ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Assistance to the Association of Puerto Rican Executive Directors—The Association of Puerto Rican Executive Directors (APRED) in New York City received a grant from United Way to train the executive directors of Hispanic human service organizations in management and leadership skills. As a preliminary step in this training, through a subcontract with APRED in 1984, WRI compiled a directory of Hispanic human service organizations in New York City and assessed the management and leadership needs of each agency.
Assistance to The Latino Fund of Tri-State, Inc.—In 1996, WRI developed and produced an informational brochure on The Latino Fund of Tri-State, Inc., a nonprofit corporation working to support and strengthen Latino individuals, families, organizations, and communities in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut regions. WRI also created an organizational development questionnaire aimed at agencies serving Latino citizens and residents.
Buffalo Community Services Center Project—The Buffalo Center for Comprehensive Services was designed to bring preventive, diagnostic and treatment services in health and social services into one facility. In 1980, WRI contracted to provide technical assistance in the form of grant writing and program planning to help gain the participation of state and federal aid programs in the center. Project staff also identified barriers to the efficient implementation of these programs at the local level.
Clearinghouse for Human Services Research—In 1986, WRI established an information clearinghouse for human-service-related research produced either directly or indirectly by New York State government. WRI solicited and compiled relevant documents produced by State agencies, prepared an abstract of each document, coded each document and entered it into a microcomputer, and produced a bibliography of available documents for distribution to State agencies, the New York State Library, the State University of New York, and other interested parties on request.
Energy Conservation Opportunities in Voluntary Adult Homes and Senior Citizen Centers—To help the New York Community Trust establish effective policies and procedures for its newly created Energy Conservation Fund, WRI conducted a review of energy needs and obstacles to implementing conservation measures at selected not-for-profit adult homes and senior citizen centers in New York City. The 1988 study consisted of preliminary site reviews to determine possible conservation measures, as well as interviews and a review of relevant public regulations, to determine potential obstacles to implementing energy conservation measures.
Evaluation of the Lower East Side Family Union—To provide the New York State Department of Social Services with data regarding program effectiveness and costs and to provide local projects some feedback from the state, WRI studied and evaluated the Lower East Side Family Union in New York City. The 1979 project goals were to provide a clear definition of the Family Union’s policy and strategy, and to create an evaluation system that would be useful to line staff on an ongoing basis while supporting the data and analysis needs of the state and the functions of supervision and management.
Financial Management Training and Technical Assistance for New York Foundation Grantees—The New York Foundation awards grants to a variety of community-based organizations in New York City that work with disadvantaged and minority populations. Since many of these organizations lack expertise in business management, the foundation contracted with WRI in 1987 to provide consultation on financial management to selected grantees. Depending on the organization’s needs, WRI’s training covered double-entry bookkeeping, financial planning, and solutions to common financial management problems.
Financial Management Training and Technical Assistance for Purchase-of-Service Providers—In 1986, the New York City Department for Aging contracted with WRI to help 25 voluntary agencies that provide services to the aging meet public accountability requirements. The training and follow-up assistance covered bookkeeping, cost accounting, audit procedures, construction of a chart of accounts, journals and ledgers, trial balances, and preparation of unit cost reports.
Financial Management Training and Technical Assistance to the Greater New York Fund/United Way Agencies—In 1987, WRI provided training and technical assistance on financial management to community-based organizations supported by the Greater New York Fund/United Way.
Grantsmanship Training—With funding from the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Services (APPS) program, New York State Department of Social Services, WRI staff conducted three one-day sessions in 1994 and 1995 in New York City, Rochester, and Syracuse on grantsmanship for agencies and programs offering teen pregnancy prevention services. The sessions covered identifying funding sources, proposal development, and writing the proposal narrative.
Head Start Technology Transfer—In 1983, WRI contracted with the Cornell University Head Start Training Center to support technology transfer among the grantees that were trained by Cornell. This support consisted of a tracking methodology designed to identify effective, transferable technologies; procedures and forms for monitoring transfer; and procedures for integrating technology transfer with existing training programs.
