Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Edward D. Reiskin FROM: Sara Bedford
City Administrator Director, Human Services
SUBJECT: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End
Evaluation Report
DATE: February 22, 2022
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Adopting The Oakland Fund For Children And Youth (OFCY) Final Annual Independent Evaluation Report For Fiscal Year (FY) 2020-2021.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Adoption of the proposed resolution will fulfill the Oakland City Charter requirement for the OFCY Planning and Oversight Committee (POC) to submit an annual independent evaluation report to the Oakland City Council for adoption. The OFCY Final Evaluation Report FY 2020- 2021 was prepared by Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) and is included as herein Attachment A.
The comprehensive evaluation report includes an overall analysis of performance, outcomes achieved, and impact at the fund-level, summaries for each of the nine funding strategies, and individual program profiles to document program achievements and contributions towards city- wide goals and outcomes.
Programs funded by OFCY provided direct services to 15,289 children, youth and young adults from birth to 21 years of age and 2,216 parents and caregivers last year, who predominately live in neighborhoods with high levels of community stress in West, Central, and East Oakland. In accordance with OFCY’s Strategic Investment Plan for FY 2019-2022, programs were funded to address OFCY’s legislated goals and contribute to the elimination of racial disparities in outcomes for children, youth and their families. The vast majority of participants were youth of color, with 51 percent identifying as Latinx, 27 percent identifying as African American/ Black, and nine percent identifying as Asian or Pacific Islander; only 3 percent of participants identified as white.
The programs and agencies faced enormous challenges during the last fiscal year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Programming shifted to address new immediate needs facing vulnerable families, including providing for health, economic support, technology support, and addressing food security. The majority of programs also shifted to virtual services during the early months of the pandemic.
Mar 11, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 2
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
The Kids First! Oakland Children’s Fund Amendment in the Oakland City Charter establishes the Fund for the purpose of addressing the well-being of Oakland children and youth from birth through age 21 for the period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2033. Article XIII Section 1305.04 assigned the Planning and Oversight Committee (POC) the responsibility to adopt a three-year Strategic Investment Plan, solicit grants through an open and fair application process, send recommendations for grant awards to the City Council for approval, and submit an annual independent evaluation of OFCY to the Oakland City Council for adoption.
OFCY Fiscal Year (FY) 2020-2021 grants were approved for the second year of funding in the three-year grant cycle established under the OFCY Strategic Investment Plan 2019-2022 by City Council approval on May 19, 2020 for summer programs (Resolution No. 88119 C.M.S.) and on June 30, 2020 for year-round programs (Resolution No. 88190 C.M.S.). Due to the reduction in city revenues caused by the global pandemic, and subsequent reductions in funds available for OFCY, grant awards were substantially reduced in FY 2020-2021 compared to the first year of funding, when grant awards totaled $19,719,772. The 149 grant awards in FY 2020- 2021 totaled $18,111,301, an eight percent reduction over the previous year.
SPR presented the year-end evaluation report to the POC Evaluation subcommittee on October 27, 2021 and to the full body of the POC on December 1, 2021. The POC reviewed and approved the final evaluation report for FY 2020-2021 at their meeting on January 19, 2022.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
OFCY provided grant awards to 149 programs for the second year of the three-year grant cycle (FY 2019-2022), with awards totaling over $18.1 million as shown below in Table 1. SPR evaluated the 149 programs across the nine distinct funding strategies.
The evaluation report provided as Attachment A is structured in three parts:
1) Section A: Main Evaluation Report: Fund-level investment and impact analysis using a Results-Based Accountability (RBA) framework for OFCY in 2020-2021.
Table 1: OFCY Grant Strategies in FY 2019-2020
OFCY Funding Strategy
# of
Programs
OFCY Funding
FY 2020-21
1. Socioemotional Well-Being in Preschool and Early
Childhood Education Settings 3 $915,999
2. Parent Engagement and Support 10 $1,403,499
3. Family Resource Centers 6 $1,113,661
4. Comprehensive Afterschool Programs 59 $5,307,513
5. Engagement & Success in Elementary & Middle School 5 $562,647
6. Summer Programming 8 $952,424
7. Youth Development and Leadership 35 $4,231,722
8. High School and Postsecondary Student Success 8 $1,200,027
9. Career Awareness and Employment Support 15 $2,423,809 Total 149 $18,111,301
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 3
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
2) Section B: Funding Strategies: Nine strategy-level analyses, each providing a short summary ‘scorecard’ of impact within an RBA framework specific for each strategy. 3) Section C: Program Level: 149 Program-level ’profiles’ for each specific program funded by OFCY for details on grantee-level performance and outcomes.
OFCY Programs Directly Contribute to Impact Citywide Goals Programs work towards OFCY’s legislated goals to support the healthy development of young children, help children succeed in school and graduate high school, prevent and reduce youth crime, violence and gang involvement, and to support youth as they transition to productive adulthood. Programs contribute to ‘move the needle’ on Citywide priorities including improved kindergarten readiness, improved literacy rates, improved school attendance, improved graduation rates, increased employment opportunities for disconnected youth, and decreased rates of youth crime and victimization, as expressed in Picture 1 below. OFCY’s funding supports direct services that contribute towards improvements, in partnership and alignment with key partners including Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), First Five Alameda County, Department of Violence Prevention, Oakland Workforce Development Board, and others.
Picture 1: Results Based Accountability Framework for and Citywide Goals
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 4
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
Results Based Accountability (RBA) Framework
The evaluation report employs a Results-Based Accountability (RBA) framework in the assessment of the 149 programs across the nine strategy areas funded by OFCY. The report addresses the three main questions posed within an RBA framework: how much was accomplished, how well was it accomplished, and is anyone better off due to the programming. OFCY funds agencies to provide high quality programming that contribute towards city-wide goals and objectives to ‘move the needle’ in concert with other efforts to achieve positive child and youth outcomes.
The evaluation utilizes data captured in OFCY’s data management system, Cityspan, to provide quantitative detail on the children, youth, parents and caregivers that participated in programming in 2020-2021 and levels of service provided to answer how much was accomplished. The annual evaluation also uses survey data from the people who directly participate in the programs – Oakland’s children, youth and families – to hear directly from those receiving services on how well programs are doing, and if programs are helping anyone to be better off. Program performance data in Cityspan is also used to address how well programs performed in FY2020-2021. Surveys were fielded throughout the year, and 5,147 youth, 690 parents/caregivers, and 101 educators completed surveys to share their perspectives on program quality and outcomes. In addition, staff from 131 programs completed an online survey about program characteristics, staffing, and partnerships. SPR also conducted numerous interviews with program staff and held focus groups with youth and adult participants of select programs. These methods provide additional context into the program successes, challenges, impact, and achievements.
Oakland Residents Served by Programs in 2020-2021
OFCY programs directly served 15,289 children and youth who predominately live in neighborhoods with high levels of community stress in East Oakland, West Oakland, Fruitvale, and San Antonio. Picture 2 below shows where children and youth who participated in OFCY programs live by ZIP code compared with a map detailing Oakland community stressors by census track developed by the Human Services Department. As seen in the maps, there is strong alignment between the enrollment of children and youth in OFCY programs and communities experiencing higher levels of stress in Oakland.
Picture 2: Zip Code of Children and Youth Served and Oakland Community Stressors Index
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 5
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
In addition to the 15,289 children and youth who participated in programming last year, OFCY programs supporting very young children provided direct services that reached 2,216 parents and caregivers.
OFCY programs are focused on serving African American, Latinx, Asian/ Pacific Islander and Native American children, youth, and parents/ caregivers to address racial disparities in outcomes. Programs are also funded specifically to reach vulnerable populations including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) youth, foster children, commercially sexually exploited minors, and immigrants and refugees. 85 percent of children and youth that participated in an OFCY program last year were African American, Latinx, or Asian/ Pacific Islander, and 92 percent of parents/ caregivers identified as African American, Latinx, Asian/ Pacific Islander, or Middle Eastern/ North African. Table 2 below provides detail on the demographics of children and youth participating in programs by race and ethnicity compared to the overall children and youth population in the City of Oakland. Data indicates that OFCY programs served proportionally more Hispanic/ Latinx, African American/ Black, and Native American/ Alaskan Native, and children and youth children ages 0-19, and proportionately less Caucasian/ White, Asian/ Pacific Islander, and Multiracial or Biracial children and youth, indicating a racial equity focus on program enrollment.
