Minneapolis Afterschool Network Will Evaluate Impact with Cityspan Collaborative

The Minneapolis Afterschool Network recently partnered with Cityspan to implement Cityspan Collaborative as a shared database for out-of-school time providers throughout the city. The initiative leverages the work Cityspan performed in 2011 developing Saint Paul’s Sprockets Shared Databaseas part of a collaboration between the City, Saint Paul Public Schools, the Wilder Foundation and community organizations. Fatima Muhammad, project director for the Minneapolis Afterschool Network, recognized a similar need in Minneapolis to align providers around a common set of metrics designed to evaluate and enhance community impact.  Building a shared data system to collect and report on these metrics was the logical first step.

Led by the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board and in partnership with the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Public Schools (who will act as the research entity on the project), the Network has deployed Cityspan’s system to 11 agencies (representing 21 programs) as part of the initial phase. And while Minneapolis and Saint Paul’s systems currently remain separate, the two cities are sharing best practices and coordinating to ensure standardization of data collection protocols. Agencies serving both cities will be able to access each city’s system through a common interface, encouraging further alignment across the Twin Cities. In the future, Minneapolis and Saint Paul plan to use Cityspan Collaborative to provide unified reporting capabilities across both cities, further developing the Twin Cities’ ability to measure collective impact with the children and youth they serve.

Learn More:

• Get the details behind Cityspan’s implementation of Saint Paul’s Sprockets Shared Database
• Read how Saint Paul strives to be “Informed by Data, Inspired by Youth,” in their 2014 Out-Of-School Time Report (using data from Cityspan!)
• Discover how Saint Paul’s Promise Neighborhood initiative is using data (from Cityspan Provider) to address difficult community issues