Using traditional soiled methods will not be enough to reduce poverty in Santa Clara by 50%. We support innovative pilot programs to create locally designed, holistic, measurable, market-driven solutions to reduce poverty and create economic development. Organizations should be encouraged to collaborate and develop new methods to engage their communities and work together to target specific determinants of poverty. SUSV will achieve this goal by providing funding, technical assistance, and oversight to help organizations test and scale new programs. Several new initiatives that SUSV has incubated include:
Franklin McKinley Children’s Initiative
Inspired by the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone, the Franklin McKinley Children’s Initiative was formed in 2009 to transform the lives of children living in one of the poorest neighborhoods in San Jose. Utilizing a focused block-by-block intervention strategy, the Initiative requires new systems of collaboration among government, schools and the community. The primary goal of the Initiative is to have all children graduate from college and develop a self-sustaining career.
Franklin McKinley Women’s Initiative
The Franklin McKinley Women’s Initiative is focused on assisting low-income women to gain economic self-sufficiency by providing them with microenterprise training. This program is a collaborative partnership between Step Up, Franklin McKinley Children’s Initiative, and Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment. In 2011-12, 31 women participated in the training with business interest from catering to alterations, event planning, senior healthcare, to bakery and fashion boutique.
Outcome Measurement
In partnership with Community Technology Alliance (CTA), Step Up SV is in the process to:
- Develop Outcome Measures Agreement: Develop cross sector agreement on high level community human development outcome measures around poverty, housing, food, health, education, and income.
- Develop Coordinated Data Collection and Reporting: Develop a data collection and reporting system that collects cross sector outcome data and that can interface with existing systems.
Outcomes Experience by Clients
In collaboration with Rachel Wright, Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University’s Center for the Study of Poverty & Inequality, Step Up is developing a feasible outcome measurement system in order to understand the impact that service providing non-profits have on low-income individuals. While most studies on nonprofit outcomes focus on organization level characteristics, this study will focus on the outcomes experienced by the individual clients.