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| ASR at the American Pubic Health Association |  |
ASR staff members presented new research at the annual American Public Health Association (APHA) Conference which took place in November in Denver.
Susan Brutschy, President of ASR, presented a talk called, "Show Me the Money," which discussed how critical it is to be able to talk about results at all levels: participant, program, community and region.
Tracy Keenan, Project Manager, described a program to prevent the entry of infants and young children into Child Protective Services by Latina pregnant and parenting mothers with substance abuse problems. Tracy also described an innovative evaluation of a comprehensive school-based initiative which showed strong positive outcomes for students in a predominantly Latino school district.
Peter Connery, Vice President of ASR, described a housing and health assessment for the Yakama Indian Nation in the state of Washington.
For more information, or to view the slides presented at the conference, please contact Deanna Zachary, Project and Media Relations Manager, at 831-728-1356.
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| Vol. X, Issue 5 | December 2010 |
| Message from Susan Brutschy, ASR President | |
As we look forward to a new year, we wanted to thank you for all
 the work that you do for your communities. We at ASR are excited about starting a new year of service to all of our partners. We know that it's a challenging time for non-profit organizations, county agencies and families. But we also know how important it is to rededicate ourselves to helping our partners build better communities. We would like to help you to collect information about your region, your organization and your programs to help show how you are making a difference in people's lives. We want to help you to sustain your efforts, to attract more allies and champions, and to build support for the work you do on behalf of children and families. Please don't hesitate to contact me at 831-728-1356 or susan@appliedsurveyrsearch.org. Please enjoy this updated e-news with shorter articles for your busy lives.
I wish you all a wonderful holiday season! Warm Regards,
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| International Journal Publishes New Article about ASR's Community Assessment Work | 
Long term Impacts of a Community Indicator Project
The Santa Cruz County Community Assessment Project (CAP) is featured in a special Applied Research in Quality of Life Journal (ARIQ) focused on community indicators that are used as tools for social change. The article focuses on how the CAP contributes to better outcomes for children and youth. It highlights CAP's ten step community improvement cycle and how it has contributed to new countywide initiatives in the areas of universal health care for children, teen drug and alcohol abuse, childhood obesity, and improved outcomes for youth in a historically low-performing school district. Please click here for a copy of the article. For more information, please contact Deanna Zachary, Project and Media Relations Manager, at ASR, at 831-728-1356.
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| Homeless Census and Surveys |  Eight New Homeless Projects Using Our Award-Winning Methodology ASR is pleased to announce that we'll be helping eight different regions in California and Nevada to conduct research about homelessness. ASR has developed a unique and prize-winning methodology which involves utilizing homeless individuals to help both count and survey the homeless population. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) characterizes ASR's methodology as a best practice in the field of homeless research. The federal government requires that counties count the number of homeless individuals in their regions every two years. The counts help the regions to obtain additional funding and decide how to best support homeless individuals and families.
The seven California counties include Orange, Riverside, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Sonoma, in addition to Clark County in Nevada. The homeless counts and surveys will take place at the end of January 2011. For more information, please contact Peter Connery, Vice President, at 831-728-1356. |
| Kindergarten Readiness Assessments | 
Ground-breaking Research Links Kindergarten Readiness to 3rd Grade Success
ASR followed children from kindergarten to 3rd grade in two California Counties (San Mateo and Santa Clara) and found that kindergarteners with stronger early skills performed much better on standardized math and English tests in 3rd grade, as compared to kindergarteners with less developed early learning skills.
Why do 3rd grade test scores matter so much?
Research shows that 3rd grade test scores are a strong predictor of whether children will succeed in the rest of their education. Given enough support, children who weren't ready for kindergarten can catch up; unfortunately, most of the children in this study were unable to. Schools can use kindergarten readiness information to better target their support for children. According to Lisa Colvig-Amir, Director of Evaluation Services at ASR, "We've got to do three key things: 1. teach parents how to work with their children to be ready for kindergarten, 2. help early childhood educators to support preschool children, and 3. work with kindergarten teachers to support incoming kindergartners who are less ready for school."
