Photo courtesy of Chilliwack Healthier Community (taken before the Covid-19 pandemic)
“How are we changing lives?” This is the question that Chilliwack Healthier Community (CHC) has been trying to answer since its inception in 2010.
Chilliwack Healthier Community (CHC) is a network for over 45 stakeholders in government, non-profit, private and volunteer sectors with the mission to address Chilliwack’s most complex issues which include housing, mental health, addictions, poverty reduction and cultural safety and humility.
In conjunction with task teams that work on implementing the strategic objectives of CHC as outlined in the organization’s Action Plan, much of what CHC does is informing and connecting its members through activities that facilitate communication and collaboration such as training workshops and monthly networking breakfasts.
CHC’s work is undeniably important but challenging to assess. CHC Coordinator Sabine Mendez shares, “In simplest terms, what are we doing in the community? How are we helping to solve those problems? How are we impacting those issues? That is a very hard thing to quantify and we have tried for years in our monitoring group.”
Outcomes are not the same as IMPACT
Before joining Project Impact Fraser Valley, CHC sought to answer these questions by establishing a Measuring and Monitoring Working Group (MMWG). Measuring activities largely consisted of asking members to take surveys after events such as the monthly networking breakfast, and tracking member attendance at these events. What the MMWG quickly realized that although these efforts helped determine outcomes, they did not help determine impact.
“We were able to see how many people attended an event for example but were not able to assess what attendees gained from attending an event. We were asking the wrong questions and using the wrong methodology.” Sabine said of CHC’s previous measuring and evaluation practices.”
Uncovering and Understanding Impact
“We joined Project Impact Fraser Valley because we wanted to learn how to demonstrate our impact on CHC’s targeted health and social issues in the community and the ability to prove to our stakeholders that our work is meaningful and effective.”
Consisting of Sabine and four members of CHC’s MMWG, the CHC Project Impact Team learned more effective evaluation tools and strategies through their participation in Project Impact Fraser Valley. As a result of the graduate-level training they received from Project Impact, CHC learned the right questions to ask to a wider cross-section of their identified audience.
“We designed an in-depth interview protocol to gain deeper levels of insight regarding member’s experiences from CHC partnership. Over the course of six weeks, we conducted 30 different 45 – 90-minute interviews.” (CHC Project Impact Report)
The detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis provided CHC with a deeper understanding of what their members were looking for and what they gained in their participation in CHC. One of the 12 keys findings is that CHC’s key offerings are “simply increased knowledge.”
“Many interview participants spoke of significant growth through their increased understanding of the drivers behind addiction, homelessness, and mental health issues. Others spoke of the tremendous impact of First Nations Historical Impacts Training or other training opportunities. It was clear that CHC has helped to dispel misconceptions around social issues with partners who may not be as connected to frontline work or particular subjects.” (CHC Project Impact Report)
These 12 key findings have become central to CHC’s “Beyond 2020” strategic planning process. With increased clarity, CHC is now able to frame their strategy more effectively and aligned to the needs of their stakeholders and members.
Confirming Purpose
Photo courtesy of Chilliwack Healthier Community (taken before the Covid-19 pandemic)
Project Impact may have provided CHC with tools and greater insight, but it is also provided them confirmation that they were often doing the right thing. Adds Sabine:
“Through this entire process, we received a confidence boost to know that what we do as an organization has been important to people, that opportunities to connect and collaborate do matter and that knowledge sharing does make a difference.”
Sabine and her colleagues presented their findings at the Project Impact Healthy Aging Virtual Showcase on October 14 via Zoom. CHC and eight other non-profit organizations based in the Fraser Valley shared their findings at the virtual event.
Click here to watch the showcase in its entirety.
Project Impact Healthy Aging is offered by Dr. Steve Patty of Dialogues in Action.
