A Century's Worth of Partnership
It’s an exciting time of year as we officially add a select group of trailblazing organizations to the LEO fold. LEO’s newest partners have just wrapped up an intensive 16-week research design process. This cohort is extra special in that it gets LEO into triple digits—we now officially have over 100 projects! This accomplishment marks a significant milestone in our journey. We’re so grateful to all of the partners who have helped us reach this point. But let’s take a moment to celebrate the six brave organizations that have most recently demonstrated the courage to put their innovative interventions under the LEO microscope.
Catholic Charities Fort Worth
Fort Worth, TX
Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) designed the Working Family Services program to provide the guidance necessary for their clients to move toward self-sufficiency. The program pairs each client with a navigator who connects them to resources, provides financial coaching, and directs strategic financial assistance. CCFW envisions virtual navigation as a possible avenue for improving the personal and financial well-being of families facing economic instability across their large service area spanning the Diocese of Fort Worth. The use of virtual case management services creates a path to serving a larger number of clients both locally and in more remote areas.
LEO and CCFW are partnering to measure the difference in impact of in-person case management services versus virtual case management services.
Boys and Girls Clubs Northern Indiana Corridor
South Bend, IN
Boys and Girls Clubs Northern Indiana Corridor (BGCNIC) offers after-school programming that focuses not only on promoting activities like athletics, games, homework time, and leisure reading, but also on access to therapy services and specialized social-emotional learning programs to help club members develop the skills that empower them to make healthy decisions. Our nation’s growing income inequality leads to diverging abilities for families to invest in enrichment opportunities for their children The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this disparity, as the majority of learning loss has been borne by children from low-income communities. BGCNIC helps bridge this gap. Enrichment activities support club members in not only finding and growing their passions but also developing socially and emotionally.
LEO and Boys & Girls Club are partnering to better understand the effect of their academic and emotional well-being enrichment programs on outcomes related to children’s academic engagement and achievement.
Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN
Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis seeks to examine the effectiveness of EmpowerHub, a program designed for middle school girls. Middle school is a pivotal time in youth development, and we are in the midst of a youth mental health crisis, during which anxiety, depression, and suicide have reached startlingly high rates among youth. School engagement continues to be difficult, particularly for students from low-income families who face myriad challenges at both home and school. To address these challenges, Girls Inc. offers a uniform curriculum throughout the school year that teaches girls to be Strong (Health and Wellness), Smart (School Engagement and Performance), and Bold (Social Responsibility and Leadership).
LEO and Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis are partnering to measure the impact on school outcomes of middle school girls engaged in EmpowerHub.
North Texas Food Bank
Plano, TX
North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) served 80,000+ unduplicated households last year through their food distribution affiliates. Of those clients, almost 25,000 participate in SNAP, many through the help of NTFB’s SNAP Enrollment Assistance program. Despite these efforts, North Texas has a disproportionately low utilization rate of SNAP. To address this shortcoming, NTFB has developed a simple text outreach program to encourage enrollment.
LEO and NTFB are partnering to measure the impact of text message reminders on SNAP enrollment and recertification.
The Villages of Indiana
Indianapolis, IN
The Villages of Indiana is designing an intervention to help older foster care youth succeed. Nationally, around 50% of youth experience unemployment and 20% become homeless within four years of aging out of the foster care system, while only 6% earn a college degree by age 23. The Villages aims to improve this transition with a new Fostering Independence Accounts program. The program will offer regular cash deposits, savings contributions, and enhanced case management services to youth ages 16 to 20 in the foster care system.
LEO and The Villages are partnering to better understand the impact of the Fostering Independence Accounts program on each participant’s transition out of the foster care system.
Strategies to End Homelessness
Cincinnati, OH
Strategies to End Homelessness (STEH) is the Continuum of Care for Cincinnati. Traditional approaches to addressing homelessness often focus on providing temporary shelter or short-term assistance without addressing the underlying factors that contribute to housing insecurity. STEH’s innovative Shelter Diversion program targets resources to people who are doubled up or who have a short window of temporary shelter, offering financial support and case management services to individuals and families at risk of homelessness. The ultimate goal of the Diversion program is to prevent homelessness in at-risk individuals and improve individuals’ long-term financial stability.
LEO and STEH are partnering to measure the impact of Diversion services on emergency housing shelter use, housing stability, financial stability, involvement in the criminal justice system, and family stability.