Louisiana Unit Cost Project—Based on previous work in unit costing for human services agencies, in 1983 WRI provided the Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources Office of Human Development (OHD) with a methodology for contracting with service providers on a unit-cost basis. Besides recommending modifications in the department’s current contracting forms, WRI developed a unit-cost procedures guide and presented a two-day workshop on the unit-cost contracting methodology for contracting, accounting, and other appropriate OHD staff.
Management Information System for New York Foundling Hospital—In 1984 WRI helped design and implement a comprehensive information system for New York Foundling Hospital. The system, designed primarily by the Creative Socio-Medics Corporation (CSM), included four main functional components: administrative, case management, research and evaluation, and financial management.
Materials for Staff Working with the Developmentally Disabled Parent and Child—In this multiyear project, WRI assisted in developing materials targeted to support a training program for direct service staff who work with children and parents with developmental disabilities. The workshops assisted local and voluntary agency caseworkers and supervisors. WRI worked as a subcontractor to Child Development Associates.
Minority Community-Based Organization Development—In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s,WRI provided training and technical assistance over a six-year period to staff of minority community-based organizations in the skills needed to obtain public funds and meet the complex reporting, fiscal, and record-keeping requirements of government agencies. The training also covered general organizational skills such as personnel recruitment and development, financial management, board development, planning, and public relations. This project to assist MCBO’s statewide to obtain purchase-of-service contracts was supported by the New York State Department of Social Services.
Monitoring the Reorganization of New York City’s Human Resources Administration—Created by Mayor Edward Koch in 1984, the Commission on Human Services Reorganization made a number of recommendations for restructuring New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA). Subsequently, in 1985, the NYC Human Services Task Force formed a subcommittee to carry out the Commission’s recommendations. WRI assisted that subcommittee by monitoring and reporting on HRA’s implementation of the Commission’s recommendations, particularly with regard to the 44 field offices and five multiservice centers of HRA’s Family and Children’s Services Agency.
St. Augustine’s Family Life Institute—St. Augustine’s Center, a multiservice agency in Buffalo, New York, established a family life program to serve families with children who are considered to be at risk of juvenile delinquency. The Family Life Institute sought to improve parents child-rearing skills, increase parents and children’s self-esteem, and improve children’s learning skills through a variety of educational, recreational, and social activities. In 1984, WRI contracted to assist the program in its first year by designing and implementing an evaluation system that St. Augustine’s staff would be able to use to measure program outcomes for the duration of the program.
Setting Municipal Priorities, 1986—Setting Municipal Priorities was a series, published periodically with foundation funding, that analyzed a broad range of policy issues facing New York City. Under contract to the editors, Raymond Horton, of the Columbia University School of Business, and Charles Brecher, of the NYU School of Public Administration, WRI prepared a chapter on services to children for the 1986 edition. The chapter provided a full description of each relevant program area, including Aid to Families with Dependent Children, preventive services, adoption, foster care, and protective services. Along with program descriptions, the chapter identified major policy issues and explores options.
Social Services Research Institute—The Social Services Research Institute was established in the 1970’s to provide assistance to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Human Development Services. The initial goals of the Institute were to conduct short-term research on innovative social services practices in both management and programmatic areas and to demonstrate and refine strategies for the state-to-state transfer of proven approaches.
In its first three years, the Institute conducted research and disseminated findings on best practices in day care, foster care, transportation, hospice care, developmental disabilities, child protective services, residential care, adoption, multiservice delivery systems for Native Americans, and nonservice approaches to social welfare problems. The Institute’s Management Transfer Project provided technical assistance in the implementation of innovative technologies to the central administrative human services agencies, as well as state departments of education, energy, Indian affairs, planning, and transportation, in 22 states.
In its fourth year, the Institute assisted the Administration on Developmental Disabilities in developing a management information system to standardize, integrate, and coordinate administrative, fiscal, and programmatic data from state and local developmental disabilities agencies. This effort involved the examination and selection of management methodologies and the recommendation of policies and procedures regarding the system’s management and operation, with an emphasis on system revisions to accommodate operational and practical considerations.
Social Services Unit Cost System—The ability to analyze costs and units of services is especially important for social services administrators, who must attempt to meet local service needs without exceeding state and federal spending limits. This project, administered in the 1970’s, devised a method of measuring unit costs of Title XX services (developed in cooperation with Price Waterhouse and Company) and definitions for standard units of service (developed in cooperation with Bowers Associates) that could be replicated in any state. Subsequently, training materials and a training program were developed to aid in implementing the unit cost system.
