DIR Conducts Survey of Houston Citizens
Under a contract with Jefferson Wells for the City of Houston, DIR is conducting a survey in English and Spanish with a random sample of more than 2,000 Houston citizens. The survey will find out how satisfied the citizens of Houston are with city services, maintenance, and facilities. DIR is using mixed methods—direct mail, Internet, and CATI—to collect data and is using Vovici software to enter the data into a Web interface. DIR expects to complete up to 300 questionnaires in each of 9 city-council districts by telephone. To see the City of Houston press release for this survey, go to http://www.houstontx.gov/controller/pressrelease/2009/press05182009.htm
DIR Conducts Case Studies of Health Leaders
Under a contract with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), DIR is conducting a case study and analysis of 8 recipients of the RWJF Community Health Leaders (CHL) award. Through interviews of the awardees and reviews of supporting material, DIR is examining the awardee's experiences to learn about their journeys as health leaders and how the award has influenced their work. We will produce a profile for each leader—including their experiences, what inspires them, and what influence they have had on their communities before and after the award—and incorporate each profile into a narrative about the CHL program and selected cases.
Evaluation of an Intervention Program Leads to Post-Katrina Field Work
From 2005 through 2008, DIR, under contract to MDRC and Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation (CPHRE), interviewed former participants of the Opening Doors Demonstration project, an intervention program designed to provide policymakers and program managers with information about key factors required to help at-risk youths, low-wage working parents, and unemployed individuals earn college credentials as a path to better jobs and further education. The study used an experimental
random-assignment design in all sites with a research sample of up to 700 per group. DIR and Battelle used CATI and face-to-face interviews. DIR and Battelle used a mixed-mode method, combining CATI and field locators using cell phone technology. DIR hired, trained and managed field locators for demonstration sites in New York, California, and three community colleges in Louisiana.
DIR's work on Opening Doors led to another contract with Battelle to study "Adversity and Resilience after Hurricane Katrina." DIR is in the process of conducting the second wave of data collection for this study. We will again recruit, hire, train, and manage field locators—this time in an expanded Gulf Coast and southern United States region that includes Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, and outlying areas. The team for this study includes researchers from Princeton, Harvard, Washington State University, and the University of Massachusetts. The study will examine Hurricane Katrina's effect, especially on the lives of low-income parents in New Orleans, to find out how they coped with this traumatic event. The same parents participated in the Opening Doors program. DIR will collect data about health, post-traumatic stress, income, demographics, education, religion, social networks, and children of the sample three years after the hurricane.
DIR Facilitates Mental-Health Discussions
The Hogg Foundation awarded a grant to the Joint City/County Commission on Children (JC4) to collect data about direct-service and training strategies that could address mental-health problems in Houston and Harris County. Under a contract with JC4, DIR facilitated discussions and work groups among professionals and community residents over a 2-day period, documented strategies, and shared them with participants. DIR submitted a final document to JC4 and the Hogg Foundation, which will use the information to develop requests for proposals to address mental-health problems in Houston and Harris County.
McNair Report
The U.S. Department of Education (Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development; Policy and Program Studies Service) has printed DIR's evaluation report of the McNair Program, dated 2008. For a copy of Education and Employment Outcomes of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program Alumni, go to http://edpubs.ed.gov/. In the search box, type Education and Employment Outcomes, and click Go.
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