Center for Policy Research

Colorado pathways to success - youth at risk of homelessness phase iii summative evaluation:2020-2025 - contract with mathematica Policy Research pursuant to the youth at risk of homelessness grant from the department of human services, administration of children and families, childrens bureau to conduct a summative evaluation of the Colorado pathways to success (pathways) intervention. Pathways is an innovative service model developed alongside the Colorado department of human services, office of children, youth, and families, designed to prevent and address homelessness for at- risk youth who have a history of child welfare and foster care involvement. The summative evaluation is actively being implemented statewide in Colorado, with both treatment and comparison outcomes recorded in a centralized database administered by cpr. Study enrollment began in september 2021 and is anticipated to span 27 months.

Lco good life - bright futures for ojibwe youth 2022-2025 -contract with lac courte oreilles (lco) tribal child support program to evaluate a federal demonstration project entitled charting a course for economic mobility and responsible parenting. The lco will implement a variety of educational and outreach activities that align with ojibwe culture to encourage tribal youth to plan for their future by completing their education and engaging in a committed relationship prior to having children. The project will engage a curriculum developer and tribal elders to translate cultural values into relevant content. It will be distributed via ojibwe college students, a social media campaign, a web-based game, an ojibwe culture camp. Cpr will produce three briefs that describe the project, report on implementation patterns, and present evaluation outcomes.

Safe access for victims' economic security (saves) Center - Colorado department of human services, division of child support services, 2022-2024 - cpr's contract with the Colorado department of human services (cdhs), division of child support services (dcss) is pursuant to a 5-year, 11.2 million cooperative agreement between cdhs and the federal office of child support services (ocss). Under this contract, cpr is assisting cdhs with the creation and operation of the safe access for victims' economic security (saves) Center which aims to enhance the safe delivery of child support, paternity, and parenting time services to survivors of domestic violence. Cpr will provide technical assistance and evaluation services to 13 saves demonstration projects funded by ocse (12 states and one tribe), conduct Research on the experiences of domestic violence survivors in the child support program, make Policy recommendations, and create resources and training for child support professionals nationwide to promote safety and economic security for survivors. The full press release for this project is available on the acf website.

