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Quantifying the Unquantifiable: Equity-Centered Community Engagement
When we talk about equity-centered community engagement (ECCE), we are talking about a dynamic digital approach to flexible and sustainable community engagement. The lived experiences of families and community members are enormously important; they drive service providers to adapt, expand and invest in communities. Surveys are one of the best tools for providers to reach these communities! This tool fosters a large, transparent community, and ensures that services center solutions for the intended recipients. Surveys are inexpensive and inclusive. They…
Data for Impact: How Data Can Help Your Organization Better Understand (and plan for!) the Impact of COVID-19
The sudden and unprecedented nature of COVID-19 and its impact on the economy and communities has raised questions across sectors: Can our company or organization survive with reduced or changed cash flow? How can we re-open, and what will re-opening look like? How can we best use our company or organization’s resources to help? At VIVA, we have spent much of 2020 partnering with our clients to re-examine and pivot priorities in light of the pandemic. Much of this work…
Data for Impact: Three Ways Organizations Can Leverage Data to Support Racial Equity Efforts
At VIVA, supporting our partners in addressing the needs of diverse communities has been a driving goal since we were founded 9 years ago. This blog post discusses three things your organization can do now to use data and analytics to help ensure that your work is supporting racial equity.
Data for Impact: An Interview with VIVA's Director of Data & Analytics
To kick off our new blog series focused on how organizations can use data to support their social impact efforts – and better understand the impact of those efforts – Laura Bowen, VIVA’s Communications Director, interviews Christine Tringale, VIVA’s Director of Data & Analytics.
VIVA’s Top 7 Tips for Successful Virtual Meetings
“Sometimes you are planted apart to see how you will grow together.” ― Nitya Prakash In this sudden era of remote work, everyone from internal teams to systems partners will rely on virtual collaboration more than ever before. To help make this transition as smooth as possible, we’ve pulled together VIVA’s top six tips for successful virtual meetings that connect, inspire, and keep the ball rolling – even when you are not physically in the same space. 1. Define the…
Five Action Steps to Prepare for IMPACT 2020
The Quality Counts California (QCC) Local Consortia and Partnership Grants RFA released January 31, 2020 merged First 5 and California Department of Education funding streams for quality rating improvement systems (QRIS) into one grant. Nine years after the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge catalyzed the development of QRISs in California, and five years after the expansion of support for quality through CDE’s CSSP and First 5 CA’s IMPACT investment were made, we now have an exciting opportunity to…
7 Simple Questions Sure to Break the Ice
Let’s face it – meetings can sometimes be a bit dull. But to start a meeting with the wind at your back, we recommend using these ice breakers to allow everyone a chance to arrive in the space, have a laugh, a moment of reflection, and an opportunity to learn something new about their colleagues. Enjoy!
Tools to Help Educators and Parents Talk to Children About Diversity and Inclusion
Helping children understand and value differences can be quite a task. VIVA worked with Quality Start LA to create Me and My Friends, a short e-book about a preschooler named Mateo who lives in LA County. The book was positioned alongside tips for parents and providers to help guide conversations about diversity and inclusion.
How Could Public Systems Work Better for Families?
That’s the question we’ve been asking during a year-long research and storytelling project to understand families’ experiences accessing and using public services to create better lives for their children. The first thing we did was research to understand a system that was redesigned to better work for the families that need it. Michigan made significant investments in redesigning its public service system using human-centered design principles, and the result is impressive. Learn more about what Michigan has done right, and where they have room…
New Name, Same VIVA!
Having celebrated VIVA’s 8 year anniversary as a firm, we are proud to reflect on how we view our work, our team, and those we serve. We regularly discuss as a team what brings us together and what unifies our efforts, and at the end of these conversations, we always land on social impact partnerships. With this in mind, we began to think about our firm’s name. But before we go further, let’s take a brief walk back in time. When Nicole and…