InPractice: Lessons for and from Practitioners

Lessons on how to use a hackathon—an intensive, time-limited event where teams collaborate to solve challenges—to build skills, spark innovation, and generate fresh ideas.

Lessons on how predictive analytics—the use of historical data to estimate the likelihood of future outcomes—can help program operators anticipate and actively address client needs.

Lessons on how organizations can set up and work with community advisory boards, which tell organizations whether programs and services reflect local needs.

This blog post describes advice from a social services organization about offering a sequence of services to individuals who are diagnosed with substance use disorders.

This post describes an exercise for social services organizations that uses program attendance and engagement data analysis as part of a team-building effort—promoting equity by engaging diverse staff members in discussions about how to improve enrollment, service delivery, and participation outcomes.

This blog post describes eight processes and cultural shifts that the NYC Human Resources Administration and the Santa Cruz Human Services Department implemented to encourage innovation among staff members in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—and how each of the processes came to life.

The Houston Housing Authority (HHA) joined an MDRC-led research project called MyGoals for Employment Success, an innovative employment coaching intervention informed by behavioral psychology. This blog post describes the experiences of HHA staff members and the MDRC team and how they used participatory research methods to inform decision-making. 

Many program managers are integrating self-care into their management strategies to address work-related stress. This post offers two group activities that managers can use to boost staff morale and promote well-being: wellness communities and monthly staff celebrations.

An increased focus on staff well-being has been an unexpected benefit of the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. MDRC has helped program managers use a variety of tools to support their workers, including self-care plans that individuals can use to assess and address the stress of their jobs.

The InPractice blog is MDRC’s place for sharing resources and tips developed by practitioners, for practitioners. This review of the past year’s posts shows how our program partners adjusted to difficult, uncertain conditions and continued to deliver services during the worst of the pandemic.