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EXAMPLES OF OUR WORK
Process Design & Facilitation
- Charlotte Fire Department
Shortly after appointed to his new position, the Chief of the Charlotte Fire Department hired The Lee Institute to design and facilitate a set of seven focus groups of the Department’s fire fighters and staff. The Lee Institute analyzed the data using qualitative research methods and, protecting the anonymity of the participants, shared the findings with the Chief. The focus groups provided the Chief with detailed insights into the concerns, hopes and suggestions of his workforce in a way that would have been very difficult for elicit in another setting.
- Charlotte Housing Authority
The Lee Institute has been retained by the Charlotte Housing Authority (CHA) to provide facilitation and technical assistance for the community partnership elements of CHA’s “Moving to Work” implementation, including facilitating revisions of CHA’s balanced scorecard to integrate Moving to Work (MTW). MTW is a program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which allows selected public housing authorities to design and test innovative, locally-designed housing and self-sufficiency strategies for low-income families. CHA is using The Lee Institute’s expertise to foster collaborative processes, within and outside of CHA, essential to successful implementation.
- The Future of the Library Task Force
The Lee Institute supported the work of this task force, which was charged with possible transformation of the Mecklenburg County public libraries in the face of dramatic public budget cuts. This work included overall project management, co-facilitation and process design support, in addition to managing data collection and organizational information as well as surveys and other public opinion data.
To view the Library Report, CLICK HERE
- Sector Analysis: Workforce Development
As part of its facilitation of a collaborative to consider improvements to the workforce development sector, in addition to facilitation of the team and the process, The Lee Institute has completed extensive focus groups and interviews. The qualitative themes are guidnig the work of the collaboration. This work is funded by the Community Catalyst Fund of the Foundation For The Carolinas, an innovative apprroach to venture philanthropy.
Public Engagement
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MeckConnect
Through a grant-funded partnership with the Mecklenburg County Manager’s Office, intact groups such as book clubs, religious organizations, neighborhood associations and virtual groups were asked to consider why and how engagement in the so-called “civil society” could be leveraged into more active engagement in the civic society i.e. their relationship to government. TLI held discussion groups to gather quantitative and qualitative data. MeckConnect has produced a set of findings and values with regard to how people want to be engaged, which now help guide civic engagement design for The Lee Institute. Mecklenburg County government continues to use MeckConnect to increase citizen engagement and involvement.
- North Carolina Partnership for Children (NCPC)
NCPC, also known as NC Smart Start, retained The Lee Institute in 2009 to design and implement a major citizen engagement effort across the state. Funded by Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, this project engaged citizens from all 100 counties in identifying priorities for early childhood development. The Lee Institute designed, organized and facilitated 11 large day-long gatherings where a total of about 800 people. Participants used demographic data, information on brain architecture and their knowledge and diverse experiences to develop a robust collection of priorities and recommendations for what will have the biggest positive impact on providing young children with a strong foundation. In its role as a leader in early childhood, NCPC and its 77 partnerships will use these priorities to drive local and state-wide change. To view "What do North Carolinians want for their children?", a summary of the findings of the statewide smart investing forums and summits, CLICK HERE.
- Achieve Together
Achieve Together was launched with a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to connect local residents with people, training, data and support to become advocates for positive change in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. This project is grounded in a theory of change that The Lee Institute worked with the steering committee of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg African American Agenda (CM3A) to develop. The Lee Institute’s role is to activate the collective energy of the community’s residents to push for constructive changes that will improve student achievement and graduation rates in CMS Achievement Zone high schools.
About 80 people have participated in “community circles” – a curriculum developed by The Lee Institute to prepare local residents to participate effectively in advocacy such as organizing public forums, presenting to the School Board and meeting with individual School Board members. Over 150 people have been trained in the Right Question Project (RQP) Strategy (www.rightquestion.org), a practical technique to support parents’ in supporting, monitoring and advocating for their children’s education. To view the data guide prepared by The Lee Institute for Community Circle members, "An Overview of Education Trends", CLICK HERE. To view "Tracking the Education Dollar", prepared by The Lee Institute for Community Circle Members, CLICK HERE. To view The Lee Institute's "Advocacy Manual: Everyday advocacy made easy" to assist individuals in advocating for change in public education, CLICK HERE.
To view the field guide prepared by The Lee Institute to assist individuals preparing for large-scale community change, CLICK HERE.
- United Agenda for Children Henderson County
The Lee Institute worked in partnership with the Children and Family Services Center to create a large scale civic engagement effort to consider the future of children in Henderson County, North Carolina. Over 300 individuals were involved in the Henderson County civic engagement effort, the size currently projected for the regional summits in this plan. To view the participant guide for the Town Hall meeting, CLICK HERE.
For more information about Henderson County's United Agenda for children, visit www.unitedagendaforchildrenhc.org.
