Archive: Around Town

Tompkins County has launched a new measurement system to assess the outcomes of its programs and services in all its departments from mental health to motor vehicles.  The effort is the result of a $5,900 grant the county's department of youth services received Community Foundation of Tompkins County in 2014 to hire a consultant to help implement a measurement system called results-based accountability.  Three years later, the system was so successful in improving outcomes for youth services programs that county officials decided to adopt it in all of its 30 departments, divisions and offices. The county will implement the system in the last group of 14 departments this year.

"It really allows you to be accountable to the public in a way that everyone understands," said Kate Shanks-Booth, director of the county's youth services department. "It also can track particular programs to make sure that we're getting the most bang for our buck."

The youth services department used the Community Foundation grant to hire Results Leadership Group, now called Clear Impact, a company based in Rockville, Md. that specializes in developing performance management software for government agencies, nonprofits, communities and foundations.

After the county adopted the results-based accountability system in youth services, department staff could assess not only the number of people being served by various programs, but also how better off they were after participating.

In one example, the Open Doors Program, which serves runaway and homeless youth, county officials were developing a scorecard of outcomes when they noticed an annual dip in participation rates during the third quarters of 2016 and 2017. Since that falls during the summer when youth are not in school, Family & Children's Service of Ithaca, which runs the program, launched an effort to reach youth through social media, texting or physically locating the teens on the Commons.

"They were the ones who addressed what their action plan should be to move the curve," said David Sanders, the county's criminal justice coordinator who leads the performance measurement initiative. "They went where the kids were and they really spoke to them about how important it was to meet with their caseworkers."

Sanders says the measurement system will help county government make budgeting decisions that are not only based on anecdotal success stories, but also on data on the outcomes of services and programs.

"If there's a shortfall, at least we have data as well as stories so people can make tough decisions to the best of their ability," Sanders said. "And that is what I think it's all about."

Shanks-Booth noted that the county would not have been able to implement the measurement system if it hadn't been for the original grant from Community Foundation. "The funding the Community Foundation put in had this ripple effect, and I think this is pretty incredible," she said.

Janet Cotraccia, chief impact officer of Community Foundation, said she was pleased the grant has led to a significant change in how county government assesses its programs. "This is a great example of how small grants, strategically placed, can lead to larger impact over time," she said.

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