Study Evaluation

IDENTIFYING A CHOSEN ISSUE AND IT’S BACKGROUND 7

Identifying a Chosen Issue and Its Background

Ashley Cook

HMSV8110 Capella University

Unit 5 Assignment 1

Professor Cheryl Holm-Hansen

Introduction

The Haven is a local non-profit agency located in Valdosta, Georgia. The agency provides emergency temporary shelter and services to victims of family violence and sexual assault. In December of 1985 two women form the Levi-Strauss Foundation approached the senior advocate at the Victim –Witness Assistance Program in the District Attorney’s office and offered to help fund a program which was to include a temporary emergency shelter for victims of domestic violence. On July 18th, 1988 the Haven officially opened as a non-profit incorporation. The Battered Women’s Shelter, which serves victims of family violence, and the Rape Crisis Center, which serves victims of sexual assault. Both programs have a 24-hour toll-free crisis line, staffed by trained personnel, that is available to anyone wishing to utilize the emergency facilities or the outreach program. The program serves nine counties in South Georgia.

Mission

It is the goal at The Haven to provide victims with the necessary information, resources, protected head start and supportive follow-up to transition out of a violent lifestyle and into successful independent living. The Haven aims to provide for the immediate primary needs of family violence and sexual assault clients, including food, clothing, legal advocacy, mental health assistance, and referral for medical care. The Haven interfaces with local, state, and national resources, provides transitional assistance along with the re-education of the victim and family in order to promote a non-violent lifestyle, and educates all aspects of the local community regarding family violence and sexual assault. (The Haven, 2020)

Analysis of the problem

The Lowndes County community is a diverse community with a large Hispanic population that struggles with high levels of poverty, low graduation rates, high dropout rates, high rates of teen pregnancy, food insecurities, economic constraints, affordable housing and a severe need for childcare just to name a few. After a thoroughly review and interview with several people throughout the community, it became clear that Lowndes County was in desperate need of several different programs to help improve the conditions of the community. This would only be possible with a program design, such as the Haven. Program design is a very important aspect of any organization set out to plan or development a program. Program designing is a collaborative effort from several different stakeholders in the organization. All aspects working together to repeat, review and redefine a program until every consistently believes it is well enough to achieve its purpose. Designing programs and services for effectiveness involves collection of the kinds of data that will support responsiveness to funding source mandates for accountability and at the same time will allow program evaluators to determine whether the programs are getting the desired results (Calley, 2011). I will conduct my research bias over only one of the issues in Lowndes County and that’s affordable housing for low income families.

The Lowndes County Community is located in the southern region of Georgia with a population of approximately 115,000 people. The County seat is Valdosta Georgia, which is a neighbourhood that is listed as one of the poorest cities in Georgia. The poverty rate is 32.2% coming in at the highest. This means that one out of every 3.1 residents of Valdosta live in poverty. Because of the many socioeconomic issues residents of Valdosta aren’t able to focus on their basic needs, which in return causes a huge case load for shelters like The Haven. As previously stated The Haven only services family violence and sexual assault. Valdosta is in dire need of an expansion of services. Because of the many income crisis the community face The Haven needs to widen its umbrella to service those who are in need of affordable housing without the need for domestic violence or sexual assault being in the equation. People work toward a collective vision that clarifies the nature of the problems that have brought them together, they gain a greater understanding of the complexities of the situation in which they are enmeshed. They also gain a more holistic understanding of the multitude of factors within which problems are embedded and realize the need to formulate increasingly sophisticated plans to resolve them (Stinger, E.T. 2013).

Analysing the Data

We’ve conducted a thorough review of the current Haven program in the Valdosta and Lowndes Community and plan to make the necessary adjustment to better support the community needs.

There are numerous methods that may be used to evaluate a clinical program and/or the clinical interventions that compose a clinical program. These include; randomized studies with random assignment of clients to either a treatment or control group, quasi-experimental study without random assignment of clients to either treatment or control; follow-up or cohort study- following an entire group of clients over a specified period of time; qualitative studies with statistical analyses; post-test studies; focus group, interview, or survey studies that draw from client self-report; and qualitative studies without statistical analyses (Calley, 2011).

The data that will be used to analyze the community needs of the community will come directly from the public assistance office and Lowndes County. The data is generate when clients apply for food stamps, temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), and housing, childcare or medical insurance such as Medicaid. Client applications are completed online at gagateway.gov and highlights all of the above needs before the client is able to process the application. Each month the data is generated and divided out among case workers throughout the county and other surrounding counties. It is at this point when caseworkers connect the clients to agencies such as the Haven for necessary support.

Data Collection and Analysis

An effective action research process therefore requires participants to work through the first cycle of investigation by exploring and examining the ways stake holding groups describe or interpret the problem as initially framed. Only then can a research project frame questions that provide sufficient direction to an investigation that enables it to accomplish an effective outcome. The primary objective of the Look phase of the process is to gather information that enables researchers to extend their understanding of the experience and perspective of stakeholders—those mainly affected by or having an influence on the issue investigated. The first cycle of an action research process is therefore qualitative, requiring researchers to gather information about participants’ experiences and perspectives and to define the problem or issue in terms that “make sense” in their own terms. We seek to understand participant experiences in order to work toward a viable solution in which people will invest their time and energies. Participants, especially primary stakeholders, are therefore consciously engaged in the process of describing the nature of the problem and gathering information (Stinger, E.T. 2013).

We’ve conducted a thorough review of the current Haven program in the Valdosta and Lowndes Community and plan to make the necessary adjustment to better support the community needs. There are numerous methods that may be used to evaluate a clinical program and/or the clinical interventions that compose a clinical program. These include; randomized studies with random assignment of clients to either a treatment or control group, quasi-experimental study without random assignment of clients to either treatment or control; follow-up or cohort study- following an entire group of clients over a specified period of time; qualitative studies with statistical analyses; post-test studies; focus group, interview, or survey studies that draw from client self-report; and qualitative studies without statistical analyses (Calley, 2011).

