One of my guiding principles is that evaluation should be in the service of equity. I'm excited to find these practical guides to review and share: everychildthrives.com/doing-… I would love to hear what you all think about the content in them.

It's important to be thoughtful about the results we want so that we can better select the best actions to take. This is important when we're planning our initiatives / programs, data collection, or engagements. Doing this takes time but it's well worth the effort. #AutomatedPost

Being systematic about exploring outcomes is not mutually exclusive from working towards social justice. I'm curious to hear how your work (in & outside of evaluation) differs when you are thoughtful about your pursuit of social justice. journals.sagepub.com/doi/ful… #AutomatedPost

Check out this cool index: California Strong Start Index helps us understand the conditions into which babies are born, so we can raise healthy, resilient kids. strongstartindex.org/map

Collecting meaningful data is important. Data should help you understand what’s working (& under what conditions) so that you can make improvements, adaptations, & decisions, as well as make your case to potential supporters. If it’s not useful, stop collecting it.

Successful solutions are often those that have true buy-in from the community. You get this when people are able to co-create these solutions. This is probably why self-organizing teams are encouraged in HSD & Agile, and why participatory approaches are becoming so popular

If you want to improve your organization / programs / services this is one of the questions you should be asking yourself. This is what evaluators, #HSD professionals, and / or facilitators help you do.

Love facilitating interactive workshops. I'm glad it's appreciated. #Evaluation #LogicModel #Workshop

Simple is always better, but for some of us, it’s hard not to get bogged down in the details of a complex situation. This quote reminded me to be more thoughtful about my work and practice not getting lost in the details, but instead to ask myself: What? So what? Now what? #HSD

Advice: Let people come to their own solutions. That’s hard to do when we think we already know the answer. It’s easy to ask leading questions. But, people can sense when you’re trying to lead them towards an answer and are not authentically exploring a situation with them.

Your decision-making process is important. Make sure collaborators feel heard by clarifying they know their role in the process. Watch this to get ideas: connectingevidence.com/post/… #Nonprofit

What values drive your behavior? Mine: 1. Be kind (kindness) 2. Be curious (curiosity) 3. Learn & apply (Ongoing learning) I’d be curious to hear what others of you have come up with.

Participatory approaches can be hard to implement. Here I provide some tips and resources you can explore: youtu.be/dgSgGj3swS8 #evaluation #nonprofit #capacityBuilding

How do you make sure you’re going to be in relationship with others?

You need to include the community in decision-making because when evaluators & funders are gone the community will remain. The issue is using limited resources to leverage community members’ knowledge and support.

Increasing community power is hard work and requires a lot of long term investment. How do you keep in mind the nuances required to support the development of community power?

Often we get caught up on plans (or logic models). But, when we’re working on complex projects / initiatives, things dont always work out as initially planned. This requires us to be adaptable so that we can truly explore what is working well and what contributed to that success.

Want to ask an evaluator a question? Here’s your opportunity! I’m partnering with the Arkansas Chapter of GPA to answer your questions. Register and send your questions: grantprofessionals.org/event… #GPA #Evaluation

Trust takes time to build in all types of relationships (including the relationships needed to do community work). For people to agree to volunteer their time, you and your organization would have had to build relationships beforehand. #AutomatedPost