Measuring Outcomes for Boys and Men of Color

Five Southeast Michigan organizations that serve boys and men of color received support to evaluate their impact thanks to funding made available through the Community Foundation and the national capacity-building program Research, Integration, Strategy and Evaluation (RISE).

RISE is a program to better understand and strategically improve the lives, experiences and outcomes of boys and men of color. It is co-led by the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and Equal Measure, a national evaluation and philanthropic services firm.

The purpose of this program is to enable local organizations to build capacity to collect and analyze data in a way that furthers organizational missions and contributes to boys and men of color research, evaluation, and program replication and adaption.

Each of the five Detroit-area organizations was awarded $15,000 to better measure and evaluate their program’s impact on the lives, experiences and outcomes of boys and men of color. The organizations will partner with the University of Michigan School of Social Work Program Evaluation Group to complete their projects. Organizations are using the funding in the following ways:

• Green Door Initiative is evaluating strategies and models to recruit and retain African American young adult males in workforce development programs.
• Focus:HOPE is evaluating the Men in Motion Fatherhood Initiative in the Early Learning program, which strives to help African American fathers of Head Start children establish consistent and positive relationships with their families.
• The Lyricist Society, in partnership with The Yunion, is evaluating the success and impact of its after-school creative arts program at Frederick Douglas Academy, the state’s only all-male public high school.
• LGBT Detroit is incorporating evaluation strategies into its new Brother 2 Brother program, which is aimed at providing HIV prevention education and support to young gay and bisexual men of color.
• Sigma Pi Phi Iota Boulè Educational Foundation is evaluating Pathway to Excellence, a youth leadership development program for high performing African American boys.

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a full-service philanthropic organization leading the way to positive change in our region. As a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations, the Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development, and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $1 billion through more than 66,000 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Livingston counties.

Research Integration, Strategy and Evaluation (RISE) is a national field-building effort to better understand and strategically improve the lives, experiences and outcomes of boys and men of color. It is co-led by the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and Equal Measure, a national evaluation and philanthropic services firm.