Chicago Foundation for Women Evaluation: The Road from Programming to Policy
(06/01/2013 - 10/01/2017)
CURL and the Chicago Foundation for Women jointly collaborated on the “Evaluation: The Road from Programming to Policy” project to increase the capacity of organizations that serve women and girls to conduct research and inform policy discussions. The project included expert-led workshops, assistance on research projects, and community wide dissemination of information.
Under this project, 16 organizations participated in two rounds of a workshop series, which also included an individualized consultation for each organization on their specific needs regarding research, evaluation, and data management. CURL also partnered with four of the CFW grantee organizations who participated in the first round of workshops to engage in more in-depth action-oriented research projects. The description of each of the four collaborative projects follows.
Community Organizing for Family Issues (COFI): In a Participatory Action Research project, CURL worked in partnership with COFI’s parent leaders on the development of a survey about debt and financial stability according to what COFI’s members wanted to know and around the topics on which what they wanted to develop activist campaigns. CURL then trained parent leaders from COFI to implement the surveys across their own communities in Chicago, Aurora, Elgin, and East St. Louis. CURL collected and analyzed the results of just under 300 surveys collected and prepared a report that the parent leaders will modify and utilize as part of a campaign around debt reduction and financial sustainability for low-income families in Illinois.
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law: CURL assisted the Shriver Center by gathering testimony from and about student survivors (Grades K-12) of domestic and sexual violence attending or who had recently attended public school in Illinois. Testimonies focused on how school policies and practices, or the absence of such policies and practices, have aided, hindered, or had any impact on student survivors’ academic success. This included discussions of students’ safety, educational opportunities, and access to in-school and community resources necessary to further their recovery and complete their education. The Shriver Center used the testimonies to update information previously gathered through public hearings and private conversations with K-12 student survivors (or their parents) between 2008 and 2010 as part of the Ensuring Success in School Task Force Report.
Domestic Violence Legal Clinic (DVLC): CURL collaborated with DVLC on a study meant to investigate the reasons why only a small portion of petitions filed for civil orders of protection in domestic violence cases resulted in long term plenary orders of protection (POPs, which can be in effect for up to two years). This study utilized administrative and court record data on how petitioners’ demographics and types of abuse were associated with this drop-out rate. Additionally, the study examined the influence on demographics and abuse type and severity on petitioners’ receipt of particular POP remedies. Results of this study have the potential to inform DVLC’s efforts towards clients who can be identified as more likely to dismiss their case or who are less likely to get appropriate POP remedies for the type and severity of abuse they have experienced. On a larger scale, results can flag areas for improvement in the court process.
Women Employed: CURL assisted Women Employed by recruiting workers in the retail industry to be interview participants about how Just-in-Time scheduling affects their economic stability and their ability to attend community college courses towards a degree. CURL also conducted an interview for the project with a retail industry worker and part-time community college student.
Research Team:
C. George, CURL
K. Sujata, Chicago Foundation for Women
M. Brunson, Chicago Foundation for Women
L. York, Chicago Foundation for Women
J. Cossyleon, CURL Graduate Fellow
A. Hypolite, CURL Graduate Fellow
J. Hilvers, CURL
T. Neumann, CURL
E. Chong, Undergraduate Fellow
G. Spitz, CURL
A. Wilcoxson, CURL Graduate Fellow
W. Byrnes, CURL Graduate Fellow
J. Barry, CURL Graduate Fellow
C. Escobar, CURL Undergraduate Fellow
Community Partners: