Supporting Children and Families
OnTrack Greenville
OnTrack Greenville is a federally-funded, school-based collective impact partnership that aims to keep students engaged at school and on track toward high school graduation. Stakeholders have used results of our evaluation to adjust the implementation of programs as they scaled services to accommodate more students and schools.
Read OnTrack Greenville reports
Self-Sufficiency
From June 2019 through June 2021, the Riley Institute conducted a comprehensive study funded by the Graham Foundation of frontline work in integrated services to identify best practices for supporting individuals pursuing self-sufficiency. Three local organizations—United Ministries, Foothills Family Resources, and Center for Community Services—joined efforts in an Integrated Services Alliance to explore and compare their program designs against each other and recent research.
Institute for Child Success Hello Family Pay-for-Success Project
Hello Family is five-year initiative aiming to improve the outcomes for children and their families in Spartanburg through a continuum of evidence-based services addressing prenatal development to kindergarten entry. In collaboration with the Urban Institute, the primary impact evaluator, the Riley Institute is leading the effort to validate the annual achievement of performance benchmarks set by the four Hello Family partners: BirthMatters, Family Connects, Hope Center for Children, and Spartanburg First Steps. Achievement of benchmarks will trigger payments from the City of Spartanburg to each partner and to private investors.
Help Me Grow South Carolina
Help Me Grow South Carolina (HMG SC) is a system for identifying and connecting children who are at risk for developmental, behavioral, or learning problems to local, community-based programs and services. Program leaders have used evaluation results to better understand the characteristics of the children and families HMG SC serves and strengthen the program’s internal data system.
College Advising Corps
College Advising Corps uses near-peer mentors to help high school students enroll in and persist at college. Our evaluation has helped leaders clarify the roles and responsibilities of mentors, leading to improved coaching services and an increase in the number of first-generation students applying to college.
Contact us to learn more about these research efforts.