Jumping the Planning Hurdles part I

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Jumping the Planning Hurdlespart I

• Goal 5 Agencies increase capacity to achieve
  results.

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Objectives of todays 3 sessions

• Overall -- To report on two CAAP projects and
  foreshadow activities for coming year
• Part I To reinforce the value of Planning
  introduce the ROMA cycle and Planning Hierarchy
  identify elements of the CAAP projects aimed at
  helping agencies improve their capacity to
  achieve results highlight community assessment
  practice identify importance of agencies
  engaging in strategic thinking aimed at the
  elimination of poverty in Pennsylvania
• Part II To expose participants to some
  activities from the Planning for Results
  curriculum report on planning activities in PA
  explore linking needs-services-results using
  e-Logic Model/established catalogue of standard
  elements
• Part III To focus on assessment data resources

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Six National Goals

• Goal 1. Low-income people become more
  self-sufficient.
• (Family)
• Goal 2. The conditions in which low-income
  people live are
• improved. (Community)
• Goal 3. Low-income people own a stake in their
  community.
• (Community)
• Goal 4. Partnerships among supporters and
  providers of
• services to low-income people are achieved.
  (Agency)
• Goal 5. Agencies increase their capacity to
  achieve results.
• (Agency)
• Goal 6. Low-income people, especially vulnerable
  populations, achieve their potential by
  strengthening family and other supportive
  systems. (Family)

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The Results Oriented Management and
Accountability Cycle

• ASSESSMENT
• Needs and Resources
• PLANNING EVALUATION
• Use assessment data Analyze data, compare
• and mission statement to with benchmarks
• identify Outcomes and Strategies
• IMPLEMENTATION ACHIEVMENT OF
  strategies and services RESULTS
• Observe and Report

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We started with results.

• The focus for the past decade, for many
  Community Action Agencies, has been on the
  identification, observation, documentation and
  reporting of outcome data.
• We have been addressing these questions
• What happened to the families we serve and the
  communities in which we work?
• How have our agencies changed?

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How do we interpret our results?

• The questions that have grown out of the data
  that we have been collecting are focused on
  linking the outcomes to needs and to the
  strategies we employ to meet the needs, such as
  
• Do our strategies and services address the
  anti-poverty mission of Community Action?
• What do our results mean in context of changing
  community circumstances?
• How many people have moved out of poverty?
• What are the strategies and services that have
  been most productive?

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Connecting strategies and services to outcomes is
a challenge
I think you should be more explicit here in Step
Two.
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• How do we get more explicit about what we do?
• How do we decide what to do?

PLANNING!
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Why plan?

• The act of planning provides an opportunity for
  an agency or a community to step away from day to
  day operations and consider a vision of the
  future.
• It helps you identify where you want to be in 3-5
  years.
• It allow you to consider, in a strategic and
  comprehensive way, how your agency will address
  its anti-poverty mission.
• It allows you to remain competitive as needs and
  community environment change.
• A well thought out plan will help to unify agency
  staff (from all programs) and board members
  around a common vision and common outcome goals.

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A different view

• Where do you start your planning activities?

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Community Action Agencies are more than service
providers.

• STRATEGIC THINKING MODEL
• The development of strategies must be built on a
  firm foundation that includes the community
  outside your agency.
• What will the community be like if you are
  successful in your work?
• Who do you want the community to say you are?
• How can you develop Stakeholder Involvement?
• You must be faithful to your mission and your
  corporate identity.

• PROVISION OF SERVICES MODEL
• Providing services because funding is available
  can distract you from a more effective selection
  of services and anti-poverty strategies.
• Failure to link activities together to form a
  comprehensive set of services and advocacy
  strategies may reduce your effectiveness in
  helping the families with whom you work to move
  out of poverty.
• Sometimes there are unintended consequences doing
  the same services you always have done --
  enabling the continuation of poverty.

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A different view

• In addition to thinking of the ongoing nature
  and inter-related elements of the ROMA cycle, let
  us look at the process of planning in a
  hierarchical way.

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Hierarchy of Planning

• Services and activities are designed developed
  based on identified outcomes to be achieved,
  priorities and resources.
• Outcomes and indicators are identified that align
  with the agency priorities and community
  assessment.
• Agency develops priorities to address needs based
  on mission and vision.
• Identify needs and resources of the community.

