Since 2019, the Success Measures team has worked collaboratively with (VIP), a mission-driven consulting firm. VIP is made up of a network of innovators, scientists, and strategists improving the practice of community development and public health equity through the lived experiences and leadership of the people most impacted.
VIP’s expertise in on-the-ground participatory action research and Success Measures’ capacity building focused participatory approach to evaluation have made for a dynamic pairing, resulting in projects such as the equitable developmental evaluations for the Kresge Foundation’s Advancing Health Equity through Housing cohort and RWJF Healthy Communities theme’s housing portfolio.
Vedette Gavin, Principal at VIP, reflected on the long partnership with Jessica Mulcahy and the Success Measures team. “We have always seen community-led work as foundational and imperative for us as a healthy community sector, and we use this shared language and commitment in measurement. While we’ve completed many formal projects together, we’re also collaborators in building the field, connecting and resourcing the organizations who are paving the way for the people on the ground in communities.”
The VIP team and Arturo (Art) Garcia, Jr., Senior Director, Success Measures Evaluation Services, are working on two separate developmental evaluations for Midwest funders: the bi3 Fund and Interact for Health. Both foundations support place-based work in the Ohio region, where VIP is also based. The combined team is excited to work together to help grantees and grantmakers address questions that help them move their goals forward.
The bi3 Fund
The evaluation team will work with bi3 and its youth-focused portfolio, which supports welcoming spaces and programs that strengthen social connections and belonging, essential building blocks of youth mental health and well-being. Through trust-based partnerships, the bi3 Fund works to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being in four southwestern Ohio counties: Hamilton County, Butler County, Warren County, and Clermont County.
The evaluation team will work closely with bi3 and its grantees to co-create and implement a learning agenda, support grantees’ own evaluation needs, and facilitate shared learning across the portfolio. The evaluation teams will use four-month cycles to explore how welcoming spaces and programming strengthen connection, belonging, and well-being. Youth, grantees, and their partners will help interpret the findings and apply them to strengthen their ongoing work in real time.
Interact for Health
Success Measures and VIP have been working with Interact for Health since 2024. Interact for Health is a regional health foundation in Greater Cincinnati that works to ensure people have a just opportunity to live their healthiest lives. They partner with urban, suburban, and rural communities across 20 counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana to improve mental health and wellbeing, support community power building, and advance policy and systems change.
The VIP team will be working with Art, succeeding Jessica Anders-Mulcahy’s project leadership and contributions to the first phase, on a second phase to continue the work. The next phase comprises a multi-year developmental evaluation of Interact for Health’s community power building strategy. The strategy supports and amplifies grassroots, locally-led efforts to improve overall health and well-being across the region. The team will be working with grantees, the Rural Council and community partners, using participatory data collection and meaning-making methods to address strategic questions.
The evaluation will help Interact for Health learn how they can best support community power and advance health justice.