The data that will be used to analyze the community needs of the community will come directly from the public assistance office and Lowndes County. The data is generated when clients apply for food stamps, temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), and housing, childcare or medical insurance such as Medicaid. Client applications are completed online at gagateway.gov and highlights all of the above needs before the client is able to process the application. Each month the data is generated and divided out among case workers throughout the county and other surrounding counties. It is at this point when caseworkers connect the clients to agencies such as the Haven for necessary support. An effective action research process therefore requires participants to work through the first cycle of investigation by exploring and examining the ways stake holding groups describe or interpret the problem as initially framed. Only then can a research project frame questions that provide sufficient direction to an investigation that enables it to accomplish an effective outcome.

Methods

The methods I plan to use for the Haven to be able to better track the identified data is through a CRM software system. CRM software, can collect, track and access data without employees having to lift a finger. A CRM automatically pulls personal details about your constituents and organizes the information to give a complete record of the client relationship. All of this can be done through gateway database application process. Once clients fill out the application it will be sent over to ours through the CRM system to be analyzed. The CRM system will help ensure the data is consistent. A lack of consistency in data handling has been a huge issue for the Haven, It is critical to make sure that the entire organization is on the same page (www.keela.com, 2020)

Moreover, the CRM system will allow a regular review of the database on a regular. Accidents happen and any major loss of data could jeopardize the level of work the agency provides. The Haven has to be strategic with the way data is generated to ensure no discrimination methods are being included in the client pool. Some key elements to deciding how the data will be collected, it’s important to remember the following:

Who are the donors?

What are their interest?

How do they impact our organization?

Does the Haven the necessary resources in place to make the accommodations?

What is the best channel to reach them and to make our services known?

Data is more than numbers, data is crucial to becoming an effective data-driven organization. Accurate data is connected to expansions and growth projects to move the organization forward. Data shouldn’t be a foreign object to any non- profit organization as it should be used to enhance the line of work that is being done.

From an ethical prospective the gateway application does ask the donors ethnic background, sex, social security number and several other person attributes. From this perspective their will have to be parameters put into the CRM system to help ensure we are only pulling the data that is needed to service those clients in need.

CRM falls under document, records, and reports researcher. This type of research can obtain a great deal of significant information by reviewing documents and records. Documents and records may include memos, minutes, reports, policy statements, procedure statements, plans, evaluation reports, press accounts, public relations materials, information statements, and newsletters. Organizational literature from schools, hospitals, clinics, centers, churches, businesses, and so on may include client records, policies, plans, strategies, evaluations, reports, procedural manuals, curricula, public relations literature, informational literature, and so forth. These types of documents are often prolific, and researchers need to be selective, briefly scanning their contents to ascertain their relevance to the issue under investigation (Stinger, E.T. 2013).

Results

Throughout each of the communities, the increasing cost of land has resulted in an observable lack of housing for both low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The feasibility of incentive programs as well as human services programs should be investigated to encourage developers to provide housing for a mixture of income levels and for human service agencies to broaden their service market. Additionally, development regulations should be reviewed for impediments to workforce and affordable housing.

Data has shown that more clients need services from the Haven, but based on their requirements those clients do not qualify for the services. This reason alone is why I am seeking for the Haven to branch out and broaden the service market. 25%~35% of those clients never receive service while only 15% of those clients go elsewhere for services if available (The Haven, 2020).

Conclusion

Very few action research contexts provide the means to incorporate the necessary research design that would enable a practitioner to rigorously test a hypothesis or to generalize the results outside of the research contexts. Therefore, it’s very important to be able to ensure research methods are clearly defined and understood. The Valdosta and Lowndes County Community is in desperate need of a successful human services program that services all of those in need versus just a small group of people. Diversity refers to working with individuals who are different from us (Calley, 2011). With diversity comes different cultures and being able to understand and respect the differences. Being culturally aware and implementing, the awareness of diversity and cultural competence into all programs for human services is major. Valdosta and Lowndes County has a great demand for several service needs, but the resources are limited. The planning process is detrimental to program development as a whole. Simply put it’s apparent that certain needs cannot be measured adequately by selecting only what can be seen from the surface. However it’s very imperative to really asses the entire situation to understand the full picture. With each need perspective being so limited and only providing only one facet of the phenomenon, it important to understand why a serious exploration should be done to take into consideration all four dimensions of every need perspective (Kettner, 2017).

References (2017). In P. M. Kettner, R. Moronery, & M. L. Lawrence, Designing and Managing Programs An Effectiveness-Based Approach . Sage Publications. (2020, Feburary 19). Retrieved from www.keela.com: http://www.keela.com/blog/non-profit-resources/data-analytics-for-nonprofits (2017). ABE and ASE Programs. U.S. Departement of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (2017). About ED. (2019, 11 23). Retrieved from U.S. Department of Education : http:www2.ed.gov Crary-Ross, E. Z. (2014). Beyond the GED: Promising Models for Moving High School Dropouts to College. Building Knowledge to Improve Social Policy , 126. Murnane, L. a. (2004). Econominc Policy Institute. Robert Half Internaitional (2013). The Haven. (2020, January 28). Retrieved from Valdostahaven.org: http://www.valdostahaven.org/our-mission

Stringer, E. T. (2013). Action Research. [Capella]. Retrieved from https://capella.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781483320731/

Clients need and Service Providers

Sales

[VALUE]% The Haven Salvation Army LAMP DFCS Not Serviced 42 19.3 19.3 42 38