The Larry King Center

for Building Children’s Futures

Laura Y. Clark1, M.A., Ryan P. Kilmer2, Ph.D., James R. Cook2, Ph.D., and Brett A. Loftis1, J.D.

1Council for Children’s Rights, Charlotte, NC

2University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Today’s Presentation

• History of Charlotte’s initiatives for children

• Roles of the Larry King Center

• Selected Accomplishments

• Current initiatives & staffing

• Evaluation of the LKC

• Partnership with UNC Charlotte

• Challenges & Opportunities

• For nearly three decades, Charlotte has attempted to prioritize children’s needs and create plans to address those needs

– Children’s Summits (1980s and 1990s)– Blue Print for Children (late 1990s)– Core Values for Children (2000)– United Agenda for Children (2004)– United Way prioritization process (2007)

History of Charlotte’s Children’s Initiatives

Past Community Efforts…

• Identified core community issues that warrant attention to ensure children are safe, healthy, and educated

• Created reports that heightened awareness of children’s issues

• Stimulated desire in the community to take action

They failed to develop the necessary infrastructure to drive change….

• No single point of accountability for developing strategies to change public policy

• Disjointed engagement and education of the community about children’s issues

• No collection and dissemination of data to help inform decision making

• No ‘driver’ for the work to create change at the overall community level

But…

Roles of the Larry King Center

• To improve programming and outcomes for children and families, the Center works to

– Bridge the science-practice gap by collaborating with providers and researchers

– Connect local agencies with research resources– Identify research-based practices to implement

locally– Identify systemic issues to target via advocacy

and community-building efforts– Use data and evaluation research to inform

decisions regarding training, the allocation of funds, community practices, and policy

‘Connecting the Dots’:

Selected Key Objectives

Role Descriptions

In-house activities• Develop annual policy

agenda and identify strategies to move agenda forward

• Work directly with policymakers to shift legislation and other policies to support LKC activities

• Convene stakeholders to speak as one voice to policymakers

• Provide policy support to planning activities

Public policyPublic awareness/Community engagement

Research & data

Strategic planning & convening

In-house activities• Build a research

repository around children’s issues, including evidence-based practices

• Develop community structure and relationships to increase use of research in decision making

• Build community capacity for effective program evaluation

• Manage evaluation of LKC; ensure reporting to stakeholders

• Support planning, policy, and awareness roles with relevant research

In-house activities• Support planning

process– Internal project

manager: Create the plan

–External project manager: Provide a draft plan or planning template

• Incorporate evidence-based practices in strategies

• Keep stakeholders bought in and informed

• Work behind the scenes to assure progress, identify obstacles, and provide solutions

• Coordinate LKC roles • Support process

tracking• Facilitate meetings• Create or manage

budget

In-house activities• Develop relationships

with key stakeholders to support work of LKC

• Educate and engage community around LKC activities:–Actively participate

in existing community forums

–Leverage focused partner communications to target key populations

• Engage media to influence policymaking

• Develop and support community governance structure

• Host community forums related to LKC activities

Roles of the Larry King CenterExample: Free/Reduced School Lunch

PolicyResearched the number of children impacted by

the problem

Convened group of community partners to

address issue

Wrote new school policy

to allow students to continue to receive hot

lunch

Utilized media outlets to raise awareness of

issue

Initial Priority Areas

• Improve school readiness

• Reduce the incidence and impact of child abuse and neglect

• Increase access to and utilization of quality health & mental health services

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Intermediate outcomes

A Mecklenburg County where all children grow up safe, healthy, and educated

ApproachUltimate goal

All youth aged 0-21 in Mecklenburg County

Target population

Work with community and use research to set community agenda•Select priorities•Select indicators

Work with community to develop plans to attack each initiative

•Plans will encompass four roles:– Policy– Public awareness– Research and evaluation– Strategic planning and convening

Drive plan execution•Execute on plans using policy,

public awareness, and research and data. Broker in resources where needed

•Project manage on three levels1. Internally, across all three

priority areas2. Internally, leading, coordinating,

linking 4 roles for each priority3. Externally, leading, coordinating,

linking work of convened groups

Program quality improves•Organizations

adopt evidence- based practices

•Funding shifts to evidence-based practices

Program mix improves•Service

providers change offerings

Policies change•Government

funding shifts•Other policies

shift to support priorities

Shorter-term goals met

•Process•Interme-

diate indicators

Longer-term goals met

•Priority indicators improve

•Funder/ community ROI improves

•Citizen awareness of children’s issues increases

Intended Impact & Theory of Change

Current Staffing

• Executive Director – 80% of time dedicated to Larry King Center

• Director of Research & Evaluation

• Director of Strategy & Policy

• Strategy & Policy Associate

• Nurse-Family Partnership Expansion Coordinator

• Graduate Student support

• By end of year 3, plan to have 12 FTEs

Selected Accomplishments to Date

• Collaborated with state partners to lobby legislation for the 2009 NC Legislative Session

• Responded to over 2 dozen agency requests for assistance with research and evaluation

• Completed outcomes training for United Way agencies

• Served as local affiliate for Child Abuse Awareness & Prevention Month

• Hosted multiple community forums

• Participated in joint human services planning for Housing Authority and Department of Social Services

Current Initiatives

• Expansion planning for Nurse-Family Partnership

• Development of a public policy agenda for priority areas

• Community Indicators Project

• Evaluation capacity building with several local non-profits

Evaluation

• Need to evaluate both process and outcomes

• Need external evaluator

• Skeleton process evaluation is in progress

• Overarching objectives of outcome work: • Document the LKC’s value to the community • Demonstrate LKC’s association with better

outcomes for children

• One challenge: limited extant research on intermediaries

Partnership with UNC Charlotte

• University faculty - partners/collaborators in multiple departments (psychology, social work, education, public policy)

• Opportunities for interns

• Research committee • Helps inform and guide decision-making • Brings additional expertise to the complex

issues involved

• Urban Institute

– Indicators project

• Institute for Social Capital

– Creating a database that can be used to inform the LKC

Partnership with UNC Charlotte - II

Challenges & Opportunities

• Balancing long-term planning with immediate community needs (e.g., projects vs. mission)

• Evaluating our progress

• Developing the community relationships necessary to sustain change

• Communicating our work clearly to stakeholders

• Sustainable funding

Laura Y. Clark, M.A.Laura@cfcrights.org

Ryan P. Kilmer, Ph.D.rpkilmer@uncc.edu

Jim Cook, Ph.D.jcook@uncc.edu

Brett A. Loftis, J.D.Brett@cfcrights.org

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