We believe that community capacity and social impact can be enhanced through quality research that provides greater understanding of community need, best practice strategies, opportunities for impact and challenges for implementation. Examples of our recent research work include:

—Legal Needs Assessment exploring the legal support service landscape in Calgary for vulnerable individuals and families, conducted for The Alex Community Health Centre (2024) Full Report

—Data analysis for Dr. Dawne Clark’s Active for Life Proof of Concept Study (2019-2020) More Information

—Exiting Homelessness in Calgary: Understanding Pathways Towards Being Housed - a primary research study on exiting homelessness in Calgary conducted in collaboration with Hindsight Research Group and 90 individuals with lived experience of exiting homelessness. Funded through the Calgary Homeless Foundation (2019) Full Report

—Sharing Perspectives on ‘Soft Skills’: A Canada Wide Survey of Stakeholders study conducted for Futureworx and the Government of Canada exploring perspectives on soft skills training and development opportunities in Canada (2018) Full Report

—Literature review for the the City of Calgary’s Crime Prevention Investment Plan (CPIP) Research Brief & Guiding Document (2016-2017) Full Report

We support organizations with the program design or redesign process including: background, need and best practice research; creation of detailed program logic models and theory of change materials; and development of evaluation plans. Since program designs are part of the internal program planning process, we aren't able to share examples of our work publicly. Please contact us for examples of our work.

Our evaluation work is person-centered, practical, and utilization-focused. We use a mixed-methods approach and ensure multiple stakeholder voices are reflected our final evaluation products. All evaluation work is overseen by a Canadian Evaluation Society Credentialed Evaluator, ensuring adherence to the highest standard of evaluation practice. Examples of our recent evaluation work include:

—Evaluation of Carya’s Sirius Program, 2017-2018 Full Report

—Evaluation of the CCIS Cultural Brokerage Program (2014-2019) Three Year Report (2014-2017)* Three Year Summary (2014-2017) * 2019 Evaluation Report *Promising Practice Video

—Evaluation of the Family Violence Specialist and Apartment 1310 Program facilitated by CCIS (2019) Full Report * Promising Practice Video

—Five Year Retrospective Evaluation of WoodGreen Toronto’s Homeward Bound Program (2018) Full Report

—Evaluation of Momentum’s Tax Time Savings program (2019) Summary Report

—Developmental evaluation of Momentum’s Job Boost program (2016-2019) Summary Report

Using the internationally standardized Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology, we support organizations to demonstrate the value of their social impact in relation to their social investments. All SROI work is conducted by an Accredited SROI Practitioner and final SROI products include detailed citations, full reporting of assumptions and demonstration of verification of the validity of results. Examples of our recent SROI work include:

—SROI of the Connecting People and Community for Living Well Project through Alberta Health Services (2023) Full Report

—Updated SROI of services provided by Inn from the Cold Calgary (2023) Full Report * Summary

—SROI of RESET Calgary’s EXIT Program that supports women and girls fleeing sexual exploitation (2019) Summary

—SROI of dedicated-site supportive housing investment by BC Housing (2018) Full Report

—SROI of scattered-site supportive housing investment by BC Housing (2018) Full Report

All of our work involves elements of capacity building, but we also provide a variety of topic-specific training opportunities, including presentations and workshops, for individuals and organizations. If you’re looking for advice or support on a particular project, we offer individual and organizational coaching and review of analyses.

Leveraging our expertise in research and evaluation, we help position organizations to attract investment and expand their funding base. We have successfully supported organizations in securing funding from: Public Safety Canada, the Department of Justice, Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) Calgary, the Calgary Foundation, Status of Women Alberta, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Status of Women Canada, United Way, and other donors, investors and funders.