Evaluations

Safer Foundation Job Preparation and Community-Based Job Placement Initiative  
The Egan Center will conduct an Environmental Scan of 10 areas in three identified regions (Central, Southern and Northern) within the State of Illinois. The primary goal is to identify the resources available to serve the needs of persons being released from prison and their families. The Scan will inform Safer’s effort to design and deliver a statewide post-release job readiness and placement service delivery initiative. The Environmental Scan Analysis will include:

• Employment sources: geographic locations, types of jobs available and skill level requirements, industry hiring practices, promising industrial sectors for ex-offenders, opportunities for self-employment
• Employment barriers: transportation, affordable housing, hiring policies
• Job Training providers
• Supportive Services: mental health, substance abuse counseling, family counseling and cooperating service provider networks

These data will be compared with the employee characteristics that Safer gathers in order to determine skill matches and mismatches and the implications for the content of the job readiness initiative. 
  
Communities in Schools of Chicago (CCIS)  
Community in Schools of Chicago is a 10-year old organization funded through foundation grants and corporate contributions to enhance student learning by addressing their non-academic needs. CISC is connected to some 114 Chicago public schools and to more than 150 businesses and social service agencies to provide students with conflict resolution and mental health counseling, arts and sports programming, and eye care needs. In April 2006, CISC contracted the EUC to help them conduct an organizational evaluation to assess their impact on students, the schools they attend and the agencies recruited to work in those schools. This evaluation has four main components:

• Student outcomes including vision services, HIV/AIDS, nutrition and conflict resolution education;
• School outcomes including capacity building at the school level and how CISC reduces barriers to learning;
• Agency outcomes including whether CISC has helped agencies strengthen the impact of agency programs; and
• Events hosted by CISC including the impact on participating agencies, schools and community partners.

Healthy Foods, Healthy Moves: InForm Chicago  
Communities in Schools of Chicago (CISC), in partnership with Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC), is developing and implementing a project aimed at helping Chicago public school children lead healthier lives. The project’s aims are to increase awareness of nutrition and physical activity among school administration, parents, and children; increase children’s knowledge about healthy living; and foster positive attitudes and behaviors related to nutrition and physical activity. The Egan Center is assisting CISC in developing an evaluation plan for their work in connecting health and nutrition service providers with Chicago public schools.   
     
HRDI   
(1) Day Reporting Center (DRC)
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Department of Community Supervision and Intervention (DCSI) established the Day Reporting Center (DRC) in 1993 to offer non-violent, pre-trial defendants a substance abuse treatment program.

The Egan Urban Center conducted yearly evaluations of the implementation and operation of HRDI’s DRC program for program years 2003, 2004, and 2005. The program is expected to provide education and employment training; positive family and community engagement; and decrease criminal behavior through the re-socialization of participants. To achieve these goals, HRDI offers programs that address substance abuse and life skills training.

(2) Chicago Girls
Under a contract with the City of Chicago’s Department of Public Health, HRDI was the lead agency and service provider for Chicago Girls, a residential level III.5 substance abuse treatment program serving adolescent girls, ages 12-17. HRDI proposed that Chicago Girls would operate as a research-based program incorporating principles of drug addiction treatment, as recommended by the National Institute on Drug Addiction (October 1999), to address needs specific to adolescent girls.

HRDI contracted the Egan Urban Center to conduct an independent evaluation of the implementation and operation of Chicago Girls for program years 2003, 2004, and 2005. This evaluation examined the structure, processes and outcomes of the service delivery program implemented by HRDI.

(3) Pre Release Center (PRC)
PRC was established in 1993 to provide comprehensive substance abuse treatment for males in a minimum-security environment. The general goal of the PRC remains to modify clients’ behavior to help them achieve and maintain sobriety and lead responsible, crime-free lives. The Department of Community Supervision and Intervention (DCSI) of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office maintains a contract with HRDI to provide substance abuse treatment for inmates addicted to drugs and/or alcohol.

Annually, since 2000, the Egan Urban Center (EUC) at DePaul University has conducted Pre-Release Center substance abuse program evaluations. These evaluations have identified changes in client demographics, and reported on staff and client experiences in the program. In 2004, the EUC recommended that HRDI continues to evaluate the PRC program to help guide future implementation efforts and provide self-assessment feedback and recommendations for the program.

(4) Impact Substance Abuse Treatment Program
HRDI established the Impact substance abuse treatment program to provide substance abuse treatment for detainees of the Cook County Jail in Chicago in August 2000. The program is restricted to males and focuses on behavior modification, administered through a Therapeutic Community (TC) model. The goal is to help the participants achieve and maintain sobriety and personal responsibility, thus lowering or eliminating incidents of recidivism.

This evaluation of the Impact program by the Egan Urban Center of DePaul University began on June 22, 2004 with an administrative audit of program records, including a review of charts randomly selected from participant records. The evaluator also developed and administered a survey to a sample group of 27 current program participants representing four phases of the Impact program. The survey information gathered was analyzed using SPSS. The third part of the evaluation consisted of a questionnaire that was completed by staff members. The results of the surveys were analyzed and summarized in the evaluation report.  
     
