News & Info
Introducing Our New Model: Innovating for Optimal Social Impact
We're proud to launch a five-point model called Innovating for Optimal Social Impact, which enables Community Science to work with organizations where change management is an ongoing process and finding solutions for complex social problems is an urgent mission.
Continue ReadingIn Print: Strategic Factors for Building Community
The Five C's: Community, Connections, Control, Cash, & Collective Action
First published in 2006, this Community Science publication continues to resonate with capacity building practitioners today. The Austin, TX chapter of the Community Associations Institute highlighted the article on the cover of its Q2 journal.
Continue ReadingNew Employee Spotlight x2!
We're proud to welcome Senior Associate Joy Amulya, Ed.D. and Associate Zachary R. Miller, MPA, to the Community Science team! We look forward to their contributions and impact.
Continue ReadingOut And About: CS in the Community
Establishing a Framework for a Research Agenda, sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
The purpose of the meeting was to construct a framework for research and evaluation regarding collaborations in early care and education.
Dr. Chavis was invited to speak at the session entitled Defining and Measuring State-Level Collaboration in recognition of his research and evaluation work in this area.
Kien Lee Appointed to Statewide Commission on the Impact of Immigrants
Principal Associate Kien Lee was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley to be part of a member Commission to Study the Impact of Immigrants in Maryland, including a study of the demographic profile, and the economic and fiscal impacts of immigration. The appointment is recognition of Lee’s work on immigrant integration for Community Science clients throughout the years. Continue to check back for periodic updates on the Commission.
Continue ReadingNEW CLIENT: The Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Community Science to evaluate effectiveness of Parents: You Matter! for this nationally known organization
Community Science was recently hired for a 10-month engagement with The Partnership for a Drug-Free America to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the Partnership's "Parents: You Matter!" program -- a community education presentation designed to educate parents of 12- to 17-year-olds about adolescent substance abuse, as well as provide tools and resources to prevent it. For more information on this program, click here.
What Does Our Community's Growing Diversity Have To Do With Evaluation?
Like many areas of the country, Colorado's racial and ethnic populations have grown more diverse, particularly through an increase in immigrants and refugees. The Colorado Trust wanted to ensure that its grant making and evaluations continue to evolve to better serve people of myriad cultures. With that goal in mind, they engaged Community Science to help deepen their understanding about what it takes to do a cross-culturally competent evaluation.
Continue ReadingMaking a Difference: Community Science Pitches in to Help a Local Family
On March 23rd, 13 members of the Community Science team pitched in with Habitat for Humanity to give a local Maryland family a new start -- and a new home.
Principal Associate Ricardo Millett Speaks at the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute's 2010 Conference
In March, Principal Associate Ricardo Millett delivered the Mary E. Corcoran Endowed Lecture at the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute 2010 conference, "If Social Betterment Is the Goal, Are Evaluators Leading the Way?" Click below to read what Dr. Millett had to say.
The Role of Evaluation in Foundations and the Quest for EffectivenessTeam Players: LaKeesha N. Woods, Ph.D.
As passionate about practice as she is about research, Dr. Woods is focused on cultural influences on the development and functioning of youth and families of color; and culturally congruent preventive interventions for youth placed at risk. Currently serving on the evaluation team for the The Colorado Trust's Equality in Health Initiative and as co-project director for both Nassau County Family Support System of Care, and The Partnership for a Drug-Free America Parents:You Matter!, Dr. Woods' contributions to the team and the community are seen first-hand on a daily basis. Click here for her resume.
How can evaluation improve community and other systems change initiatives?
At last November's American Evaluation Association (AEA) meeting, Community Science's David Chavis participated in an invited session on the evaluation of community change initiatives (CCI’s) within their context. He reported on a Community Science study that reviewed 11 CCI’s to identify factors related to scale, scope and sustainability. He also addressed the changing landscape of evaluation. A post-session discussion sheds light on how the work of community change will evolve in 2010 and beyond.
Continue ReadingPublications
The Importance of Culture in Evaluation
The Importance of Culture in Evaluation, a publication funded by The Colorado Trust, provides insights to help guide the complex dynamics between evaluators, funders and stakeholders of different cultures. The report provides examples of where cross-cultural competency is critical in evaluation and recommends questions and strategies that an evaluator should consider when practicing this form of cultural competency.
To order additional copies of this report, click here.
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Scope, Scale, and Sustainability: What It Takes to Create Lasting Community Change
How can we address complex social problems in communities and make an impact on a larger scale? By changing institutions' policies and practices, and developing new strategies that address root causes of social problems. Community Science' David M. Chavis, Ph.D. and Tina R. Trent, M.A., (now with NeighborWorks America) co-authored Scope, Scale, and Sustainability: What It Takes to Create Lasting Community Change, published in the inaugural issue of The Foundation Review.
In the study, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, eleven completed community change initiatives (CCI) were analyzed to better understand what had been learned from these initiatives about how to reach the scope, scale, and sustainability needed to achieve lasting community change.
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Strategic Factors for Building Community: The Five C’s Community, Connections, Control, Cash, & Collective Action
This brief report describes the strategic factors for stimulating community -wide health and well-being. It illustrates how each of the Five C’s “can be put together to develop an effective, broad-reaching, and sustainable community development strategy”.
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Safe Start- Principles for Engaging and Retaining Families in Services
This report was developed by Community Science for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for the Safe Start Initiative. It describes the promising principles for engaging and retaining families in non-mandated services.
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About Community Science 
Since 1997, Community Science has provided an integrated approach to building the capacity of organizations and institutions, helping to develop healthy, just and equitable communities. Our greatest strength is the study of community and system change. From day one, our objective has been simple: to develop the knowledge necessary to address social problems in a way that benefits all communities. We answer evaluation and research questions using state-of-the-art qualitative and quantitative methods. Our services include research and evaluation services, capacity-building products and services, and initiative management and support.