The Outcomes Project

The Trust is committed to performance-based granting, outcomes and evaluations. As a community, it is important that we understand the impact of our decisions as they relate to funding, professional collaborations, and programming. The more informed we are, the better we can chart our course. To that end, the Trust commissioned The Outcomes Project to help guide our work and the work of all community-based organizations in the District.

In June 2001, the Trust contracted Child Trends, a DC-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, which specializes in children, youth, and families, to design and implement the Outcomes Project. Child Trends first prepared logic models and charts showing possible results of investing in youth programs. Then Child Trends recommended measurable outcomes for programs, designed data collection methodologies, and conducted the pilot study. A significant amount of the data was gathered through WEBSTARS, the web-based tool that our grantees use for program management and grant reporting. Outcome measures such as these noted in our first report provide a learning loop that ultimately feeds performance-based information into programs to help maximize performance and effectiveness.

“Highlights of the Pilot Study on Outcomes for Parent Centers and Out-of-School Time Programs in the District of Columbia” has just been released. The full reports, along with the logic models, are available for review as well.

The following reports are all Adobe .pdf files.

• Phase Two: Measures for Outcomes in Early Childhood, Out-of-School Time, and Youth Entrepreneurship Programs, Draft Interim Report

• Initial Report on Pilot for Out-of-School Time Programs

• Final Report on Pilot for Out-of-School Time Programs

• Initial Report on Pilot for Early Childhood Programs

• Final Report on Pilot for Early Childhood Programs

• Logic Models and Outcomes for Out-of-School Time Programs

• Logic Models and Outcomes for Early Childhood Programs

• Logic Models and Outcomes for Youth Entrepreneurship Programs

©Copyright 2004, DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation. All Rights Reserved.