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 […]
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Colorado Lab Presents at CHoSEN Forum
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 […]
New Workforce Development Evidence-Building Hub
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 […]
EBDM: Philanthropy Learning Community
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 […]
Plans of Safe Care Pilot: Visit to San Luis Valley
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 […]
Early Childhood Evaluation Hub: Synthesis of Initial Evidence
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 […]
Interdisciplinary Representation for Parents Improves Outcomes in Complex Child Welfare Cases
The Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel (ORPC) issued a press release sharing findings of an independent evaluation conducted by the Colorado Lab. The evaluation shows that using an interdisciplinary team to serve parents with complex needs leads to greater success in their child welfare case. Colorado’s ORPC is an independent state agency that provides legal […]
Updated Glossary! Evidence-Based Decision Making
New terms have been added to the Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) Glossary. This resource provides terms that promote a shared understanding of key EBDM concepts. EBDM is the intersection of the best available research evidence, decision-makers’ expertise, and community needs and implementation context. EBDM recognizes that research evidence is not the only contributing factor to […]
Simplify Language: Colorado Lab & CDEC Learning
State agency and research partners recently joined us for a workshop on simplifying language. Building on a wealth of experience working with immigrants and English learners to communicate clearly, Lee Shainis developed the workshop to help nonprofits, government, and others communicate in a way that is easier for people to quickly understand. He walked our […]
Evidence-Based Decision Making: Cue Cards Equip Legislators to Advance EBDM
Colorado policymakers have two new resources for use during the legislative session. “Cue cards”’ were developed by the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab, providing legislators with an easy to use set of questions to promote dialogue and advance evidence-based decision making (EBDM). During the first two weeks of the legislative session, the SMART Act Hearing […]