Table 2: Comparison of OFCY program enrollment and City of Oakland population for children and youth ages 0-19
Race/ Ethnicity OFCY
Programs
% of OFCY
participants
City of
Oakland
% of City of
Oakland
Youth
Population
% Oakland
youth served
by OFCY
Programs
Hispanic/ Latinx 7,588 51.58% 37,939 40.1% 20.0%
African American/
Black 3,916 26.62% 20,429 21.6% 19.2%
Asian/ Pacific Islander 1,316 8.95% 9,234 9.8% 14.3%
Caucasian/ White 463 3.15% 17,226 18.2% 2.7%
Multiracial or Biracial 371 2.52% 8,961 9.5% 4.1%
Some Other Race 275 2.49% 479 0.5% 57.4%
Native American/
Alaska Native 210 1.87% 264 0.3% 79.5%
Middle Eastern/North
African 366 1.43% n/a n/a Unknown
Unknown 206 1.40% n/a n/a Unknown
Total 14,711 100% 94,532 100% 15.6%
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 6
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
How Much was accomplished?
As stated above, over 15,000 children and youth and over 2,000 parents and caregivers received direct services through OFCY-funded programs last fiscal year. Picture 4 provides a summary of how much was accomplished. As seen by the data below, OFCY-funded programs had an impact across the city, in support of thousands of Oakland residents. Programs were provided by 77 agencies, at 54 early childhood education sites, 73 elementary and middle schools, and 14 high schools. Youth participated on average over 100 hours in OFCY-funded programs. Older youth in the Career Awareness and Employment Support strategy gained a combined 132,279 hours of work experience and earned nearly $1.5 million in wages and stipends through subsidized work experiences last year.
Picture 4: How Much did OFCY Programs Do in FY 2020-2021
Program Participation and Impact
Children and youth ages 5-6, 11-12, and 19-20 participated the most in these programs, with the largest average hours of participation. These trends were due primarily to specific program models rather than commonality in funding strategies, and no discernable pattern in levels of participation by age was identified in FY 2020-2021. However, there were some variations in the amount of time youth spent in programming across race and ethnicity. Asian/Pacific Islander, multiracial/ biracial, and African American/Black youth spent more time in programming than the average participant. Some of these differences are related to the ages of participants. For example, Middle Eastern/North African participants were most likely to participate in early childhood programs, where average hours of service tend to be lower. Picture 5 below provides more information on these trends by age and by race/ ethnicity.
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 7
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
Picture 5: Average total hours of participation by age and by Race/ Ethnicity
How Well Did Programs Do?
OFCY tracks a series of indicators to assess
how well programs met their objectives and
supported youth. The first three indicators
include progress toward (1) projected number
of youth served, 2) projected total hours of
service, and (3) average hours of attendance
per participant. OFCY’s grant monitors expect
programs to achieve at least 80% of their
projected service levels for satisfactory
performance. Picture 6 shows that on
average, program attendance was very high,
with participating students attending
programs for more hours than anticipated. On average, programs also successfully served the number of youth they projected serving. However, due to the pandemic, there was a lot of variability in progress toward the number of youth served: some programs served more than double the number of youth they projected enrolling, while 15% of programs served less than half of the participants they projected to serve.
Picture 6: Program Performance
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 8
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
Last year, during the early months of the pandemic,
OFCY worked with programs to allow modifications to
their scope of work and activities to reflect the
changed circumstances. Due to shelter-in-place
orders and school closures, programs shifted to virtual services and to providing services addressing basic
family needs, including health and financial resources.
Overall, programs nearly universally shifted their
planned programming to adapt to the needs of their
constituency during the trying times before
vaccinations were available to children and youth.
OFCY allowed programs to adjust their scope of work
towards reduced expected hours of service provided
and reduced numbers of children and youth to be
served. Even with these adjustments, many programs
did struggle to project accurately their ability to
connect with children and youth during those months,
and subsequently some programs were unable to
achieve their expected annual enrollment targets.
The evaluation investigates participant perceptions of
critical aspects of program quality that are tailored for each strategy, as measured through participant
surveys. Research has shown that these indicators
are foundational positive youth development practices
that encourage youth to thrive in programming. As
shown in Picture 7 to the right, most participants felt safe, identified adults who cared about them, and engaged in activities that interest them at their programs. Adult participants highly regarded the programming and felt that staff made them feel comfortable and supported, and that staff worked will with families of diverse backgrounds.
