An increased focus on staff well-being has been an unexpected benefit of the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past few years, MDRC’s technical assistance teams have helped managers use a variety of tools to support their workers, including self-care plans that individuals can use to assess and address the stress of their jobs. This post offers one such plan, adapted by MDRC and shared with many organizations, that managers can use to support their teams.

Improving an organization’s technology and data collection capacity can yield many benefits. That has been the case for Homeboy Industries (HBI), whose experience implementing a new data system was described in an earlier InPractice post. But there are complexities and challenges that must be addressed before a successful implementation can take place. This post explores how HBI, one of the largest gang rehabilitation and reentry social service programs in the world, managed that change process. It employed five principles that other organizations may want to consider when launching a new system to ensure that everyone is onboard and prepared for the rollout and that client data can be collected and used effectively by the entire staff: (1) identify staff needs and concerns, (2) design an inclusive process, (3) tailor the training strategy, (4) foster a learning culture, and (5) be willing to adapt.

Homeboy Industries (HBI), one of the largest gang rehabilitation and reentry organizations in the world, is transforming its data infrastructure and the way it uses technology to better support its client-centered program services. MDRC recently collaborated with HBI on a project to establish program logic models and to assess the organization’s data collection needs and practices. This post draws on what was learned from that collaboration.

Social services and educational institutions routinely collect data from management information systems, surveys, and other sources with the goal of improving their services and participants’ outcomes. But programs may not always have the time and resources to use those data to inform their decision making. This post shares some examples of how programs in the Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) evaluation used data as a program improvement technique, referred to at MDRC as Learn-Do-Reflect: (1) use data to identify a specific problem and brainstorm about solutions (“learn”); (2) implement solutions, collecting data along the way (“do”); and (3) review data, examine trends, and decide on course corrections (“reflect”). The featured programs implemented a series of interactive workshops designed for individuals who have been involved with the justice system to develop interpersonal skills for the workplace.

Unemployed or underemployed parents have trouble paying child support. There is growing recognition that child support programs need to address parents’ financial ability to pay their support obligations, and many child support agencies across the country now provide services aimed at improving the quality of parents’ employment and increasing their earnings. Most child support–led employment initiatives focus on case management, job readiness activities, job search assistance, and job placement. The Families Forward Demonstration (FFD) sought to test a more intensive approach—led by child support programs—to help parents increase their earning potential by training them in occupational skills needed by local employers. The questions arising from this project may help other agencies evaluate prospective job training partners.