Using data to drive action

We celebrate the passage of two pieces of legislation this session that exemplify our commitment to evidence use and evidence building in Colorado. The first, House Bill (HB) 24-1428, advances the state’s vision of evidence-based decision making in policymaking to drive state investments and outcomes during budget requests. The second, State Bill (SB) 24-047, strengthens […]

“In academia, we often get stuck in an intellectual trap of doing evaluation for the sake of doing it even when it’s not making an impact in the world. I feel really motivated to seek out opportunities like this to work with government partners that care about doing rigorous research on programs they’re investing in,” […]

As the former Director of Strategy for the Colorado Department of Human Services and then the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration, Yumiko Dougherty often turned to the Colorado Lab for support. As a result, Dougherty, who now leads the consulting firm Ignite the Change Advisors, leapt at the chance to partner with the Colorado Lab in […]

The Colorado Lab is working with Governor Polis’s Office of Operations to build agency capacity to achieve the administration’s Wildly Important Goals (WIGs). The WIGs, identified through an annual strategic planning process, help state leaders focus on and track progress toward selected priority efforts. Drs. Kristin Klopfenstein and Courtney Everson are partnering with state agencies […]

Colorado’s Five-Year Family First Prevention Services Plan (Colorado’s Plan) promotes use of evidence-based programs and services in child welfare to help keep children safe and more families together. The Colorado Lab leads the Family First Evidence-Building Hub on behalf of the Colorado Department of Human Services.  We recently released the State Fiscal Year 2024 Family First […]

We were pleased to present at the spring forum for the Colorado Hospitals Substance Exposed Newborn (CHoSEN) Quality Improvement Collaborative. The forum focused on evidence-based practices in caring for families affected by prenatal substance use and opportunities for innovation in collaborative care.  Dr. Courtney Everson, Senior Project Director for the Colorado Lab, co-presented a plenary session entitled Piloting […]

The Colorado Lab has launched a Workforce Development Evidence-Building Hub. The new Hub is a partnership with the Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative, the Colorado Wage Outcomes Result Coalition (Colorado WORC), Opportunity Now, and WorkRise at the Urban Institute. The aim is to learn more about support and training impacts on learner outcomes related to […]

The Colorado Lab is working with Philanthropy Colorado and state philanthropic leaders to determine how funders can best support their nonprofit grantee partners in collecting and learning from data. Foundation leaders have been invited to participate in monthly Community of Practice learning sessions through early 2025.  Natalie Portman-Marsh of NPM Consulting, LLC will facilitate the […]

Pictured above: Plans of Safe Care Pilot Team members (Illuminate Colorado, the Colorado Lab, and the Kempe Center) meet with partners from the San Luis Valley Area Health Education Center, the Rural Recovery Network, and Valley-Wide Health providers at Sierra Blanca Medical Center.) Efforts are underway in the San Luis Valley (SLV) to develop a […]

A new Colorado Lab brief offers a bird’s eye view of findings from multiple evaluations underway for stimulus-funded strategies of the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC). The Early Childhood Evaluation Hub: Early Insights brief provides a cohesive overview of evidence building to date for evaluations from seven teams. Top-Line Early Insights on CDEC Strategic […]