These survey results are across a wide range of programs that offer a diversity of activities and services, and are strong indicators that programs funded by OFCY do their work well. It is especially significant that programs received such positive feedback last year in the first year of the global pandemic, prior to the availability of vaccines for children and youth and before many adults were able to receive vaccinations. The evaluation report found that programs were able to build a culture of safety, positive engagement, and caring relationships with staff by:
• Creating a physically safe space for youth. This means having enough staff, actively supervise youth and monitor sign-in and sign-out procedures, and for many programs, creating safety plans in the case of neighborhood violence. To protect participants and families during the pandemic, programs have also created on-site protocols, provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and educated children, youth, and adults about prevention and the science of COVID-19.
• Assisting participants and families with basic needs supports their wellbeing, builds trust, and allows children and youth to fully participate. • All programs maintained a focus on supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion by hiring staff that represent the participants, celebrating and honoring a wide range of cultures Picture 7: Program Quality
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 9
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
through programming and events, and integrating the cultures and backgrounds of participants.
• Creating opportunities for staff and participants to get to know each other. • Focusing on emotional safety and wellbeing was more important than ever given the stressors caused by COVID-19. Programs drew on trauma-informed practices and offered opportunities for youth to express how they are doing in group activities and individual conversations.
• Programs work to be available to youth, even outside of regularly scheduled program hours to build trust between staff and participants.
• Allowing student interest to guide programming allows programs to adapt programming to maximize engagement. Programs solicited feedback through surveys or conversations to inform enrichment activities, offered a range of activity options to choose from, and created activities where youth could follow their passions.
Is Anyone Better Off?
By participating in an OFCY-funded program, children, youth, parents and caregivers strongly agree that they are better off for the services and support received. The short-term impacts of participating in one of a wide range of services that build skills and values individuals as assets contributes towards citywide goals. For example, 94 percent of youth surveyed who participated in a Career Awareness and Employment Support program said they learned about jobs they can have in the future, and 92 percent learned what is expected in a work setting due to their experience. These contribute towards moving the needle to reduce the number of disconnected youth in Oakland, a key citywide goal. 84% of youth reported that due to their program participation they learned skills that help with their schoolwork, and 78% reported that they are more motivated to learn in school, directly contributing to move the needle on the citywide goal
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 10
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
of improved rates of high school graduation. Picture 8
on the right highlights areas where OFCY’s funding has
made a positive impact on participants. Data
overwhelmingly shows that participants feel that they
are better off due to their time in OFCY-funded
programs.
Across programs, youth and adult participants strongly
indicated that programs helped them to increase
confidence and self-esteem; contributed to the
development and mastery of new skills; helped to
increase persistence and resiliency; and contributed
to an improvement in decision-making and goal
setting. These outcomes are key in the development
of children and youth to support long-term positive
success in school and adulthood.
A racial equity analysis of the evaluation data found
statistically significant differences in outcomes
achieved when analyzing survey results by race/
ethnicity and by age. The report indicates that:
• African American/Black children and youth
were most likely to agree that an adult at their
program cared about them and have positive
responses to other questions related to
connections to adults.
• Asian/Pacific Island were most likely to
progress in outcomes related to improved
development and mastery of skills.
• Latinx youth were most likely to report
progress in the area of improved decision
making.
• Older youth reported the strongest outcomes in several youth development areas, including decision-making and goal setting, development and mastery of skills, confidence, and sense of belonging.
The evaluation provides and equity analysis on LGBTQ+ participants. The survey results of the 377 youth who identified as LGBTQ+ were examined to determine if they were more or less likely to agree with achieving positive outcomes compared to other youth. The report found that there were no statistically significant differences in surveys from the 377 youth (9% of youth completing surveys) who self-identified as LGBTQ+ compared to those that did not identify as such, indicating that LGBTQ+ youth felt just as safe and as engaged in programs as their peers, and were just as likely to achieve key positive outcomes due to their program participation.
Picture 8: Participant Outcomes
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 11
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
OFCY Funds Leverage Over $23 Million in Matching Funds for Oakland Programs
OFCY requires that programs bring in additional funding to cover at least 20% of their total program budget. In FY20-21, programs brought in $23,570,259 to fund services for children, youth, and families. As shown in Picture 9 below, nearly half of these matched funds came from government grants and contracts, with $7,694,005 million coming from After School Education and Safety Program (ASES) and 21st Century Community Learning Center contracts in support of comprehensive afterschool. Less than
a quarter of a percent of matching funds
came from program fees.
