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CSBG Performance Management Tools and Protocols

CSBG Performance Management Tools and Protocols. A Presentation at the National Community Action Foundation Legislative Conference Margaret C. Simms March 8, 2013. Background.

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CSBG Performance Management Tools and Protocols

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  1. CSBG Performance Management Tools and Protocols A Presentation at the National Community Action Foundation Legislative Conference Margaret C. Simms March 8, 2013

  2. Background • Office of Community Services at HHS contracted with the Urban Institute to develop performance tools and protocols for CSBG. • One task was to conduct an environmental scan of other Federal programs. • This presentation draws from that scan, conducted by Heather Hahn and others.

  3. Context of Performance Management • Increased federal focus on accountability • Monitoring compliance with laws and regs • Improving performance to achieve desired outcomes • But reality is complicated! • Implementation across states/localities/grantees • Diverse grant activities • Complex social problems

  4. Context of Performance Management Key Elements of Performance Management: • Defining Performance Measures • Choosing Levels of Expected Performance • Putting the Measures into Practice • Using Measures to Manage Performance

  5. Defining Performance Measures • What gets measured matters • Alignment of measures to program goals • Process and/or outcome measures • Appropriateness of measures to diverse activities of block grant programs • Measures over which agency has control • Total number of measures

  6. Choosing Levels of Expected Performance • Targets set in advance OR retrospective analysis of performance • Fixed targets OR relative performance (e.g. ranking) • Thresholds OR improvements • Targets self-determined, imposed, OR negotiated

  7. Putting the Measures into Practice • Capacity to collect and analyze data • Levels of aggregation/disaggregation • Federal, state, grantee, service delivery site • By demographic or other subgroup • Distinguishing true effects of performance from outside influences

  8. Performance Incentives & Consequences • Consequences • Financial penalties, face competition • Incentives • Financial reward, leg-up in competitive process • Public recognition/shame/peer learning • Sharing performance data with peers, public • High-profile performance reviews • Constructive review of issues and solutions

  9. Using Measures to Manage Performance • Leadership from top-level officials • Commitment to using data to inform policy • Active management of performance • Regular high-profile meetings to discuss results • Easy-to-read displays of data (data dashboard) • Multiple levels of management • Broad views of overarching goals • Day-to-day management at local level

  10. Avoiding Unintended Consequences • Misplaced attention on wrong measures • Choose measures carefully! • Gaming – meet the target, miss the goal • Get buy-in on targets and goals • Creaming – directing resources to clients most likely to succeed, not most in need • Measure improvement for specific populations • Rigid focus on outdated goals • Periodically update goals and measures

  11. Key Considerations for CSBG • What specifically should be measured? • How should expected levels of performance be determined? • What capacity exists – or needs to be developed – to collect and analyze timely, accurate performance data? • How should OCS, CAA, others act on data?

  12. Performance Management Task Force • Urban Institute, in consultation with OCS, has formed a task force consisting of individuals from CAAs, States, and community action organizations • Task force to meet three times. • Two meetings already held. • Final meeting in late April.

  13. Messages from Last Task Force Meeting • Good performance measurement is a crucial building block for a good performance management system. • A new performance management system should not remove an assessment of CSBG dollars from the context of community action

  14. Messages from Last Task Force Meeting-continued • However a new performance management system will more precisely describe the contribution of CSBG funds to the mission of community action. • We can do this, and now is the time to do it. Community action, low-income communities, and low-income individuals are going to be better off as a result of the actions we take to measure our performance. We are making progress.

  15. Other Major Urban Institute Tasks • Convene three task force meetings • Prepare Performance Management Tools and Protocols • Conduct Train-the Trainer Webinars for CSBG Network

  16. Contacts for Further Information • Margaret Simms, Co-principal Investigator, Urban Institute, msimms@urban.org • Carol DeVita, Co-principal Investigator, Urban Institute, cdevita@urban.org • Saunji Fyffe, Project Manager, Urban Institute, sfyffe@urban.org

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