Improving Program Quality by Fostering a Data Driven Culture

Episcopal Social Services (ESS), founded in 1831, is a nonprofit organization that provides nonsectarian services to high need communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens in order to strengthen families and promote healthy development of children and youth. The agency is interested in strengthening organizational reporting systems that help managers improve program performance. ESS requested a Capstone team to build a process that streamlines the measurement and management of data, integrates program goals, and satisfies the reporting and management needs of multiple stakeholders. The team worked directly with the staff at the organization’s After School program to develop a user-friendly reporting tool that efficiently captured significant outcomes and improved data collection and management processes. In its final report, the team delivered a set of tools and recommendations that will support ESS in replicating the process across other programs and building a culture that values data and promotes accountability.