Human Services Planning

Teton County and the Town of Jackson enlisted PPI to develop strategic direction for community planning and prioritization and inform future funding decisions. The project was scoped to facilitate stakeholder engagement, support human service vision and mission development, and develop a Human Service and Resource Allocation plan that translated community input into recommendations for a dynamic funding environment. Project tasks centered around soliciting broad stakeholder feedback on human services and developing a clear, transparent process for identifying priorities and aligning funding decisions.

PPI completed the Yamhill County Needs and Opportunity Assessment for the Oregon Community Foundation to identify current economic and social challenges and strengths in the community, articulate gaps in nonprofit services, and describe the efficacy and opportunities for growth of existing organization and partnerships currently addressing local needs. The goal of the effort was to collect comprehensive information to inform future funding, programming, and policy decisions within the region broadly and by select funder organizations. The needs assessment gathered community needs and perspectives in five core domains, including: county demographic and social characteristics, economy and employment, training and education, health and human services, and arts and culture.

Under subcontract with Canavan Associates, PPI has worked with the Human Services Division of Santa Monica to articulate an outcome measurement system that enables the city to track progress against goals, target assistance, and refine resource allocation. The process involved public community workshops and focus groups to identify community outcomes, and technical assistance to build staff capacity to implement a robust measurement system.

Under subcontract to Parsons Consulting, PPI has contributed to multiple community indicators reports intended to identify and communicate local and regional strengths, foster partnerships and provide information to initiatives that support improvements in overall quality of life. Annual measures typically included in community indicator reports include current and historical data on demographic, housing, health, educational and economic indicators. PPI made selected contributions to Orange County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County Community Indicators Reports.

Bridging Oregon is an initiative of The Oregon Community Foundation that seeks to bridge cultural divides and build social capital through dialogue, engagement, and discussion. PPI implemented an evaluation framework designed to help understand program outcomes and support cross-organization learning across Bridging Oregon grantees and partner organizations. Evaluation activities included on-site assessment, outcome surveys, and benchmark surveys, as well as qualitative data collection related to stakeholder experience and perceived impact.