ReCAST Program Evaluation
- Client: Chicago Department of Public Health
- Prime Consultant: Education Development Center
About this Project
Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) is a federal, 5-year initiative that promotes resilience in communities that have recently faced civil unrest through the implementation of trauma-informed, violence prevention and community engagement programs. In partnership with the Education Development Center, we helped establish a set of criteria for determining the efficacy of data intended for use as indicators of community resilience. In addition to providing data management and visualization, we outlined technical and organizational steps necessary for reaching program evaluation objectives in the future.
The process for defining indicators involved rigorous data vetting and numerous iterations of community resilience domains. Using data that is available at the neighborhood, census tract or block level, we created meaningful exhibits to demonstrate varying levels of resiliency between Chicago’s 77 communities. The benefit of directing attention to data efficacy and indicator inclusion criteria is that it provides reliable and consistent guidance and standards for measuring program success going forward.
