121 - From Data to Action: Story-Telling in Community Needs Assessments

Abstract Information: RESPOND is a culturally competent targeted recruiting pilot program within the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition, an organization in St Louis, Missouri. This program was created as a direct response to the need for more African American and Black foster parents in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. The RESPOND Team is intentionally composed of African American and Black recruiters whose positionality is rooted in their decades long experience in the foster care system as both employees and foster parents. Using a culturally responsive equitable evaluation (CREE) framework, a community needs assessment was conducted. The purpose of the needs assessment was two-fold: to better understand the perceptions and practices of the foster care system and learn how RESPOND can apply these insights when developing the program. Community voice was leveraged through focus groups as current African American caregivers and licensing and child caseworkers shared their experiences with the foster care system, which in turn, informed implications for program development. Participatory and collaborative exercises with RESPOND allowed the team to transition needs assessment data into actionable findings. Applying key supportive practices and addressing barriers within the foster care system, the RESPOND team continues to improve recruitment and programmatic efforts within their first year of launch through an increase in transparency about the fostering process and the sharing of real experiences from those on the staff as a way to ease the process for future caregivers. 

Relevance Statement: In any story, there is a level of character development that is needed to create the foundational development and fulfill the story that needs to be told. Community needs assessments are an excellent way to collect and analyze data that not only fuels that story, but also tells the story of the individuals within those communities. These perspectives then fuel how to approach evaluation that is centered around the needs of the community. This assessment relates to the storytelling theme as it pulls from real-life experiences in conducting a needs assessment for a program that provides fostering services to an underrepresented population in St. Louis, Missouri. This poster presentation will call on current and future evaluators to come together to engage in critical conversations on moving data to action. Together, they will explore the importance of framing evaluation work within the story of communities. Additionally, we aim to demonstrate how to transform community insights, that is both participatory and collaborative, to fuel the story when moving into the next phase of evaluation. Participants will not only learn more about this innovative program but will learn how to utilize tools for client-focused data utilization and should be able to apply these tools to further stakeholder buy-in and work towards improvement of programmatic efforts with community partners. Additionally, participants will learn the importance of centering culture and community voice in evaluation efforts and will gain an appreciation for culturally responsive approaches to the development and application of needs assessments as a part of storytelling in evaluation work.