Core Results
Making Connections
works to make a measurable, positive difference for families and children living in the initiative neighborhoods, especially those who are most vulnerable because of language and cultural barriers, involvement in the criminal justice system, legal status, and low levels of literacy.
The core results sought through Making Connections are to increase the number of families in the initiative neighborhoods who:
- Have access to and take advantage of job opportunities that provide family-supporting wages and benefits and offer potential for advancement.
- Have access to opportunities and financial products that help increase their savings and build assets for economic success.
- Have and can ensure that their young children are healthy and prepared to succeed in school.
- Have strong social connections to one another and have opportunities to participate actively in the life of their community.
Indicators of success
All of the Making Connections sites are using a set of indicators to help them assess progress toward achieving the initiative’s core results. These indicators measure the impact of employment and asset-building strategies, as well as site efforts to ensure that young children are healthy and prepared to succeed in school. Specifically, within the Making Connections neighborhoods, the indicators track the percentage of:
- Households with children who report earned income and one or more adults employed;
- Households with employer-provided family health benefits;
- Households with children who have accumulated savings;
- Children in preschool programs;
- Children assessed as ready for school;
- Children’s attendance in the early grades; and
- Children reading at or above proficiency level in third or fourth grade.
Each site has set specific annual targets for closing the gaps that exist between the Making Connections neighborhoods and the surrounding city/county on each of these indicators. Sites are using data to identify the gap between results for children and families in Making Connections neighborhoods and results for children and families citywide or countywide. Once the gap is identified, sites set targets for the extent of the gap that they believe can be closed over the remaining years of the initiative.
At the site level, local leaders translate this target for closing the gap into the number of neighborhood residents who have to obtain and retain employment in order to achieve these goals. Through the framework of “closing the gaps,” sites are translating data about community needs into action. Many sites are implementing specific new programs, policies, and powerful community strategies that can reduce disparities and improve results for children and families.