LPC Consulting
Associates, Inc.
(LPC) was established in November 1994 as a woman-owned
small business based in Sacramento, California
(incorporated in August 2001). LPC specializes in program evaluation, with related
experience in evaluating planning and collaboration;
developing and conducting needs assessment studies; and
facilitating a variety of processes that are integral to
evaluation research.
In 1994 when Lynne
Cannady started this evaluation consulting organization,
she named the company in haste and simply used her
initials. However, the “LPC” has come to take on
many other meanings that are more fitting now:
Learning via Program
Capacity-building: Over the past 15 years we have
worked with several organizations and agencies that have
shifted the way they collect and use data to assess
their work and measure change. These clients have become
passionate about their data and they examine trends over
time, post targets and milestones to rally staff
performance, and share statistics freely with the
community and their stakeholders. In short, they use the
data to celebrate their successes and to address their
shortcomings. Client organizations that have
demonstrated this:
Launching Pilot and
Community-based Programs: Many of our clients
contact us when they are drafting a grant application,
so we can get on board with the evaluation in this early
stage of development. We often write the evaluation
section of their grant applications and proposals. For
these clients we develop an evaluation design, work in
collaboration to draft a logic model and data collection
tools, and then collect and analyze the data they need
to report to funders. This includes federal grantees and
the use of the GPRA (Government Performance Reporting
Act). Some of these projects/organizations include:
Leadership, Planning,
and Collaboration: LPC has worked with several
organizations in the development of leadership, planning
and needs assessment work, and both facilitating and
evaluating collaboration. Since 1995 Ms. Cannady has
been a trainer and workshop facilitator for the
Nonprofit Resource Center, providing workshops on
evaluation and logic model development. The renowned
CEO-Link program is the culmination of this work,
where 15 nonprofit executive directors meet monthly for
nearly a year of training and development work. Program
evaluation was one of the cornerstones of this
leadership development and training program.
Similarly, planning is
often a formal activity required by some funders. This
may include funding for 1-2 years to convene
stakeholders and partners, to conduct a thorough needs
assessment study, to design a program approach, and to
develop the infrastructure for a new program initiative.
Similarly, strategic planning and other internal
self-assessment processes often include some form of
needs assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses,
to revisit priorities and practices. LPC staff have
participated in numerous needs assessment activities in
conjunction with evaluation work as well as in
stand-alone assignments. These consist of a combination
of qualitative and quantitative data collection and
analysis tasks, depending on the size and scope of the
topic.
LPC staff often include
the facilitation of focus groups as part of evaluation.
To address the many languages and cultures in the
community, we actively recruit and train youth and
individuals who are community-based and
bilingual/bicultural to facilitate focus group meetings,
thereby building capacity in the community.
LPC has worked closely
with several active collaborations, primarily at the
local level. As collaboration became an increasingly
important component of new grants and new approaches to
meeting community needs, LPC developed methods for
documenting, describing, and assessing the effectiveness
of collaborative partnerships.
Samples of the
leadership, planning, and collaboration work include:
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CEO-Link
(Nonprofit Resource Center)
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Raising the
Standard (Nonprofit Resource Center and
Sacramento Region Community Foundation)
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Needs assessment
studies (City of Sacramento Unified School
District mental health integration; The
California Endowment's Healthy Start; Sacramento
Children’s Home Crisis Nursery)
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River Oak
stakeholder interviews |
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Family Support
Collaborative (for Birth & Beyond Community
Resource Program) |
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Destination Family
(partnership between Sierra Adoption Services
and Sacramento County DHHS)
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Logic-modeling,
Products, and Clear Communication: LPC has developed
tools and products to communicate effectively with
client organizations, their constituents, and funders.
In addition, we understand that planning and evaluation
work is only meaningful if it communicates clearly and
effectively. We demonstrate clear communication in
multiple ways, including the following:
Logic-modeling:
For all evaluation studies conducted by LPC we draft a
logic model to provide a simple framework that
illustrates the integration of program implementation
and the evaluation study. In most instances, we draft
the logic model with the client organization or program
staff, in a workshop process. We have found this process
to be a pillar of our approach to capacity-building
because it demystifies evaluation and engages all
stakeholders in the evaluation from its inception. LPC
staff conduct workshops on
logic model development for the Nonprofit Resource
Center and other nonprofit or public agency clients, on
request.
Products: We
generate a variety of products, ranging from
data collection tools tailored to specific study needs
and requirements; to reports to funding sources; to
PowerPoint presentations; to stand-alone resource
documents. As reporting needs change, LPC formats for
reporting has been evolving. We recognize that most
client organizations do not have time to digest lengthy,
comprehensive written reports. In response to the
demands for “less is more” in reporting, we routinely
include an executive summary for written reports; we
integrate graphic presentation of key findings, and
relegate dense tables to appendices or attachments for
reference; we complement written reports with a
summary presentation in PowerPoint; and we produce
reports that are attractive in layout and formatting, at
no additional expense to the client. We have adapted new
and emerging technology to our client’s reporting needs,
allowing us to upgrade report quality economically and
efficiently. For example, we use
SurveyMonkey and
Facebook for data collection among specific audiences
more likely to respond to these venues.
We also generate resource
documents to advance the work of our clients, including
reports of community indicators to reflect trends over
time; data collection protocols and guides to using
forms and the databases we develop; and a directory of
evidence-based youth programs, with references to
sources and resources.
Clear Communication: Our
work is about relationships, and these are dependent on
our ability to communicate clearly. This means we
practice active listening, and we strike a good balance
between asking questions and providing input. We also
exercise care to understand the client organization’s
needs, clarify the funder’s reporting requirements, and
aim to simplify the work of documenting process and
outcome findings. LPC staff have excellent oral and
written communication skills, and work very closely with
client organizations to insure ongoing dialogue and
collaborative problem solving. This is evident from the
volume of work that is our second or third project with
the same client organization, or the duration of these
relationships, some of which are as long at ten years.
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