McCormick Tribune Substitute Teaching Program  
Funded by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the Chicago Coalition for Site Administered Childcare Programs developed a substitute teaching program in Chicago neighborhood childcare centers. The program was sparked by changes in the childcare field which have led to an increase in credentialing standards for early childhood education teachers. The challenge at community-based childcare centers is to raise teachers’ standards while maintaining day-to-day operations. The Egan Center’s evaluation presented a unique opportunity to explore an innovative model that brought substitute teachers from City Colleges of Chicago into childcare centers. During the three years of planning and implementing this program, teachers across Chicago have received professional training in child assessment, team-building, curriculum planning, conflict resolution and cultural awareness. This training directly affects teachers’ interactions with children, and issues related to literacy, social and emotional development, child abuse and neglect, special needs, mental health, health and nutrition, and child outcomes.  
     
Latino Development and Technology Acceleration Center Project (LDTAC)  
Battelle Memorial Institute partnered with the Egan Urban Center and the Illinois Coalition to conduct a feasibility assessment and develop a model for a technology acceleration center for business and training program – the Latino Development and Technology Acceleration Center (LDTAC) in the Humboldt Park community. This model was designed to provide workforce development, workforce creation and business support for minorities in Humboldt Park. It is said to have two major pillars – the business accelerator and the training program. The business accelerator is expected to help technology business grow and move to the next level and the training programs to provide workforce and technology training for Humboldt Park residents. Successful trainees are expected to be employed by the companies benefiting from the business accelerator.

The study was funded by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) included the evaluation of the Humboldt Park demographics, benchmark analysis, real estate assessment, training needs analysis and curriculum development, financial analysis, and economic impact assessment. Egan was primarily responsible for conducting the Training Assessment which included identifying the training needs, skills assessments, curriculum design, the curriculum development model and provided assistance in other areas of the Feasibility Study.   
     
ROSS Grant – CHA’s Stateway Gardens   
Through the Plan for Transformation, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) seeks to reinvent the appearance, quality and culture of public housing in Chicago through physical renewal and reform. This blueprint represents the largest reconstruction of public housing in the country. It includes the creation of mixed-income redevelopments, rehabbing of family properties, relocation of residents, and the promotion of greater self-sufficiency and accountability for both public housing residents and the CHA.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the CHA a Resident Opportunity for Self Sufficiency (ROSS) grant in July 2000 to provide opportunities for its Stateway Gardens residents to address barriers to employment and self-sufficiency. The Resident Service Delivery Model (RSDM) for Stateway Gardens set out to train residents to be outreach workers through applied internships, giving them transferable computer, communication, writing, budgeting and note-taking skills. Interns who participated in the program were given direct access to experts in areas affecting their day-to-day lives, as well as Section 8 landlords, nutritionists and personal bankers. They also received structured opportunities to share what they learned with other residents through outreach.  
     
Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC)  
Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC) is a network of youth and community organizations working together in five diverse neighborhoods on the Southwest Side of Chicago - namely in Chicago Lawn, West Lawn, West Englewood, Gage Park and West Elsdon.

The Egan Urban Center conducted a comprehensive evaluation process to assess management and program effectiveness of SWYC initiative using focus groups, a literature review, demographic scans are examples of some of the procedures EUC evaluators are using.  
     
Habilitative Systems Inc’s Holding On To Every Person Evaluation of Policy and Program (HOTEP)   
Between July 2001-July 2002, the Egan Urban Center evaluation team reviewed documents outlining the underlying theory, principles, processes, goals, objectives and expected outcomes of the project entitled Holding On To Every Person (HOTEP). Consistent with the HOTEP workplan, the Egan Center's evaluation reflects three phases of the project: Model Development, Training and Technical Assistance, and Implementations.

As a collaborative effort, the EUC worked closely with the staff of Habilitative Systems, Inc. (HSI), the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) and the National Center on Permanency for African American Children (NCPAAC) at Howard University to produce both a formative and summative evaluation. The team conducted field research that included observations of the HOTEP Steering Team and Management Committee meetings, structured interviews with selected stakeholders and community organizations and agencies, and formal and informal conversations with key project participants. The results of these observations and interviews are intended to inform the further development of a community-based adoptive and foster care service model and the service delivery system. The summative evaluation is intended to ascertain whether the proposed NCPAAC model will make a quantitative and qualitative difference in child welfare approaches to recruitment and retention.

The evaluation specifically examined the current climate of the child welfare system and the key elements of the project, and assesses the materials and procedures used to inform the general public about the HOTEP Initiative, and offers some concluding observations and recommendations. While this report focuses specifically on the HOTEP project, the overall findings and process documentation were intended to contribute to changes in the HOTEP Initiative which may improve child welfare policies and practices in the State of Illinois.  
     
Erie Day Care Homes Online Project   
The Egan Urban Center partnered with Erie Neighborhood House and the Policy Research Action Group on the Day Care Homes On-Line (DCHOL) project funded by the AOL Time Warner Foundation. EUC conducted the evaluation and developed the web site. Designed to bridge the digital divide and improve effectiveness of group home-based child care providers, Las Proveedoras Unidas, by helping them secure computers, connect to the internet, and develop web pages.  
     
Bethel New Life JOLI Program   
The Egan Urban Center is third party evaluator for the 3-year Bethel New Life's Job Opportunities for Low Income (JOLI) program. Designed to expand the Environmental Job Career Ladder to unemployed individuals. Focusing on the West Garfield Park community by turning liabilities into assets. Careers in horticulture, landscaping, phytoremediation or deconstruction are available.