Impact & Insights

“ These tools are so transformational for us in the ways that we think about and evaluate our program.”

“Our CONNECT Fellow made incredibly helpful suggestions and found gaps in our evaluation plan that we would not have otherwise seen. She helped us come up with an evaluation plan and implementation of the plan that will sustain even through possible staff changes over the next 3 years.”

“The work completed by the graduate students was essential, foundational work needed to bring attention to serious capacity concerns to large agency stakeholders.”

“As a growing organization, we learned the importance of measuring the work we are already doing to be able to improve programs and see the impact we are having on the community.”

“This program taught us to be more clear on how we define/measure success for our program and participants. We also learned the value of asking questions and acquiring feedback that we KNOW we will use.”

“Through the CONNECT program and individual work with our fellow, each program manager took ownership of their data collection and further understood how and why they are measuring aspects of each program.”

“Great opportunity to introduce feedback concepts to the organization and plan for future survey opportunities.

“I cannot express enough how professional, patient, and helpful everyone we worked with was during this project. Our organization's world was turned upside down during March and April of this year and we are still walking away from this partnership with a valuable tool that will benefit our clients.

“This was not only a great experience for my organization but an amazing exercise for me as a leader.”

"I participated in this program at the same time that I started to go on the job market and I found my experience crucial for securing other opportunities. I don't think that I could have had the same opportunities for my career if I had not done the CONNECT program.”

“The CONNECT program has been a HUGE part of my personal and professional growth and I am so thankful to be taking on another fantastic project this semester.”

“As an international student, I think the most helpful part for me is this program provides a chance to connect with a real client and work with them. I have learned how to communicate with stakeholders and clients, as well as how to manage a project.”

“I would absolutely recommend this program to anyone with my background (statistics, experimental design, programming) and goals (data science career).”

“This has been a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful that I was selected to be a part of this program. I feel more confident in my research skills and feel that I can use my Ph.D. outside of academia to help organizations I care about. This has really informed my career path.”

“I learned so much more than I thought I would. Sharing my evaluation background with people with deep program/content knowledge made for interesting meetings and lots of learning on both sides! ”

“This project was a great opportunity for me to practice Tableau and build a new project for my personal portfolio.”