1. Success For Geneva’s Children Impact Study Danielle Shaw
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
BACKGROUND
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
The purpose of Success for Geneva’s Children is to mobilize the Geneva community to improve the health and well being of children (birth to 12 years) and their families. Success seeks to build effective interventions and supports for children and families knowing that such things have profound and long lasting beneficial impacts on the individual child, his/her family and the community. Our organization, which began in 1997, grew out of the Head Start Strategic Planning process.
Success has served as a catalyst for improving the quality of life for children in Geneva by providing several unique services to the community: 1) the production of a biennial Data Report to assess and track the wellbeing of children and their families in Geneva, 2) a series of in-depth Reports examining key findings identified by the Data Report, with recommendations to address the need, and 3) annual Leadership Breakfasts to highlight the reports and successes of each previous year and raise awareness among elected officials and community leaders on the needs of children and families (Success For Geneva’s Children 2009).
Materials:
To answer the proposed research question, a survey with the following questions was created on Surveyor.
Questions:
1)Title and brief description of grant request(s) from where Success for Geneva's Children Data Report information was used to support your application(s):
2) Dollar amount(s) of the grant(s) received from where Success for Geneva's Children Data Report information was used to support your application(s):
3) Number of children served by grant(s):
4) How else have Success for Geneva’s Children Data Reports been of use for your organization
5) How else can Success for Geneva’s Children be helpful to your organization
Method:
To gain responses to the survey, a letter was drafted which included the purpose of the survey, example questions, contact information in case of questions, and a link to the survey. The letter was initially sent by mail to organizations on Success For Geneva’s Children’s member sheet in early October. In early November, an of the letter was sent out to the organizations on Success for Geneva’s Children’s member sheet.
Once all the information was gathered, an excel spread sheet was made containing the information to the survey questions for each respondent.
Success for Geneva’s Children Ten Goals (revised 2006)
1) Children are born healthy.
2) Children have timely and appropriate preventive and primary health care
3) Families and caregivers have sufficient economic resources to meet their children’s basic needs.
4) Children have safe, stable, and nurturing environments in their homes, in the community, and in school.
5) Families and caregivers possess and practice child-rearing skills that promote optimal child development.
6) Children with special needs receive timely and appropriate services.
7) Children have the opportunity to attend quality early childhood and care programs.
8) Children attend quality schools and succeed.
9) The community and schools respect and foster diversity.
10) Families exercise their voices and their votes in strengthening the Geneva community.
(Success For Geneva’s Children 2009)
How else have Success for Geneva’s Children Data Reports been of use for your organization?
-Defending the need for current program in operation when speaking to legislatures, local and government funders
-Determining future programming direction
-Applying for grants to assure faculty positions
-Helping to create and promote obesity prevention and fitness programming
-Helping decide which aspect of teen pregnancy to focus energy on – example: prenatal care
-Beneficial for new faculty and or staff for integration in courses or projects
-Helps make fully informed decisions
-Helpful when looking for how to partner with the other organizations
-Helpful in annual reports and documents for National Accreditation
PURPOSE AND HYPOTHESIS
CONCLUSIONS
Research Question:
How has Success’s data from the most recent Data Report directly or indirectly attributable to Geneva organizations grant-seeking activities and internal planning from
Hypothesis:
More than eight organizations have used Success’s data directly or indirectly for grant-seeking activities and or internal planning from , obtaining over $3,852,773 in grant money and serving 3,483 children.
Once compiling the information, it was found that five organizations used Success’s data directly or indirectly for grant-seeking activities and or internal planning from , obtaining over $6,914,083 in grant money and serving 3,366 children.
In conclusion, while three less organizations responded to the survey, in comparison to when similar information was gathered in 2008, these five organizations obtained about twice as much money ($3,061,310 more) as the other eight organizations yet served less children (117 less).
Less organizations might have responded to the survey as a result of the length of the survey and or not knowing whether it was appropriate for them to fill out the survey. While less organizations responded, more money might have been obtained because there was a different respondent from the Geneva City School District, where a large portion of the grant money came from. Less children might have been served because of the fewer respondents, and the fact that it is hard to accurately count the amount of children served.
How else can Success for Geneva’s Children be helpful to your organization?
-By continuing to provide concrete, reliable data regarding Geneva
-Providing statistics on educational attainment of teen mothers
-Providing a comprehensive list of participating non-profits and other organizations who are working to improve the education received by Geneva students.
Success For Geneva’s Children Data Report. Retrieved from