The proposed policy action
recommended supports the Citywide
goal of Holistic Community Safety.
OFCY supports safe community spaces
for children and youth, including
afterschool programs at 57 Oakland
elementary and middle school sites,
providing safety for thousands of
children and youth from the end of school to 6pm daily. Programs supported include safe community spaces throughout Oakland’s underserved neighborhoods for vulnerable populations including immigrants and refugees, LGBTQ+ youth, and Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) youth.
Future Evaluation Considerations
OFCY has shifted the evaluation framework in the current three-year funding cycle to a results- based accountability model in response to direction and feedback from council and community stakeholders. This has led to the addition of RBA ‘scorecards’ for the fund and for each of the nine strategies, to provide a simple table of accomplishments to show how much was accomplished, how well it was accomplished, and if anyone is better off due to their participation in direct services. OFCY recognizes that accomplishment of these outcomes are foundational for contributing towards greater citywide goals, including improved rates of graduation, decreased crime and violence, and improved school performance.
Moving forward, OFCY will look to continue working with the independent evaluators for improved tracking of the funds’ impact on key citywide goals within the RBA framework to better respond to the key question ‘is anyone better off?’ due to the investment in direct services.
OFCY will solicit new proposals from third-party evaluation firms in spring 2022 to select a new agency to lead the work with new programs starting in the next three-year funding cycle beginning in FY 2022-2023.
The following citywide priorities are supported by this work:
1. Holistic community safety
2. Housing, economic, and cultural security
There are no policy alternatives for consideration.
Picture 9: Source of Matching Funds
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 12
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
FISCAL IMPACT
OFCY’s evaluation costs for FY 2020-2021 totaled $240,000 for Social Policy Research Associates’ services and were funded through the OFCY – Kids First! Oakland Children’s Fund (1780), as an administrative cost of OFCY. There was no impact on the General Fund.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
The POC Evaluation Subcommittee met on November 3, 2021 in a public meeting hosted virtually via Zoom to review and provide feedback to the evaluation firm regarding the draft 2020-2021 evaluation report. The OFCY Planning and Oversight Committee met on December 1, 2021 in a virtual public meeting via Zoom to and again on January 19, 2022 to review and accept the 2020-2021 final evaluation report and to receive public comments prior to forwarding to the City Council for adoption.
COORDINATION
This report and legislation have been reviewed by the Office of the City Attorney and Budget Bureau.
PAST PERFORMANCE, EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
The OFCY evaluation supports a continuous improvement process with annual evaluation and follow-up through program improvement planning. Past performance as cited in the third-party evaluation reports is used in part in the determination of funding renewals.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: Social Policy Research Associates is an Oakland-based organization that employs Oakland residents. OFCY programs provide free and low-cost programming that supports thousands of Oakland’s low-income children and families that would otherwise be inaccessible for families in poverty.
Environmental: Programs build youth leadership and engage youth in the physical environment through environmental justice and restoration projects, neighborhood arts, and through community building projects that improve the overall quality of life and community safety in Oakland neighborhoods.
Race & Equity: The independent evaluation details how from planning through implementation, OFCY prioritizes services and programming for children, youth and families with a specific intentionality and focus to address race and equity. The racial equity analysis in the evaluation report shows that OFCY programs served a higher proportion of African American/ Black, Hispanic/ Latinx, and American Indian/ Alaskan Native children and youth compared to the citywide population, indicating that the intentional focus of programs to serve these populations was successful. Overall, 91 percent of children and youth served by programs are African Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: OFCY 2020-2021 Year End Evaluation Report
Date: February 22, 2022 Page 13
Life Enrichment Committee
March 21, 2022
American/ Black, Hispanic/ Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, and Middle Eastern/ North African. OFCY programs support low-income families with near exclusivity, and programming is intended to support children, youth, and families with the greatest needs.
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Adopting The Oakland Fund For Children And Youth (OFCY) Final Evaluation Report For Fiscal Year 2020-2021.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Mike Wetzel, Acting Manager, Children and Youth Services Division, at 238-3242.
Respectfully submitted,
SARA BEDFORD
Director, Human Services Department
Prepared by:
Mike Wetzel, Acting Manager, Children & Youth
Services Division
Attachments (1):
A: OFCY Final Evaluation Report FY 2020-2021