Services
Research & Evaluation
We are trusted to lead research and evaluation projects while considering the intersections of identity (racial, gender, class) and power within organizations and communities. Most recently, our team has examined the impact of COVID-19 on Black women and girls across the United States for Black Feminist Future.
Interviewing & Focus Groups
We have years of experience with projects that utilize qualitative research and have conducted over 50 focus groups and hundreds of interviews. Gathering data effectively is critical to answering complex questions and we employ analytic tools such as Nvivo and MAXQDA to conduct analyses.
Survey Research
We have designed and administered online and paper surveys with diverse populations across the country. We utilize secure digital processes to maintain confidentiality and the latest technology to increase response rates. Most recently, we led the Safety We Can Feel research, a project examining the views of over 1,000 Philadelphians on community safety, police funding and government spending.
Education
We have partnered with non-profits, foundations and grassroots organizations to develop curriculum and facilitate conversations about decolonizing evaluation and evaluating programs for leaders of color. For example, we trained the staff at OneAmerica, a statewide policy and power-building organization in Washington, to reorient their approach to evaluating their programs and to engage in data collection that centered community leaders.
We have partnered with organizations to assess and put in place equitable evaluation processes and organization-wide equity practices. Recently, we partnered with Compass Point, a 43-year-old national non-profit in Oakland to examine how racial equity values are reflected in their programs and company norms.
Presentations
Our team members have presented at universities, grantee convenings, academic conferences including the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and the Society of Research in Action (SCRA).
Our Values
Our Approach
We use a social-scientific approach to answering questions of effectiveness, impact, and equity while centering the standpoint of those who are often marginalized in research
We believe that the values of the researcher, stated or unstated, determine their approach. Our team shares these values and we strive to embody them in every research and evaluation project.
1. Immersion in the Project Background
We explore the project context, including organizational & program history
We explore the organizational perspective, positionally and knowledge
We build relationships with project leaders and stakeholders
2. Considering Assumptions & Ethics of Care
We surface assumptions that contribute to definitions of success
We consider whose lives, spaces, and bodies are the grounds of our inquiry
We ask how community stakeholders benefit from the process and how do we minimize harm?
3. Listening & Establishing Trust
We seek to understand how evaluation or research findings are most useful in this moment?
We are transparent about who we are and our background
We see ourselves as an ally in working toward social change
1. Courageous Inquiry
We encourage our clients to ask the hard questions: Who does this evaluation benefit?
What questions aren’t we asking about the intervention?
What are the constraints we have established for the research and evaluation?
2. Liberatory Methodology
We value methods that create the opportunity for power-building, growth, and healing.
We do that by prioritizing and gathering participants’ needs from the start.
We encourage our clients to be open to methods that shape their evaluation and research into something that is done with their participants instead of to them.
3. Relationships
Research is not neutral. Despite what social science education claims, maintaining distance from the participants in an evaluation does not make it more valid or useful.
Relationship-building is a indispensable component of establishing trust with all stakeholders. When people trust us- they are more willing to be honest and open with their true thoughts and deep feelings.