Statistical Study for the Governor’s Select Commission on Mental Health—In 1984, to project the costs of mental health care and service needs, the New York State Office of Mental Health asked WRI to assist in the analysis of statistical data on clients and to develop procedures for estimating the number of mentally ill persons in the state and their care requirements.
Suffolk County Comprehensive Human Services Planning and Delivery—To test the validity of hypotheses regarding integrated human services formulated by the Social and Rehabilitation Services of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, WRI developed administrative and governance mechanisms that would make possible joint planning for the coordinated delivery of human services by the major service providers in both the public and private sectors in Suffolk County, New York. Subsequently, WRI designed and implemented a model for the integration of the service delivery system and evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of that model once it was implemented.
Suffolk County Infirmary: Privatization Options—In 1990, WRI conducted a study exploring options related to privatization of Suffolk County’s public nursing home. Options included management by a nonprofit corporation, a lease-purchase system, and operation of specific components by private vendors, among others. WRI made recommendations and presented an implementation plan.
Technical Assistance for the Development of New York State Prevention Policy and Standards—In 1977, to help New York State develop a preventive program in many of its social service delivery components, WRI completed a survey of the current preventive programs and developed a critique of their capability to achieve selected state policy objectives. From these results, New York State was able to determine the probable effectiveness of expanding such programs to other areas and other services.
Technical Assistance to Multiservice Agencies in Promoting Energy Conservation—In response to the need of nonprofit agencies in New York City to conserve energy and reduce costs, the New York Community Trust requested technical assistance to provide appropriate information. In 1987, WRI developed and produced materials to be used in seminars for agencies in a variety of human service sectors.
Technical Assistance to the Astor Foundation—Building upon various state- and foundation-supported projects to provide technical assistance to minority community-based organizations, WRI provided similar services for the Astor Foundation in 1988. The technical assistance was specifically targeted to meet an ad hoc training need and emphasized financial management for a community-based grantee of the foundation. Training and technical assistance were targeted to specific organizational needs.
Technical Assistance to the Governor’s Office for Voluntary Service—WRI provided a variety of design and production assistance to support the work of the Governor’s Office for Voluntary Service. Materials produced include an announcement and brochure for the office’s first annual conference, “Voluntary Power: How To Get It, How to Use It,” and posters designed to inform the public about the contributions made by volunteers in all aspects of community life and to encourage greater involvement. In 1990, WRI also edited and produced brochures for the Office’s Foster Care Youth Independence Project, which supports youth being discharged from foster care to independent living.
Training of MCBOs in Management and Network Development—In the 1980’s, on behalf of the New York State Department of Social Services, WRI provided training and technical assistance to minority community-based organizations (MCBOs), minority firms, and major voluntary organizations in all regions of the state. The purpose was to promote the use of MCBOs as purchase-of-service providers and encourage public and private human service agencies to use minority businesses as vendors. WRI’s training emphasized the development of effective service networks among MCBOs, minority firms, and voluntary agencies in upstate regions.
Training Skills Bank for the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Services (APPS) Community Service Project—With funding from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, WRI provided technical assistance to community-based organizations on an as-needed basis in the mid-1990’s. Subject areas included strategic planning, grantsmanship, evaluation, personnel management, organizational development, and financial management.
Uniform Coding System for Charitable Organizations—On behalf of the New York Community Trust, in 1981 WRI developed a numerical code for uniformly classifying the activities of all charitable organizations, from health and social welfare activities to environmental conservation and the arts. The system was developed on the basis of existing classification systems and taxonomies and in response to a wide range of user needs and capabilities.
Worker Security Project—In 1994, WRI examined current strategies for improving statewide worker security in New York State Department of Social Services work sites. Through a contract with the State University College at Buffalo, WRI reviewed current activities and curricula on workplace security; conducted a literature search for documentation of strategies used nationally; interviewed experts in the field; and participated in a site visit to a local county DSS office. The final report, entitled Preventing Violence: Safety in the Social Services Environment, presents background on the growing crisis and the changing nature of social work, an analysis of violence, and strategies for coping with violence, including violence prevention.
