Tips on keeping an EBP funded and running from the New York Foundling
You can have a truly great program, one that brings families back together, put kids on the straight and narrow so they achieve their dreams and lead a productive life instead of landing in jail. But how good is the program if it doesn’t get beyond the implementation phase because seed money runs out?
Sustainability is crucial to an evidence-based practice (EBP). If it doesn’t last, how much good can it do? An examination by the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) found successful sustainability starts with a solid and complete implementation stage. “A program’s likelihood of sustainment can be significantly enhanced through several aspects of implementation: maintaining fidelity to core program components, articulating clear goals and developing a plan to achieve them, and demonstrating program success with measureable results and program evaluation.” Multisystemic Therapy (MST), for one, is super-diligent about maintaining fidelity to its Nine Principles to ensure program success and viability. And that’s one reason it has been around for two decades.
Full implementation is so important because without it, measurable results are hard to come by. They are needed to attract more funding so the program can continue.
Keys to sustainability
A JRSA briefing paper lays out the key steps to having a program last. According to the paper, “Sustainment is not one single event or characteristic of a program. It is an evolving and concomitant process that begins with the early adoption of a program and continues after implementation.”
To achieve in the long-term, an EBP needs
- a clear explanation of the program’s objectives and how they will be attained
- measurable results that show stakeholders the EBP’s value
- early sustainability planning
- adaptability and responsiveness to outside changes without straying from its fundamental principles
- and more
This paper serves as a blueprint for startup (and continuing) evidence-based programs.
Helping programs start and last
The New York Foundling’s Implementation Support Center builds on these sustainability concepts. It uses a support model to assist organizations with the full scope of implementation activities, from startup through sustainability. It can vouch for the value of the brief’s highlights of the key program characteristics, which the Foundling has found critical for sustaining an evidence-based implementation. It suggests agencies answer three questions before completing their next request for proposal (RFP):
- Will this new program be congruent with my agency’s core mission?
- Have I identified both an internal and external “program champion” that has the power, influence and time to focus on sustaining this new implementation?
- Am I prepared to collect real-time data to tell the story of the program’s impact on the community and the system in which it is being implemented?
The JRSA sums up the paper by saying “if grantors and grantees collaborate and engage in multiple sustainment strategies, granting agencies are more likely to see a return on their investments while communities reap the benefits of evidence-based programs.” That’s win-win, wouldn’t you say?
Mara Osher is a Senior Advisor at the New York Foundling Implementation Support Center
If you are interested in learning more about how to bring evidence-based practices to your community, conisder attending the MST pre-conference at Blueprints on April 11. More information here.
