Our Research & Evaluation (R&E) team not only leads our internal program evaluation and continuous quality improvement efforts, but it also works closely with external partners to conduct evaluation activities to support their unique program monitoring and refinement goals. In that vein, this February our R&E department kicked off a new evaluation partnership with the New Orleans Health Department’s Healthy Start program (HSNO), a community-based program that helps parents in New Orleans throughout their pregnancy and after the birth of their child to enroll in community assistance programs. 

HSNO provides an array of supportive services to expecting and current parents/guardians with children up to 18 months old, including:

• case management in English and Spanish, 

• educational workshops, 

• support groups, 

• fatherhood supports, and 

• home visitations. 

Referrals are made to secure essential needs—such as primary medical care; mental health counseling; and food, housing, and employment opportunities—to ensure that all families served are healthy, have a primary care physician, and have access to all the support services they need.

Collaboratively with HSNO leadership and program providers of various roles, we were brought on to evaluate HSNO's internal procedures for documenting client engagement data. Our goal is to identify areas that are effective and areas that can be improved to fully or more accurately record client information and services provided by HSNO staff.

So far, R&E has worked with HSNO to complete several tasks, including an initial orientation to HSNO’s data management software and data entry protocols, an R&E-developed survey for providers, and interviews with providers to learn how they engage parents within their respective roles. Through in-depth conversations with providers, R&E has gained valuable insights into staff’s experience using HSNO’s primary data management software, alternative methods used to track client information and encounters, and whether current data points and processes accurately reflect the experiences and needs of the parents they serve, as well as the full range of services they offer.

The R&E team is excited to support HSNO’s commitment to evaluating their internal processes to accurately capture their efforts and the experiences of the community they serve, to foster more understanding and demonstrate HSNO’s reach and impacts within the parenting community. 

For more information about the HSNO program, contact IWES Research & Evaluation Manager, Gabriella Roude.