Measuring success.
That was a primary focus of eight nonprofit leaders who presented their final projects Thursday to celebrate the completion of a professional development cohort organized by LSUS’s Institute of Nonprofit Administration and Research.
These eight nonprofit organizations greatly impact the communities they serve, and now they have more reliable and organized ways to collect data and measure their success.
“This is a celebration of community growth and vision as the nonprofit sector in northwest Louisiana continues to strengthen,” said Dr. Heather Carpenter, INAR’s executive director. “These leaders worked for the past eight months to better their organizations by attending 10 workshops and meeting regularly with their mentors.
“This is our second nonprofit capacity building cohort graduation, and we couldn’t have done it without the generous support from the Community Foundation of North Louisiana.”
Sci-Port Discovery Center became a GSK Science in the Summer partner in which they delivered STEM instruction and activities to underserved students.
“We had 826 students across 35 local community sites complete at least three of the Science in the Summer activities, and we’ve been approved for additional funding to raise that level to 1,000 students next summer,” said executive director Dianne Clark. “We’re the only provider in Louisiana.
“The goal is to increase interest and confidence in STEM from underrepresented student populations, and these second-through-sixth-grade students participated in hands-on activities that accomplished that goal.”
Summertime educational activities is a foundation for Bernstein Development Inc., a nonprofit in the Hollywood and Caddo Heights neighborhoods.
Bernstein was one of Sci-Port’s community sites, and executive director Francis Williams said science and reading activities in her six-week camp showed promising results to prevent the summer drain of academic performance.
“Research from the American Education Research Journal shows students grades 1-8 lose anywhere from 17-34 percent of the prior year’s learning,” Williams said. “Based on pre-test, posttest and report card evaluation, we were able to show that 74 percent of our summer campers maintained their end-of-year reading level while 21 percent increased that reading level.”
Higher education performance levels can reduce the need of a nonprofit like T.E.A.M.S – Training, Education and Mediation for Students).
TEAMS started as a service to help students and their families navigate both the school and court system but has since morphed into a broader special education advocacy service.
“When we started, 80 percent of cases in the juvenile court system were related to something that happened in the school system,” Hubble said. “We’ve reduced that number to just 10 percent, and we’ve helped reduce school suspensions in Caddo Parish by 86 percent in the past two years.
“We help address unique educational needs whether students have ADHD, autism, or behavior issues. Changes in behavior lead to improved grades and reduced suspensions.”
More doors are opening than just through science and reading.
The Theatre of the Performing Arts provides avenues to explore musical theatre, dance and art through its Yazzy Summer Morning Mix program.
Director Martina Williams puts on a seven-week summer program primarily centered at Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy that produces a musical theatre show.
“We serve students from age 7-18, so we engage students of all ages,” Williams said. “All 65 students who participated this past summer were promoted to the next grade, and the program has produced professional musicians in its 31 years of existence.
“Through this cohort, I’ve gained a deep understanding of board development and can lead with clarity and confidence. I’ve met dedicated leaders who are just as committed to uplifting our youth as we are.”
Junior Achievement aims to sew interest in college among middle schoolers to sharpen academic focus in early high school and supply potential career paths through college visits.
“Early exposure to college campuses can influence first-generation students to attend college,” said Nita Cook, president of Junior Achievement of North Louisiana. “We want students to have hope, a chance to look at real-world opportunities that are out there.
“When they visit a college campus, they realize that they can be a part of this world. And they start asking about what they need to do to get there.”
Cook said that 85 percent of students report increased knowledge of how college works with 90 percent saying they are more motivated to attend college after college visits.
While college education is one indicator of home ownership, both the Catholic Charities of North Louisiana and The Highland Center focused their projects on home ownership and financial education in clientele that by and large aren’t college educated.
“Fifty-seven percent of families in Caddo Parish have trouble making their monthly bills,” said Diane Libro, executive director of Catholic Charities. “We seek to improve the financial stability of these families through workshops about money and homebuyer courses.
“We found that 86 percent of people who completed our money workshops now track their spending with 96 percent of completers remaining housed.”
Madison Poche, executive director of The Highland Center, said the additional of a full-time employee will allow the center to offer their homebuying and financial education during the day on weekdays to expand opportunities for people to attend.
“Housing is a big concern in our neighborhood and community,” Poche said. “We want people to know how to create a budget, to look at and improve their credit scores, and progress down the track of home ownership.
“We have individual examples of people who have reduced credit card debt, started a savings, and a homeowner who qualified for down-payment assistance and now owns a home. We’re working toward collecting aggregate data with more follow-up phone calls and surveys.”
While the previous two charities are bettering neighborhoods by reconstructing budgets and spending habits, Shreveport Green is restoring community connections by remediating public spaces.
Executive director Lauren Jones said more than 7,000 vacant lots exist in Shreveport, which contains the most litter of any Louisiana city.
“While we’re not able to use federal dollars to work on private property, one way we’re helping is working with nonprofits that have properties that maybe they can’t take care of or can’t use,” Jones said. “We remove litter and debris and add trees, plants and greenery.
“We’ve remediated 13 lots in this way as well as projects like water sisterns at Common Ground Community that can help that community in weather situations in which water is shut off.”
Each cohort member was paired with a nonprofit mentor that helped guide and improve the organization.
Cohort mentors included Leigh Chambers (LSUS), Martha Marak (Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana), Kelli Todd (Volunteers for Youth Justice), Sylvia Goodman (retired nonprofit board member), Chuck Meehan (Volunteers of America North Louisiana), Lynn Stevens (Goodwill Industries), Kristen Powers (Arc-Caddo Bossier), Laurie Boswell (Holy Angels) and Verni Howard (formerly of Providence House).
Stevens, who passed away in November, was honored at the graduation with a $2,250 check that will start a fundraising cohort.
The current cohort was made possible by a $50,000 grant from the Community Foundation of North Louisiana.