Advocacy & Organizing
California Youth Connection
2002-2007 Annual Evaluations • California
California Youth Connection (CYC) is an advocacy organization guided by current and former foster youth, promoting the participation of foster youth in policy development and legislative change to improve the foster care system. Between 2002 and 2007, Korwin Consulting worked with CYC to evaluate its impact on the personal capacity and development of its members, its chapters’ capacity to engage in local and statewide policy efforts, and its broader impact on statewide policy related to the child welfare system throughout California.
Contra Costa Safe Schools Coalition
Four-Year Evaluation • Contra Costa
The Contra Costa County Safe Schools Coalition (CCSSC) is committed to increasing safety and support in local school communities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and families. The Coalition, which includes public agencies as well as non-profit organizations, develops and delivers an integrated package of peer- and adult-led educational workshops for school communities, mobilizes youth activists and peer health educators, and provides LGBTQ-friendly counseling and support groups. Findings from Korwin Consulting’s four-year evaluation show that the Coalition is contributing to safer school environments for LGBTQ youth and is increasing LGBTQ and other young people’s understanding of key physical and mental health issues. The evaluation also showed that Coalition members are helping to ensure comprehensive, LGBTQ-inclusive policy development and implementation in local school districts. Download Making Schools Safe for LGBTQ and All Youth: Lessons from the Contra Costa Safe Schools Coalition.
Marin County Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Collaborative
Strategic Plan Implementation Evaluation • Marin
Korwin Consulting, in partnership with M.K. Associates, evaluated implementation of the Marin Collaborative’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention. We used an empowerment evaluation model, fostering participation and interpretation of evaluation findings by key education, health, and alcohol prevention service providers and advocates making up the Collaborative.
Ms. Foundation for Women
Reproductive Rights Coalition and Organizing Fund Evaluation Design and Women of Color-Led Policy Evaluation • National
Ms. Foundation for Women’s Reproductive Rights Coalition and Organizing Fund (RRCOF) has provided grantmaking, technical assistance, and networking activities to strengthen state-level reproductive rights organizations and infrastructures across the United States. Korwin Consulting designed RRCOF’s evaluation and associated evaluation tools to measure the outcomes resulting from this national fund.
Through RRCOF and other Initiatives, Ms. Foundation funds and supports women of color-led organizations committed to advancing policies at the local, state, and national levels. The foundation engaged Korwin Consulting to assist their lead consultant in the design and analysis of a study measuring the impact of this funding, effective grantee strategies, and the role of leadership by women of color in advancing advocacy outcomes.
Santa Clara Domestic Violence Advocacy Consortium
Santa Clara County
The Santa Clara Domestic Violence Advocacy Consortium promotes safety for battered women and their children by ensuring sustainability of its leadership, building consensus on best practices, ensuring representation of survivors, and bringing visibility to domestic violence. Korwin Consulting facilitated an outcome-based planning process that better positioned the Consortium to articulate its proposed outcomes as well as measure future impact.
Tides Foundation
Reproductive Justice Initiative—Reproductive Justice Fund and Catalyst Fund Evaluation • National
The Tides Reproductive Justice Initiative incorporates two grantmaking vehicles, the Reproductive Justice Fund and the Catalyst Fund; both support emergent, innovative work that is focused on movement-building. With reproductive justice only recently taking center stage in funder discussions and with most supporting foundations, including Tides, nearing the two- or three-year mark in their reproductive justice grantmaking, the moment is ripe to evaluate the impact grantees are having on policy, base building, public opinion, and the framing of reproductive health and rights in the U.S.
Korwin Consulting is working with Tides and its funding partners to evaluate this multi-pronged initiative, using a combination of interviews, surveys, focus groups, evaluation coaching, and participant convenings with national and local philanthropic partners and women of color-led and other nonprofit reproductive justice organizations. Download the Catalyst Fund’s First Year Evaluation Report.
Tobacco Advocacy Mentoring Project
Evaluation • Bay Area
The Tobacco Advocacy Mentoring Project paired community college students with middle schools to effect change in the tobacco environment of each. Korwin Consulting’s evaluation measured the impact this project had on campus and targeted community tobacco-related policies, student and college administrators’ attitudes related to tobacco, and ultimately, the prevalence of tobacco use in these targeted sites.
Women’s Foundation of California
Staff and Grant Partner Evaluation Capacity-Building and Women’s Policy Institute Evaluation • California
Korwin Consulting began partnering with the Women’s Foundation of California (WFC) in 2001 by conducting an assessment of its internal capacity to effectively evaluate practices and funding impact over time. We worked closely with foundation staff in developing logic models for their various initiatives, developed evaluation tools, implemented trainings to build foundation staff and grant partners’ capacity to measure the longer-term impact of their efforts, and implemented a comprehensive evaluation of the Foundation’s initiatives.
Korwin Consulting and WFC’s partnership continues through our ongoing evaluation of the Foundation’s Women’s Policy Institute, an innovative training program increasing the number of community-based women leaders who are actively involved in shaping and implementing policies affecting the health and well-being of women and girls in California.