Focus Group on Reducing Reporting Burdens

HSLC is invited to participate in a

Focus Group Discussion with American Institutes for Research
On Reducing our Reporting Burdens

Tuesday, August 17, 2010
2:00 – 4:00 PM
Rosamond Gifford Room at United Way

Please see the e-mail below for an overview of the project, and e-mail me at rbregman@verahouse.org if you can attend and/or if you have thoughts on this issue that you would like considered.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Ms. Bregman,

I am a member of the team from the American Institutes for Research that is partnering with Say Yes to Education in Syracuse. I am leading my organization’s technical assistance activities. In June I met with Ann Rooney and two other Onondaga County personnel as well as representatives from United Way, Central New York Community Foundation, and the Gifford Foundation. We discussed ways in which we could work together to streamline our program review processes in order to reduce the reporting burden of Syracuse community-based organizations.

My organization is currently in the process of reviewing the RFPs and program monitoring/review tools used by each of these funding agencies to verify the feasibility of developing a central data collection mechanism and/or program review process that would be mutually beneficial to funders and funding recipients alike. However, we would like a better understanding of current program review processes from the perspective of the CBOs. It was suggested that I contact you because of your involvement with the Human Services Leadership Council.

I am writing to see if you might be willing to help me schedule and/or facilitate a focus group (or phone conference) of CBO personnel. The goal of this focus group would be to discuss: 1) what data and document requests organization’s such as yours receive from funders and monitoring organizations, and 2) which of these are duplicative and/or most burdensome. I would also like to use this focus group as an opportunity to solicit thoughts about CBO capacity building needs. Various funders have suggested that local programs could use assistance in a number of areas including program evaluation, outcome measurement, and data management. My organization would like to provide some of this assistance but would like to hear from the CBOs first to better understand your needs and preferences so that we can design support accordingly.

Please let me know if you are willing and able to provide any assistance. I look forward to hearing from you,

Lauren Banks Amos
Education, Human Development and the Workforce
American Institutes for Research
1000 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
202.403.5902 Phone
202.403.5917 Direct
202.403.6783 Fax
http://www.air.org/