Evaluation & Documentation

Evaluation Goals & Objectives

The final CEP Evaluation will assess the impact of local civic engagement (CE) activities on the three broad outcomes listed below. The specific forms these outcomes take will vary by county but the evaluation will look for evidence of the accomplishment of these results in all eight CEP partner counties.

1. Improved Commission Decision-Making — this outcome encompasses specific Commission decisions as well as the decision-making process. Of particular importance is the documentation of greater inclusivity by the participating Commissions. Harder+Company will examine the structures the Commissions have established to promote greater community involvement as well as how the Commissions address issues of ethnicity, language and culture. Also included under this outcome will be an analysis of greater Commission capacity for civic engagement and shifts in the perceptions of Commissions and staff about the role of CE in their work.
2. Increased Community Benefit — under this category Harder+Company will examine investments in community that can be partly or wholly attributed to local CE work. This outcome also includes benefits to community members through the strengthening of their own capacity to participate in civic life, including activities not related to Prop 10 (now called First 5). Harder+Company will pay particular attention to how the ethnicity, language and culture of individual participants interact with the capacity-building efforts.
3. Enhanced Relationships between the community and the Commission — this outcome covers the perceptions of Commissioners’ capacity to work with community as well as the community’s perceptions of the Commission’s capacity to incorporate community voices. Harder+Company intends to use the broadest definition of community. The specifics of the target communities for CE work are to be defined by each county.

Evaluation Team

Read about our evaluation team under About Us : Staff

Promising Practices: Innovative Strategies
for Engaging Our Communities

CEP is pleased to present the 152-page bilingual (Spanish/English) guidebook Promising Practices: Innovative Strategies for Engaging Our Communities (Prácticas Prometedoras: Estrategias innovadoras para motivar la participación de nuestras comunidades). Based on the practical experiences of our eight partner counties, the book highlights strategies, challenges, and lessons learned for optimal community involvement in First 5 work, and potentially other policy arenas. More »

Promising Practices is available for free download or in print.

CEP Final Evaluation Report

The research and writing for the Final Evaluation Report was completed by Harder+Company for the CEP, with cooperation from the eight partner counties. This report provides a retrospective assessment of the four-year CEP initiative, integrating the evaluation findings from all four years. It includes summative interviews with all of the CEP funders, Steering Committee members and county staff. There is also an analysis of how each county plans to include civic engagement activities in their regular Commission budgets for FY 2004–2005.

The CEP Final Evaluation Report will be available for download in September 2004. For more details, please contact the Miriam and Peter Haas Fund at mphf@mphf.org .