> Projects > Sound
Families
Sound Families
www.soundfamilies.org
What
is the goal of the Sound Families program?
The goal of the Sound Families Program is to make a significant
impact on the lives of homeless families in King, Pierce
and Snohomish Counties to help them
move toward permanent housing. The initiative will provide support for 1560
units of transitional housing with supportive services such as child care and
job training. The initiative will also serve as a catalyst for a new level
of cooperation on homeless-related issues among the three counties.
Evaluation
Evaluation of
the Sound Families Initiative will help us understand the
impact
that Sound Families has had on helping homeless families in
the Puget Sound region transition from homelessness into permanent
housing. The evaluation will examine how Sound Families has
benefited transitional housing programs serving homeless families
and identify challenges the programs and their clients continue
to face. The evaluation will be a participatory process that
involves multiple stakeholders in all stages of the evaluation,
from initial planning and outcome development to interpretation
of the findings. Findings are intended to be useful to both
program staff and policy-makers.
The evaluation will consist of tracking outcomes at three levels—system,
organization and client—and describing change using case
studies. Twelve case study programs (four in each county: Pierce,
King and Snohomish) will be selected to work with the evaluators
at a more in-depth level to provide longitudinal client data.
Basic demographic intake and exit data will be collected on
all clients in the non-case study programs. It will be presented
in aggregate form only, giving a broad picture of the families’ status
as they enter and exit the programs. Primary measures and major
data sources used to track progress toward the outcomes at
each level of analysis are briefly described below.
Client Level
An intake form will be completed by
the case manager for each client participating in the study.
Clients will then be interviewed
after 6 months in the program and at exit. Client follow-up
interviews will be conducted at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years
following exit. Questions will be asked about changes in
economic indicators, housing indicators, children’s
school stability, and proximal indicators such as changes
in the use of emergency health care, arrests, and social
support networks. Clients will also be asked about the services
they received and the continuity of those services, as well
as their experiences in and satisfaction with the housing
programs.
Program Level
Program directors will be interviewed about changes in the
availability of capital, operating and service funding for
programs; new collaborations, particularly between service
and housing providers; increases in program capacity necessary
to provide service-enriched transitional housing; and their
experiences implementing a Sound Families funded program.
They will also complete a written survey that provides data
on program structure, service costs, and sources for operating
and service funds.
System Level
Annual interviews with key stakeholders are the primary data
source for examining the system level outcomes. Questions
will be asked about changes in resources available at a county
level to develop transitional housing, provide operating
funds and sustain services; changes in the diversity of available
funding sources; and new collaborations that have been formed
at a county or system level.
For more information contact Jami Bodonyi
Top of Page |