Project Management
- System of Care
Mecklenburg County Area Mental Health contracted with The Lee Institute for more than four years to serve as project manager for its ambitious initiative to build a “system of care” (SOC) for children with severe emotional disturbances and their families. The SOC philosophy is a nationally recognized strengths-based approach where youth with emotional issues and their families work as equal partners with local agencies and organizations to help them be successful at home, at school and in the community. With The Lee Institute’s early support to launch a successful pilot, the County was awarded a $9 million grant to take the SOC to scale. As project manager, The Lee Institute’s responsibilities centered on development of and accountability for an infrastructure of multi-disciplinary teams to support the cultural, practice-based, and policy changes necessary to grow and sustain this model.
- Infant Mental Health
The Lee Institute has had the privilege of working with a multi-disciplinary group of about 25 professionals exploring ways to bring the social and emotional health needs of children birth through five to the attention of parents, child serving agencies and civic leaders across Mecklenburg County. The Lee Institute was retained to provide the group with the organization, collaborative processes and strategic thinking to move the group’s goals forward. With funding from Smart Start of Mecklenburg County and project management from The Lee Institute, the group has branded itself; produced two provocative reports bringing attention to the emerging field of infant mental health (IMH) and challenging the status quo; created a website www.zfive.org with resources for parents and professionals; developed a first-time list of IMH providers serving Charlotte-Mecklenburg; developed an interactive decision tree to help parents and professionals with questions about their youngster’s behavioral development navigate the system; launched a mentoring program to increase the supply of IMH providers - seven licensed professionals have completed the program to date; provided opportunities for local IMH providers to network and learn; embedded an IMH specialist in Youth and Family Services Geo-District 1 to serve as a consultant, coach and trainer for case workers around IMH issues; and developed a networking relationship with two other collaboratives in North Carolina in order to learn from each other and bring IMH issues to the attention of state policy makers.
To view a report prepared by The Lee Institute regarding the social and emotional health needs of children 0-5 in Mecklenburg County, CLICK HERE. To view recommendations to address the social and emotional needs of young children in the child welfare system in Mecklenburg County, CLICK HERE. For more information on young child mental health and other local resources, visit www.zfive.org.
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Out of School Time
Another effort funded by the Catalyst Fund is a community-led process to collect a comprehensive set of data that describes the range and scope of Out of School Time activiites for a task force charged with making recommendations ranging from implementing quality measures to increasing accessibility to programming. The Lee Institute is proud to serve as part of the project management team and has additional responsibility for interviews with stakeholders and service providers. The Lee Institute will assist in the production of the recommendations and final report and creation of implementation steps.
- Arts Merger
The Lee Institute worked with two arts organizations, The Children’s Arts Project and the Creative Arts Exchange on a process that led them to a merger. The process included assessment of their services, budgets, fundraising and overall structure. This led to a process facilitated by The Lee Institute with board members from both groups along with a sample group of community leaders to develop the plan for implementation of the merger and the structure for the new organization and board.
Strategic Planning & Positioning
- Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte
As a strategy to support and strengthen its 20 affiliated organizations, the Jewish Federation hired The Lee Institute in 2009 for a two-part engagement: development of a practical hands-on workshop on strategic planning, followed by individual consultation sessions with each organization to guide them in framing next steps in their strategic development. The Jewish Federation plans to continue its work with The Lee Institute ultimately to strengthen its own capacity to support the organizations serving the Jewish community. In 2010, The Lee Institute also completed three additional workshops for the Jewish Federation: Board Development and Succession Planning, Lay/Professional Relationships, and Development and Fundraising.
- Crisis Assistance Ministry
Crisis Assistance Ministry, a Charlotte non-profit that provides “assistance and advocacy for people in financial crisis while helping them move towards self-sufficiency,” retained The Lee Institute to develop a strategic plan in 2007. As part of this work, The Lee Institute gathered data on the demographic, business and philanthropic environments; conducted interviews with key donors, collaborative partners and other stakeholders; and worked with the board and staff to clarify direction and strategies for the next five years.
- Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
The Lee Institute facilitated the creation of a long-range plan for the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, which outlines goals, strategies, tasks and associated financial projections for the years 2007-2012. A work team comprised of staff and board members participated in regular meetings facilitated by The Lee Institute. The Lee Institute designed the long-range planning process, completed interviews and other research, and provided accurate and timely technical assistance throughout its work with the Children’s Theatre.
- Charlotte Museum of History
The Lee Institute assisted the Charlotte Museum of History in 2008 to develop an aggressive work plan to meet short-term needs and a long-range strategic plan. The scope of this work included completion of stakeholder interviews, a focus group, analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and organizational assistance on development of goals and tactics.
- Community Health Services
Community Health Services hired The Lee Institute to co-lead its staff and board through a transformational process to redesign the entire organization and increase its capacity for greater impact in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. The Lee Institute’s work included an environmental scan, a survey of comparative organizations nationally, a series of board retreats, and a final report with recommendations.
- KIPP: Charlotte
KIPP: Charlotte currently operates a charter school serving primarily African American middle school students in low-income families. As part of a national educational model to bring students up to grade level and get them into – and through – college, KIPP: Charlotte hired The Lee Institute in 2009 to conduct the research, analysis and facilitation required for development of a plan for strategic growth beyond its existing middle school. The Lee Institute examined the school’s financial position, internal systems, and the perspectives of its board, staff and teachers in order to guide the school to decisions about its future.
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