Us housing and urban development (hud) 2020-2024 - this three-year contract with hud involved generating and linking administrative data from multiple sources about homeless youth in Colorado. The goal of the effort is to generate a sustainable and replicable approach to estimating homelessness among youth, ages 14-24, in Colorado. Another major goal is to describe the child welfare and public assistance program participation of younger (k- 12), and the police involvement characteristics and histories of older (18 -24) homeless youth. As part of the project, cpr made a major subaward to the university of denver's Colorado evaluation and action lab. Impacs 2020-2024 - cpr's contract with co department of human services, division of child support services (dcss) is to provide evaluation services for an employment initiative funded by the Colorado legislature using funding from federal tanf and state moe monies. The improved payment and child success (impacs) project offers employment services to unemployed and under-employed noncustodial parents in the child support program in interested counties. To date, county participants have included denver, weld, jefferson, delta, larimer, and montrose. Additional counties are being recruited. Outcomes of interest include changes in employment, earnings, child support payments and father-child relationships. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (tf-cbt) project 2022-2024 - cpr's subcontract with university of denver, Colorado evaluation and action lab is pursuant to its primate contract with the Colorado department of human services to conduct rigorous evaluations of various interventions and approaches to prevent child abuse and neglect as required in the family first initiative. Cpr's duties involve designing and implementing a rigorous evaluation of the tf-cbt intervention in denver public schools with the goal of establishing it as an evidence-based Research practice that would be approved for use within the family first initiative. Children recruited and treated using tf-cbt were compared with their counterparts treated with other therapy approaches. Tennessee strategic plan - under a contract with the Tennessee department of human services, Center for Policy Research assisted the agency in the development of a strategic plan for its access and visitation grant program, the goal of which is to better address the needs of noncustodial parents who have a court ordered child support obligation or children who are members of a low-income household. Cpr explored the feasibility of increasing the child support clients' access to more intensive workforce development resources, developing an enhanced intake and referral process focused on enrolling eligible child support clients in workforce programs, and developing and implementing joint data collection systems and protocols to capture referrals and client usage of workforce development services and measure jointly established outcome goals. Generational opportunities to achieve long-term success (goals) 2018-2024 - contract with arapahoe county department of human services to design, implement and test a 2gen approach to addressing economic insecurity among homeless families. Conducted with family tree and arapahoe county human services, in partnership with diverse government and community-based service providers, the project will serve approximately 15 families at a time who will be housed at the oxford vista campus at the former excelsior youth Center at 15001 e. oxford ave. In aurora, for stays of approximately four to nine months. Cpr's formative and impact evaluations address the implementation of the project, client characteristics and client outcomes. Homeless families who receive 2gen services are compared with a control group comprised of families that receive regular services. Delta program evaluation - contract with the Tennessee coalition to end domestic and sexual violence ("tncedsv"), pursuant to an award by the centers for disease control and prevention. Cpr to handle all aspects of an evaluation of tncedsv's efforts to prevent domestic and interpersonal violence including the development and implementation of a state plan, efforts to reduce ipv in the workplace, and initiatives to prevent domestic violence by delivering training on financial empowerment. Delta ahead Arizona - cpr provides evaluation services to the Arizona coalition to end sexual and domestic violence (acesdv) for a five-year project funded by the cdc known as the domestic violence prevention education and leadership through alliances (delta): achieving health equity through addressing disparities (ahead). Delta ahead aims to help state domestic violence coalitions and their community partners gather and use reliable data to design, implement and evaluate Policy and program strategies to prevent intimate partner violence. Fatherhood Research and practice network - cpr continues to donate internal resources to operate the fatherhood Research and practice network (frpn) and conduct relevant Research, writing and dissemination activities. In 2022, this involved releasing a monthly newsletter to over 4,000 frpn subscribers and completing, releasing and publicizing a cpr report entitled, policies and programs affecting fathers: a state-by-state report. This new national resource examines the status of Policy that affects low- income fathers in 10 areas of public life: child support, child welfare, criminal justice, early childhood, education, employment, family law, food and housing, health and mental health and responsible fatherhood. These activities represent a way to market cpr Research use of digital marketing to increase participation in the lac courte oreilles (lco) tribal child support program 2018- open - contract with the lac courte oreilles tribal council pursuant to a grant from the office of child support enforcement, us department of health and human services. Experimentation with the use of digital marketing to increase outreach to potential participants in the child support program and evaluation of the effects of various digital marketing strategies on child support applications rates. Basic Center 2019-2024 - contract with shiloh house to provide services to youth at risk of homelessness in Colorado rural counties using continuous quality improvement strategies. Cpr's duties include building and maintaining a comprehensive management information system to collect information on youth in the project, document services that are delivered to youth, and assess youth outcomes. Needs assessment for domestic violence (dv) services in co - cpr's contract with the Colorado department of human services dvp is working with interested partners to better understand the needs of domestic violence survivors and the network of community-based anti-violence organizations that support domestic violence survivors. Child support guideline projects - contracts with various states including Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, dc, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, new hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. Assisting the states in reviewing and updating child support guidelines. Native youth productions (nyp) - cpr's purchase order with the Colorado department of human services, division of child support services (dcss) is to evaluate a demonstration project funded by the federal office of child support services entitled charting a course for economic mobility and responsible parenting. Nyp involves a collaboration with denver indian family resource Center (difrac) which will recruit native children involved in the foster and kinship care systems to engage in a transformational process of learning and creation that will culminate in developing a film for their peers that will be distributed online. The intervention aims to advance the cultural and community connectedness of participants and youth exposed to the film that is developed and help them to achieve economic mobility and become responsible parents. Cpr will describe the project and assess outcomes.