Abstract
After years of grant making that had produced some benefits for individual children, but no lasting change in their conditions, The Skillman Foundation shifted its focus to getting deeper and more sustained results that would “change the odds for kids.” In 2006, the Foundation formally embarked on this new approach with a 10‐year, $100 million commitment to the Good Neighborhoods Initiative that
aims to ensure that children living in six Detroit neighborhoods–Brightmoor, Chadsey Condon, Cody Rouge, Northend Central Woodward, Osborn, and Southwest Detroit –are safe, healthy, well‐educated, and prepared for adulthood. This report comes at the end of the Readiness Phase; the point at which a baseline of the systems of supports and opportunities (SOSO) that exist for the 24,782 young people ages 11‐18 in the six Good Neighborhoods is needed. Understanding what is available and to what extent there is coordination, accessibility, high quality, and comprehensiveness is the first step in determining what gaps and challenges exist and what could be done to improve them.
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A key element of The Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods and Good Schools theory of change was articulated as follows: “young people are more likely to be safe, healthy, well educated and prepared for adulthood when they are embedded in a strong system of support and opportunities [SOSO].” To assess progress toward the Readiness Phase indicators and preparedness for meeting the
2016 Goals, The Skillman Foundation sought a baseline of the basic services—free tax preparation, high need food resources, and health clinics— in systems of supports and opportunities that exist for the families of young people in the six Good Neighborhoods. Understanding what is available is the first step in determining what gaps and challenges exist and what could be done to improve them. To that end, the Brandeis team interviewed staff in agencies offering these three types of basic services in the six Good Neighborhoods to inquire about program capacity and services, the eligibility requirements, accessibility and awareness. While it is not an exhaustive study of all basic services of these types, it is a step towards understanding what exists in the neighborhoods. The basic services portion of the SOSO assessment was conducted from a modified version of the SOSO questionnaire, omitting questions such as those that that pertained to program quality and coordination and collaboration.