1. What is the organization are you partnered with?
Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota (CSCM)
2. Why were you interested in this request?
I am a member of CSCM’s board and it was a good opportunity for me to learn a little more about their programs. I also felt I could bring some context to the project that others on our staff might not have.
3. What is CSCM’s mission?
The mission of the Confederation of Somali Community of Minnesota (CSCM) is to strengthen the capacity of Somalis in Minnesota to become contributing members of society while preserving their culture. They are dedicated to providing youth programs, health, education, outreach, employment services, supporting East African women and families and serving as Liaison between the Somali and main stream communities. Saheed Fahia is the Executive Director of the organization.
4. What issues did they need assistance with?
They were interested in defining outcomes for their work that would capture more than outputs and show more of their impact on people. They had an interest in using this in fundraising to better explain their impact. Additionally, this could help their staff in the proposal writing stage and to build their skills in reporting outcomes.
5. What are the beginning approaches or tools you are using to help?
I met with their whole staff to tell them about the project and explain why we were doing it. Next, I got together with their program staff. There are three areas of interest at CSCM – youth, the women’s center, and their community advocacy and outreach. [bs1] The East African Women’s Center is a program and the other two are areas of the organizations work. I met with staff from the Women’s Center and their Youth Outreach together because both areas were working with youth. They talked about their activities and the impacts they see as a result of their work. What they have collected in the past has been more counts or descriptions of activities. They are doing some collection on child development outcomes through other advisers.
The first phase we worked on is creating a logic model. We start with explaining what one looks like, and how that translates into an evaluation plan and tools. CSCM staff will be trained on doing data collection with the tools as well on doing some basic analysis and reporting results.
6. Suggestions for organizations dealing with similar issues?
Similar to programs the Improve Group has worked on through schools, CSCM is emphasizing the importance of working with the parents and having them involved to make change. While other organizations may not work with refugees, I know other organizations we have worked with also serve families who have experienced trauma which may also have changed the family make-up, and drives issues that family members must address to move forward.
One observation is I have is that there is value in providing an opportunity to bring together staff with similar stakeholders even if they are not in the same program in the organization. CSCM staff found it a valuable opportunity to have their staff that works with youth talk together in our meetings even though they were not working in the same program. CSCM has a sense that their work is having a greater impact and they want to be able to find a way to tell funders that beyond just numbers. EX: Their constituents are not just learning English but also building social capital and gaining confidence about getting around in their community. CSCM wants to express how their impact is different than other ESL classes.
7. Challenges you have encountered in this project?
One challenge is that they are a very busy organization, like most non-profits, and their priorities on serving participants make it hard for them to take time out to engage in the evaluation process.
8. Next steps for this pro bono partnership?
We are next going to meet to go over the logic model and an evaluation plan which would tell us how we are going to proceed with data collection. Those are in development right now. We will then move on to tools and training along with giving this system a trial run. Finally, we will look at the results together.
Final thoughts or comments?
It is clear they would not have had the resources to do this evaluation work were it not pro bono, so I am happy to work with them and they have been very appreciative about working with us.
One observation that struck me in conversations so far is that parenting styles that work well and are customary in Somalia may need other strategies in the US. I realized how much of what is important to do or not do is culturally based and is absorbed from where you are living. I do see how deeply parents treasure their children and so clearly believe that you cannot love a child too much. They desire is to take care of their child and protect them in this new world; CSCM staff help them figure out how to meet that challenge. It’s only one slice of what CSCM does, but I’ve already learned something more!
[bs1]Three program areas they wanted to focus on for this work.
[bs1]Three program areas they wanted to focus on for this work.