Every agency in the room had a version of the same challenge. That, it turns out, was exactly the point.
The Agency Capacity Builder (https://www.goodworksresults.com) Impact Measurement Cohort held its first of six sessions, bringing together ten Milton Township Community Mental Health Board-funded agencies focused on making data work for us.
The session opened with an honest look at where things stand. Agencies completed a self-assessment built from patterns identified across discovery calls, then named what they need to start, stop, and keep when it comes to data collection, use, and communication. What surfaced was a pattern familiar to everyone in the room: data is being collected, but it is not making the work better. Staff are entering numbers, but do they see them again? Families are answering the same questions across multiple programs. And the story of real impact, the kind that builds trust with funders, motivates teams, and serves clients better, there is more of it to tell. Changing that is what the next six months are about.
One agency brought a live data systems challenge to the group for peer consultation and left with new perspectives, practical ideas, and the reminder that others in this network are navigating the same terrain.
Little Friends, Inc. (https://www.lilfriends.com) hosted and opened their remarkable facility for a tour that made vivid the scale and heart of this work: 120 adults and 130 children served daily, staff who are clearly there because they love it, and a culture of nimble adaptation that the whole group could feel.
This cohort, in partnership with Good Works Results LLC (https://www.goodworksresults.com), is building a stronger network of human service agencies across Milton Township and DuPage County.
Proud to work alongside: CASE/Glenbard Early Childhood Collaborative (https://www.casedupage.com), Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center (https://www.gecrc.com), Glen Ellyn Youth and Family Counseling Services (https://www.geyfcs.org), KidsMatter (https://www.kidsmatter2us.org), Little Friends, Inc. (https://www.lilfriends.com), Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans (https://www.mshv.org), NAMI DuPage (https://www.namidupage.org), Ray Graham Association (https://www.raygraham.org), World Relief (https://www.wr.org), and Xilin Association (https://www.xilin.org). Thank you to the Milton Township Community Mental Health Board (https://miltontownship.net/services/708_mental_health_board/index.php) for investing in this network.