How to Use the Case Study Model.. And Why

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How to Use the Case Study Model.. And Why? A
description of what a case study can do for you,
and what they do for Faith-Based and Community
Initiative researchers William H.
Wubbenhorst Non-resident Fellow Institute for
Studies of Religion/Baylor University Project
Manager FaithService Forum, Macro International
Inc. Faith Works A Call for Evidence of
Action San Antonio, TX October 27-28, 2008
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Whats a Case Study, anyways?

• What a Case Study isnt

• What a Case Study is

• Curricula used for teaching (i.e., case study
  method)
• Story-telling for policy wonks
• A way for capturing promising practices
• A vehicle for peer learning (i.e., a community of
  practice)

• PR material (no spin, no air-brushing)
• Journalistic, Human Interest
• Empirical (although it does report outcomes and
  evaluation data) Evaluation lite

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Why Do a Case Study Whats in it for you

• Entry-level Evaluation The ability to
  articulate, measure and report what you do
  (quantitatively and qualitatively) is becoming
  more important (and often required) from both
  public and private funders This is a good way
  to get started
• Another set of Eyes The process of telling your
  story to an outsider, and learning more about
  what you do that you didnt know you did (pro
  bono consultation)
• Doesnt require any additional data collection,
  per se (although its best if there is some
  existing data to work with)
• Sets the table for future, more rigorous studies
  (see my colleagues presenting after me)

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Why Do a Case Study You owe it to the FBCI
movement

• Efforts to document and report the outcomes and
  results of FBCOs are ESSENTIAL to legitimizing,
  maintaining and increasing public support for the
  FBCI and the federal, state and local level
• Overcoming institutional biases against
  non-credentialed, non-certified, staff who just
  happen to be very effective
• Developing programs strategies that are built
  from the ground up, not top-down, re-positioning
  policy-makers and academicians as facilitators,
  not a formulators
• Developing alternative funding strategies
  (including the v word) that better assure
  effectiveness and responsiveness to community
  needs, and avoid church-state entanglements.

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What Have We Learned Thus Far?

• FBCI Case Study Trivia Questions
• How long after the Ohio Governors Office of
  Faith-Based and Community Initiatives was
  established did they hold their first outreach
  event?
• For the Texas Demonstration Project (operated by
  One Star Foundation and Cornerstone Consulting),
  what happened to FBCO sub-grantees TA priorities
  after they went through an Organizational
  Assessment?
• What was the High Tech/High Touch strategy used
  by the Latino Coalition for Faith and Community
  Initiatives for managing 57 FBCO sub-grantees in
  22 cities across 6 states from two different
  grant sources?
• What was the Center for Neighborhood Enterprises
  looking for in barbershops in various
  neighborhoods in Milwaukee?

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OneStar Foundation Texas Demonstration Project
Changes in T/TA Priorities Following
Organizational Assessment
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Future Challenges What were doing and what we
need to do more of

• Understanding and Advocating for Intermediary
  Organizations i) Why they are important for
  involving FBCOs ii) Making government
  procurements more intermediary-friendly iii)
  Developing outcomes to monitor intermediary
  performance.
• A Better understanding for how faith works,
  implicitly and explicitly, in FBCOs (whether they
  are called FBOs or not)
• Comparing the efficacy of funding alternatives to
  direct funding (i.e., grants)
• Using outcomes and evaluations to counter-act
  organizational and professional barriers

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Conclusions Its not just about the money

• Its not the money that determines whether a
  project succeeds or failsYou can give the same
  amount of money to two different groups and one
  will do wonders with the amount, and the other
  group can experience total failure.
• (Linda Leatherman, Pima County Faith-Based and
  Community Coordinator)

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Conclusions Much work ahead

• Dan Eckstrom, retired Pima County Supervisor and
  active supporter of the Pima project, summed up
  how collaboration with FBCOs can and should work
  at a local level
• So weve come a long way but theres still a
  long way to go. The problem is that you have to
  get people to understand that its not as hard as
  you think it is everybody gets hung up on the
  details of the separation between church and
  state thats the problem with us we always
  take the two or three things that we disagree on
  and forget about the 450 things that we do agree
  on and we let those two or three things separate
  us. This is one of the things that I think weve
  done a good job on just getting people to come
  together

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Final Thoughts

• The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few
  (Matthew 937)
• From Evaluators to Practitioners
• FBCOs, I think hope this is the start of a
  beautiful friendship.
• Humphrey Bogart (with editorial license)