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TYPE OF PUBLICATION Reports Evaluation and Research Methods Capacity Building Guides

REPORTS

Promising Practices of Safe Start Demonstration Sites (February 2005)
This report was developed by ASDC for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) for the Safe Start Initiative. The report describes promising practices of the 11 Safe Start Demonstration Sites.

Safe Start- Principles for Engaging and Retaining Families in Services (February 2005)
This report was developed by ASDC 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.

Head Start Community Assessment (December 2003)
ASDC conducted a community assessment that examined how Head Start-eligible children are cared for while their parents work and/or go to school, the parents' view of their children's educational and social service needs, improving outreach and services to cultural diverse groups, and the feasibility of service delivery strategies that are currently under consideration to assist Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services in their commitment to continually deliver high quality services This report presents the results of the community assessment.

The Valuing Diversity Project: Final Report (October 2003)
The Valuing Diversity Project was sponsored by the American Psychological Association with funding support from the W.K.Kellogg Foundation. Its primary purpose was to enhance the capacity of professional psychology to assist communities address issues related to their growing racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity. This report summarizes the accomplishments and lessons learned. The findings reaffirmed the critical need for a process to help community organizations examine options for increasing and managing the value of diversity in their communities.

Embedding Prevention In State Policy and Practice, Year 2 (November 2002)
In 2001, the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) launched the Embedding Prevention in State Policy and Practice Initiative ("the Initiative"). The goal of the Initiative is "to create, within five years, self-supporting movements within selected states and their communities that promote and implement prevention as the policy of choice for reducing crime, violence, and drug abuse." To achieve this goal, NCPC provides funding and technical assistance to help six states embed the prevention of crime, violence, and substance abuse in state policy and practice. Each of the Initiative states-Arizona, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, and Oregon-have created an embedding team charged with leading the project at the state level. ASDC provided evaluation and capacity building services for the Initiative.
For more information about NCPC and to view the evaluation reports, go to the NCPC website.

Lessons Learned about Civic Participation among Immigrants (September 2002)
This document is based on information collected through the Civic Participation Initiative sponsored by the Washington Area Partnership for Immigrants (WAPI). The Association for the Study and Development of Community (ASDC) managed and facilitated the activities that were part of the Civic Participation Initiative.

Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations Program (July 2002)
This report describes the principles and tools used to guide the Community Foundations and organizations that participated in the Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations Program. Among them include a set of principles for intergroup projects and a framework for conceptualizing the developmental stages for intergroup relationship-building. The Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations Program, established in 1998, was funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Ford Foundation in collaboration with six Community Foundations. The program was built on the belief that bringing diverse groups of people together to pursue common objectives can result in healthier communities and improved racial and ethnic relations.

Conference Summary: Evaluating Social and Economic Community Development Initiatives (February 2001)
With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, ASDC held a conference on evaluation for project directors and evaluators of social and economic community development initiatives. This document summarizes the February 1-2, 2001 conference design, proceedings, and findings.

Initiative to Strengthen Neighborhood Inter-group Assets: Summary of Accomplishments and Lessons Learned, 1998-2000 (February 2001)
The Initiative to Strengthen Neighborhood Inter-group Assets was conceived in 1997 "to promote and strengthen cross-racial and cross-cultural relationships, including those between recent immigrants and long-time residents, by addressing racism and fostering the equitable distribution of political and economic power and resources to improve neighborhoods." This document summarizes the accomplishments of the Initiative and the lessons learned by participants over the past three years.
View more information about the Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations project.

Community Development Support Collaborative: Annual Evaluation Report (December 2000)
The goal of the evaluation summarized in this report was to examine the operation of the Community Development Support Collaborative (a funding and technical support effort for community development corporations) and to determine how effectively it had met its goals during the first half of the first year of its the Phase III funding cycle. The report examines two levels of the Collaborative's operation: (1) management capacity, structure, and operation; and (2) grantee activities and accomplishments. The evaluation also includes lessons learned and recommendations.

Community Foundations Building Bridges and Capacity to Strengthen Immigrant Race Relations (September 2000)
The purpose of this document is two-fold: (1) to share the knowledge that the national funders, participating community foundations, and consultants have developed during the first year of the Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations program; and (2) to provide a tool for funders to use when they consider and evaluate grant projects that are intended to strengthen intergroup relations between recent immigrants and long-time residents.
View more information about the Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations project.

EVALUATION AND RESEARCH METHODS

A Guide to Evaluation Primers(2003)
This report, commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, serves as an orientation guide to eleven handbooks and basic primers on program evaluation. ASDC reviewed and rated the primers using criteria and a protocol requested by RWJF’s Research and Evaluation Unit.

Principles for Evaluating Comprehensive Community Initiatives (June 2001)
This document was produced by ASDC on behalf of the National Funding Collaborative on Violence Prevention for evaluators and practitioners (i.e., program implementers, technical assistance providers, and trainers) who are involved in comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs). It provides practical guidance on how to approach the evaluation of CCIs. The principles are presented in the hope that readers will build upon the ideas in their own work and share them with others. The principles demonstrate that evaluation can be responsive to community needs and help educate community program staff without losing its scientific rigor.

Sense of Community Index
The Sense of Community Index is a theory-based measure of an individual's sense of community. The measure was designed for use on urban blocks, but it has been widely used in different settings.

CAPACITY BUILDING GUIDES

Strategic Factors for Building Community: The Five C’s Community, Connections, Control, Cash, & Collective Action (2006)
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”.

Engaging the Social Capital of Immigrants to Create Sustainable Communities (2004)
This presentation explores the social capital in the immigrant community and proposes a framework for conceptualizing the dynamics between the social capital of immigrants and traditional American institutions.

Building Community Capacity: An Initial Inventory of Local Intermediary Organizations (April 2002)
This report was prepared by ASDC on behalf of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) in order to examine the role of intermediaries as support systems for community development organizations.

Principles for Intergroup Projects: A First Look (June 1999)
This document describes ten principles for effective efforts to strengthen intergroup relations. The principles are derived from social science research and reports on the systematic examination of practitioners' experiences. A brief discussion of the successes and challenges inherent in applying the principles is also included. These principles are presented as a work in progress.
View more information about the Community Foundations/Intergroup Relations project.

It Takes a Just and Capable Village: Prevention Strategies for Community Justice (March 1997)
A paper presented by ASDC President David M. Chavis, Ph.D. at the Research Seminar on Communities, Crime, and Justice sponsored by the National Institute of Justice.

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