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Executive
Summary 
by Paul Mattessich
Executive Director
Wilder Research Staff Sharing Globally, Acting Locally 

How do youth development and education issues in other countries resemble those of our own? Have our international peers developed programs or strategies that we ought to consider here?

Richard Chase and I traveled in different directions out of the U.S. last month to learn, share, reflect, and return to Saint Paul with information that might have value for promoting healthy youth development.

Rick, a senior research manager at Wilder Research, jetted westward with Betty Emarita, an ideation and strategic change consultant, to the Global Summit on Childhood in Vancouver, Canada. Their presentation - Promoting and measuring family and community engagement for healthy early childhood development - was part of a roundtable discussion with other presenters under the heading Family, Home, and Indigenous Knowledge.

Rick and Betty have developed two tools - an Early Childhood Assessment; and an Early Childhood Program Quality Rating - that blend family and community knowledge systems (indigenous knowledge) into measures of child development and program quality. When used together, these tools can promote and measure family and community engagement that goes deeper than language and logistics and is based upon valuing and respecting family and community wisdom and including families as an integral part of program design and decisions. They informed the audience as to how the use of the assessment and the quality rating and the information from those tools empower immigrant and rural communities and communities of color that often feel that mainstream institutions and programs do not support or reflect their own knowledge, experience, and values. If interested, take a look at an overview of their work.

During the Summit, Rick learned about how central governments...
Learn more about the Family and Community Knowledge Systems Project  
April-May 2014
Event Spotlight
About 150 attendees learned about the value of return on investment (ROI) for nonprofits at a recent event hosted by Wilder Research, Jeremiah Program, and Target. Richard Chase and Jose Diaz spoke on what Wilder Research considers when conducting an ROI, and Lucy Gerold and Mike McHugh from Jeremiah Program explained what they learned from doing an ROI of their program.
A Fond Farewell
After 35 years at Wilder Research, Greg Owen is retiring. Greg has been one of the faces of Wilder Research for many years and it will be tough to see him go. He is well known throughout Minnesota for his work with the statewide homeless study and major studies of hospice care, welfare reform, delinquency, child maltreatment, organizational capacity building, and access to preventive health care. Greg will return this fall two days a week as a consultant for a smaller number of projects. Thank you for everything, Greg!


Check out these recent blogs from Greg:
Families Affected by Incarceration
Wilder Research is part of the MN Strengthening Families Affected by Incarceration Collaborative that addresses the strengths and needs of families affected by incarceration in our state. They are hosting an event featuring Sesame Street's Elmo. Learn more about the collaboration and the event. Learn more
Also related to incarceration, Wilder Research evaluated the Look Up and Hope Program, a national project to strengthen families affected by maternal incarceration, for Volunteers of America. The report was recently cited in Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT report as a promising practice.

View a 2-page write-up with key findings
View more studies on this topic
New From Minnesota Compass
Geographic Profiles Now Available for Cities with Populations of 1,000+
Looking for data on your part of the state? Check out the geographic profiles on Minnesota Compass, recently expanded to include smaller towns with populations of 1,000+.
Millennials are a hot topic, but what do we actually know about them? In this blog, researchers Craig Helmstetter and Jane Tigan identify six trends about Minnesota's millennial generation. Check out the blog
New Staff 
Please help us welcome our newest research scientist Francie Streich to Wilder Research! Francie specializes in research and evaluation on topics related to education. We couldn't be more excited to have her join us.
New Research 
Data to inform the impacts of the Central Corridor light rail transit line on the regional economy and adjacent neighborhoods.

Neighborhood House
The Family Center supports children, families, and neighborhoods in the east side of Saint Paul by providing education, support, and referrals to community resources. The evaluation report summarizes the services provided by the Family Center sites, as well as the impact of case management services for clients served.  
 
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