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Policy Roles
Our work with state and local agencies and nonprofit service providers has given us extensive experience with how policy is made and how it can be made more effective. In services responding to family violence, the needs of veteran families and their children, school-based mental health services, and in early care and education, we have advised agencies on the development and evaluation of policy intended to improve children and family outcomes.
The most effective agencies and leaders we have worked with understand that policy is not what an agency says it will do, but what it can do to improve outcomes. Policy is more than programs funded by external sources. It is more than discussions in meetings or creation of a new coordinating body. To have an impact, policy must combine resources with results, tracking improvement over time against baseline levels of programs’ accomplishments. To make policy real requires developing data systems that track those improvements, analyzing where further innovation can bring better results. When an innovative program produces better results, sustainability planning moves those successes toward systems change, rather than an isolated program dependent upon one-time funding.
The skills of an agency include its leadership, its front-line staff, and a sustained effort to make policy real in the lives of those it is intended to help. We have been fortunate to work with such leaders, their staff, and funders who recognize how these ingredients must fit together to create better outcomes. We look forward to continuing those efforts to implement policy that makes a real difference.