The study, sponsored by Santa Clara County Partnership for School Readiness and Silicon Valley Community Foundation, followed 1,330 children starting in 2004 and ending in 2009. For more information, please contact Kristi Kelly, Project Manager, at kristi@appliedsurveyresearch.org.
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| Community Assessment Projects: San Luis Obispo County, California is Making a Difference | |
ASR just worked with ACTION for Healthy Communities in San Luis
 Obispo County to release a new community assessment report for 2010. ACTION has been hard at work to improve the quality of life in San Luis Obispo County and ASR has been a research partner in that effort since 1999. This new report includes extensive secondary data about 100 indicators and a telephone survey of 1,100 local residents with their perspectives on their lives and on the region.
ACTION is working on a regional "smart growth" strategy to develop more housing for low-income families and those with special needs. ACTION also convened an effort to reduce teen drug and alcohol abuse. At a conference on poverty next February, ACTION will launch a publication with new 2010 data about "Basic Needs" in the region. Data from the new report will also be used to kick-off a county event to encourage more active living and less obesity.
The county has been working hard to improve the health of local residents and new data show that some of those efforts are working:
- Deaths from chronic preventable diseases like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes have decreased over the decade.
- Most residents are staying active outdoors and visiting the many recreation areas in the county.
- Obesity is down over the last ten years.
To view the full report, click here. For more information, please contact Director of Assessment and Evaluation Services, Abbie Stevens, at 831-728-1356.
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Community Assessment Project: One of the Oldest Community Indicator Projects in the United States: Santa Cruz County
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Santa Cruz County celebrated the 16th year of their Community Assessment Project (CAP) at a community celebration with more than 200 participants. The United Way of Santa Cruz County spearheaded the first community assessment in 1994, and ASR has been its research partner from the very beginning. Data from the CAP reports over the last 16 years have been used to help county-wide efforts in the areas of teen drug and alcohol abuse, childhood obesity, education, health care and the environment.
Data from the new report continues to show how the economy is impacting all aspects of people's lives with high rates of foreclosures, and people living without some basic needs such as health care and food. But the data also show that some county efforts are having great success: health care coverage for children has improved dramatically, child abuse has declined over the last decade, and beaches are cleaner.
Thanks to Dominican Hospital, a summary of the CAP report reaches every household in the county. The CAP report received media attention from KSBW TV, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Register-Pajaronian, and the Good Times. Please click www.appliedsurveyresearch.org/about/news.htmlfor news about the CAP. To view the CAP data, please visit http://www.appliedsurveyresearch.org/projects/cap.html.
For more information about the Santa Cruz CAP or to conduct an assessment in your county or city, contact the Director of Assessment and Evaluation Services, Abbie Stevens, at 831-728-1356.
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| ASR's New Projects | |
First 5 Contra Costa County
ASR will help to evaluate First 5 programs in Contra Costa County. First 5 Contra Costa County is embarking on a new strategic plan for 2010-2015 which focuses on four major areas: early childhood education, including high quality child care and preschool; helping at-risk children from birth to age 3 to form healthy attachments; supporting children who have experienced child abuse and neglect; and community information and engagement. For more information, please contact Lisa Colvig-Amir, Director of Evaluation Services, at 408-247-8319.
Preschool for All in San Francisco
ASR is helping to evaluate Preschool For All (PFA) in San Francisco. PFA provides free half-day preschool for all four-year-olds, regardless of income. Children living in every neighborhood and every zip code in San Francisco are eligible. Parents can choose a program for 2.5 hours to 3.5 hours a day. All preschools hire qualified teachers with at least one teacher for every eight children and classroom sizes are limited to 24 children at most. For more information, please contact Lisa Colvig-Amir, Director of Evaluation Services, at 408-247-8319.
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Contact Us
Let us help you to collect information about your programs and your community in order to sustain your work during these tough economic times. We can also help you to analyze the data that you already have! Call us in our Watsonville office at 831-728-1356 or in our San Jose office at 408-247-8319.
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