT AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IMPACTS ACADEMIC
>> ACHIEVEMENT. THERE IS A LARGE BODY OF WORK REGARDING THE IMPACTS OF
>> PARENT INVOLVEMENT ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT THAT WOULD BE RELEVANT TO
>> OTHER AREAS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING. FOR EXAMPLE, THERE ARE MANY STUDIES
>> OF LEADERSHIP AND ITS IMPACTS. GOOGLE "A NEW WAVE OF EVIDENCE; THE
>> IMPACTS OF SCHOOL FAMILY AND COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS ON ACADEMIC ACHEIVEMENT"
>>
>> KEEP US POSTED
>>
>>
>> Matt Oppenheim, MAA, PhDc
>> Family Involvement Coordinator
>> Albuquerque Public Schools
>>
>> Discussion list for COMM-ORG wrote:
>>
>>
>>> --------
>>> This is a COMM-ORG 'colist' message.
>>> All replies to this message come to COMM-ORG only.
>>> --------
>>>
>>> [ed: please feel welcomed to copy COMM-ORG with replies to Dan's query.]
>>>
>>> From: Dan Weinles <DWeinles at gpuac.org>
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I am trying to develop a research agenda that seeks to examine
>>> challenges to grass roots programming / organizations related to the
>>> growing level of accountability-based funding requirements they are
>>> facing. Specifically, I would like to detail the barriers that grass
>>> roots initiatives must overcome in order to gain capacity to effectively
>>> measure and evaluate the quality and the effects of what they do. The
>>> end goal would be to develop a set of concrete recommendations to assist
>>> grass roots organizations in developing evaluative capacity. I am new to
>>> this area of study and am not familiar with existing research. I was
>>> hoping that someone out there in the field might be able to direct me to
>>> any seminal work that has already been done or to the key search words
>>> or phrases that would be most effective for findings such a body of
>>> research. Randy Stoecker has already given me some food for thought,
>>> which I will pursue. I’d like to hear from as many people as have
>>> knowledge and experience in this area.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance for your guidance.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dan Weinles, PhD
>>>
>>> Senior Research Associate
>>>
>>> Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition
>>>
>>> 1207 Chestnut St., #622
>>>
>>> Philadelphia, PA 19107
>>>
>>> Office (215) 851-1986
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
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