Our Evidence Matters Webinars

Our Latest Webinar

From Line Items to Impact: Incorporating Evidence into Local Budgeting

Many local governments have taken steps to evaluate the community impacts of specific programs and have used such analysis to support funding decisions. But how do we move from making ad hoc decisions about what gets evaluated to building a consistent focus on data and evidence into budget decisions?

This webinar explores how local government leaders are embedding research, data, and evidence into budgeting processes. Hear practical advice from local government leaders about how to get started and how to sustain momentum over time—building the internal capacity, cross-departmental partnerships, and political will needed to make evidence-informed budgeting a lasting part of how your government works.

Resource slides

Key Discussion points:

• Action steps for evidence-informed spending: From establishing formal definitions to reporting evidence-informed decisions back to the public.
• Tips for getting started: Don’t feel like you have the infrastructure in place for data-driven budgeting decisions yet? This webinar will cover some ideas for even small steps you may be able to take to get started.
• Bringing data and evidence to the front burner: We’ll discuss how building it into budget templates and instructions ensures that data-driven insights remain front-of-mind, regardless of political shifts.
• Timing ISN’T everything: Practical strategies for aligning long-term evaluation cycles with fast-paced annual budget formulation, including the use of interim performance and implementation measures.

Featured Perspectives:

• Ricardo Basurto Davila, Chief Evaluation Officer, County of San Diego, CA
• Ryan Flynn, Civic Design Researcher, The Lab @ DC
• Jen Tolentino, Director, Local Practice, Results for America
• Sam Quinney, Director, Yale for Connecticut Initiative, Tobin Center for Economic Policy

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What is Evidence Matters?

Evidence Matters is a collaborative learning series hosted by the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) at the University of Notre Dame and J-PAL North America at MIT, with expert guidance from public sector evidence leader Carrie S. Cihak. Originating in 2021 as a partnership between LEO and King County, Washington, the series brings together government, researcher, and community perspectives to showcase successful partnerships that promote rigorous learning to advance equitable evidence-based economic mobility outcomes.

Mission, Vision, and Values

Mission: Supporting local governments, researchers, and social service providers as they embed evidence into every stage of decision-making, from policy development, to program design, to implementation.

Vision: Equitable community outcomes are advanced through increased collaboration among local government, practitioners, researchers, and policy organizations.

Values:

• We focus on research that is in the service of improving outcomes.
• We hold the expertise of practitioners, communities, and researchers in equal regard.
• We share and learn from practical, real-world examples of what works to increase economic mobility.
• We emphasize continuous learning over singular quantitative results.
• We believe research methods must be matched to the learning questions and context. While Evidence Matters focuses on methods using Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), we hold space to discuss the necessary ‘building blocks’ of evidence creation and learning that occur before an RCT is feasible, during a study, or after quantitative analysis is complete.