Are you faced
with a lack of local data and information that describes the problems being addressed
and is sensitive to the outcomes, strategies and locations of your
grantees?
Most funders rely on third party sources for data about health. Health departments, state agencies
and universities are tapped to provide data about the nature of targeted health problems. This
traditional approach falters when data are required at a local level, when data are needed
regularly to track progress and when the initiative does not have the budget to support a
large-scale university research project.
CSG helped the Mary Black Foundation overcome these challenges for its Active Living Initiative. The
Foundation needed neighborhood data about levels of physical activity and the environmental and
social conditions that promote it. Some data were already collected by the health department.
However these data were county-wide or state-wide and not aligned with the Foundation's
strategies and intended outcomes.
CSG helped the Foundation convene national and international experts to create a surveillance system
that combined survey and archival data. Local partners were identified to implement the data
collection system and the Foundation now has annual data for local neighborhoods on the level
of physical activity and the conditions that are likely to promote it. The system is built
on local assets at a low cost, insuring that it can be sustained for the life of the
initiative.
The system provides data to the community in many ways. Data is provided in the form of a "report card"
so that the Foundation can raise awareness. Data are shared with prospective grantees so they can plan
appropriate interventions and better applications for funding. These data are also used with existing
grantees as part of their intermediate and long-term outcome evaluation. Finally, these data are used
by the Foundation to insure that selected strategies are having the intended effects and to make
course corrections as required.
