white paper on performance management for community ... - FACA

NASCSP 2013
5. Where and under what circumstances will you do your work (context)?
The Community Action Network believes organizations with Systems Capacity that are fiscally
sound, well-functioning agencies, are best positioned to achieve their missions. As a step
toward evaluating and addressing this imperative, the Community Action Network is creating
Organizational Performance Standards for CAAs, State CSBG Offices, and OCS. With support
from OCS, the Community Action Partnership (Partnership) and the Urban Institute (UI) are
leading the Network’s effort to create standards, with the Partnership creating Organizational
Performance Standards for local agencies and UI creating standards and performance measures
for OCS and State CSBG Offices.
The final product will be a set of local, state, and federal-level Organizational Performance
Standards and performance measures aimed at measuring the core capacity of each level of the
network to contribute to the goals of Community Action. State CSBG Offices support CAAs in
increasing their core capacity so that they can achieve their long-term goals. At the federal
level, OCS supports State CSBG Offices and State CAA Associations in increasing their core
capacity so they are better able to assist their statewide CAA network in achieving Community
Action’s mission. Standards at each of these levels are outlined under Systems Capacity in the
draft TOC.
The Community Action Program and Service Development figure in Appendix B places
Community Action’s work within the context of family and community.
6. Why do you believe your theory of change will bear out (assumptions)?
Based on experience, the Community Action Network believes that its methods for moving
families to self-sufficiency and revitalizing communities have been successful over the past 49
years. However, the Network is unable to document the full measure of success using current
performance measurement and management reporting. The draft National Community Action
TOC clarifies Community Action’s long-term goals and Assumptions begins to outline a process
that will allow the Network to more clearly define, identify, and link high-impact service
strategies to the Network’s long-term goals. Systematic data collection and analysis, as
illustrated by the red arrows on the draft TOC, are needed to test each component of the draft
TOC. What’s more, performance measurement and management through an enhanced ROMA
system will be critical to assisting the Network in creating evidence and documenting success.
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