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Consistent with guidance from legislation

• We have been charged with identifying
  community needs (as they relate to the
  elimination of poverty) and resources, and then
  creating strategies that use existing resources
  (and develop new ones) to address needs.
• (1964 OEO language, 1970 directive, 1998
  recertification)
• And we are responsible to develop a Community
  Action Plan that indicates what we will do and
  what we will accomplish.
• CSBG ACT 1998 - Sec.676(b)(11) -- The State will
  secure from each eligible entity in the State, as
  a condition to receipt of funding by the entity
  through a community services block grant made
  under this subtitle for a program, a community
  action plan .. that includes a community-needs
  assessment for the community served, which may be
  coordinated with community-needs assessments
  conducted for other programs.

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More recent guidance from OCS

• Specific core activities are identified in
  Information Memorandum 49 (2001), for Agencies
  and their Boards
• Regular assessments of the Agencys overall
  mission, desired impacts and program structure
  including
• Needs of community and residents,
• Relationship of activities supported by Agency to
  other anti-poverty, community development
  services in community,
• Extent Agency activities contribute to the
  accomplishment of one or more of the six national
  ROMA goals
• Use of these assessments to identify yearly
  or multi-annually improvements or results it
  plans to achieve in the lives of individuals,
  families, and/or the community.

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Responses from CAAP

• CAAP has been engaged in two projects designed to
  assist agencies improve capacity through improved
  planning processes
• The Pennsylvania State Planning Project
• National Peer to Peer Planning for Results
  Curriculum

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National Peer to Peer ROMA Training Project

• Planning for Results

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Planning for Results Curriculum(the NPtP Project)

• In response to prompting by OCS and input from
  Certified ROMA trainers from across the country,
  CAAP commissioned the development of a guide for
  CAAs to help them improve their planning
  processes.
• The result is a product that has been piloted in
  PA, NY and CA.
• It consists of four 2.5 hour modules that can be
  combined in a variety of ways.

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Planning for Results Modules

• Module I - Developing a Community Vision explores
  a vision for the community and assesses where the
  community is relative to that vision
• Module II - Setting Priorities and Determining
  Outcomes examines challenges and supports to the
  vision, and desired outcomes of community and
  agency.

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• Module III - Developing Strategies examines
  existing and new strategies for achieving the
  outcomes aligned with priorities
• Module IV - Identification and Development of
  Resources reviews current and needed resources
  for implementing strategies

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• You will have an opportunity to participate in
  some of the Planning for Results exercises in a
  late part of this presentation.
• And you will hear about how the P4R curriculum
  was used in one PA CAA.

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Pennsylvania State Planning Project

• Principles of Planning
• Community Assessment Tools

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State Planning Project Products

• The PA Planning Initiative Workgroup established
  principles on which CAAs should base their
  planning activities.
• Created Principles of Planning document from
  these efforts
• Incorporates guidelines for conducting community
  assessments.
• Provides process to identify and report community
  needs/issues at a statewide level.
• Includes tools for planning.

the PA Planning Initiative Workgroup
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Principles of Planning

• 1. Conduct a general assessment of the
  community/service areas needs and resources on a
  regular basis
• at least every five years with annual updates as
  information is available.
• 2. Involve key members of the community, agency,
  and low-income consumers in all aspects of the
  planning process.
• 3. Develop an active, results-oriented framework
  of measurable long-range goals, short term
  objectives, and outcomes
• based on the findings/results of a community
  assessment and as a reflection of the
  organizations mission and priorities.

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Principles of Planning

• 4. Implement activities to address the goals and
  objectives.
• 5. Measure and monitor progress of activities,
  objectives and goals using output and
  outcome-oriented measures.
• 6. Evaluate success toward meeting
  goals/objectives and the impact of activities.

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Community assessment is the foundation of the
Planning Hierarchy
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What is a community assessment?

• Gathers information on current strengths,
  concerns/needs, and conditions of the community.
• Focus on local assets, resources, and activities.
• Focus on gaps, barriers, or emerging needs.
• Ongoing process.
• View community from multiple perspectives.
• Incorporates partnerships with other
  organizations.

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Part III

• There will be more information about community
  assessments in Part III of this workshop.

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• Lets try some of the activities from the first 2
  modules of P4R

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Activities from P4R

• Module I
• Visioning
• Identifying the current status of the community
• How much change is needed? How important is the
  change?

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• Module II
• Using the agency mission to set priorities

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Mission Focused Planning

• Define goals objectives around mission
• Creates an active, results-oriented framework for
  agency planning that
• Uses needs assessment to identify which functions
  require agency or community support
• Aligns agency resources and services to provide
  those supports
• Mobilizes programs and organizations to help fill
  service gaps.
• (Missouri Association for Community Action)