Community Organizations Making a Difference

By: AIF Staff

Janesville, WI – Upon leaving Congress in early 2019, American Idea Foundation President and former House Speaker Paul Ryan was named a Professor of the Practice at the University of Notre Dame. He also joined the board of Notre Dame’s Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) which shares a similar focus to the American Idea Foundation.

As the Lab for Economic Opportunities celebrates its 10^th anniversary of helping address our nation’s most pressing challenges through academic research, evidence, and data, Ryan shared his thoughts on the impact that the Lab has had….  

A core part of Notre Dame’s mission is to “create a sense of human solidarity and a concern for the common good,” and there is no better embodiment of this principle than the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO). Notre Dame’s mission further states that the University has a “responsibility to advance knowledge in a search for truth” and over the past decade, LEO has capably shouldered this heavy responsibility by advancing poverty-fighting strategies rooted in evidence and designed to actually help people who are in-need.

In today’s polarized age, LEO’s use of data and research to combat poverty has become more important than ever. And as the laboratory celebrates 10 years of advancing policies and solutions that help people realize their version of the American Dream, it’s important to take stock of their approach and why it matters.  

As a legislator in Congress, I was appalled and frankly surprised at the dearth of non-partisan research and the lack of basic evidence when it came to measuring the federal government’s poverty-fighting efforts. Despite a more than 50-year “War on Poverty,” the federal government myopically focused on dollars spent rather than outcomes achieved.

Because Congress lacked real-world evidence and data about how programs and strategies were actually impacting those they served, legislators were often flying blind when it came to allocating federal funds. Far too frequently, well-meaning debates about expanding upward mobility devolved into ideological fights. The end result of these partisan battles was sadly predictable: Real progress on fighting poverty remained elusive, solutions delivering real results were not prioritized, and Americans continued to struggle.

It was clear Congress had to act if we were ever going to make progress and one day break the endless cycles of poverty in our communities.

That is why, working with Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington and the Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, we developed the Evidence-Based Policymaking Commission Act of 2016, which brought a bipartisan group of experts together to address the federal government’s data and evidence gap in the poverty-fighting space. This bipartisan Commission offered recommendations that were worked into legislation called the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018.

This law, signed right after my time as Speaker of the House concluded, modernized the government’s data collection, sharing, protection, and dissemination practices. And over the long-term, it will help the federal government share data more robustly and more regularly with practitioners, legislators, and academics around the country.

The underlying theory of the law was simple: If well-intentioned policymakers and researchers are able to access more data and better understand what strategies are working, the federal government could allocate funds and develop interventions based on evidence and outcomes. We could avoid those ideological cul-de-sacs when it came to fighting poverty and simply follow the data to determine what works.

In many ways, this approach is one that LEO has adopted and mastered over the last decade. Working on the front-lines of communities around the country, LEO has actively buttressed programs and promoted strategies making tangible differences in people’s lives. They are backing this tactical support up with randomized controlled trials, pilot programs, and qualitative and quantitative studies. This hands-on, data-driven approach should, in my view, take a lot of the partisanship out of fighting poverty.

Poverty is persistent. It won’t be solved overnight, but we need organizations like LEO to shine a spotlight on the transformative efforts underway in our country. We need to consistently collect evidence and data to objectively determine how we can best help more Americans who are struggling. We need to encourage everyone – from policymakers in Congress, to leaders in our communities, and to researchers at universities like Notre Dame – to move off partisan talking points and onto unassailable evidence and objective data. This is how we can actually win the “War on Poverty.”

I have every confidence that LEO will remain at the foreground of this battle. They have amassed a 10-year track record of showing how we can successfully fight poverty and change lives for the better. LEO has created a model that not only works in our polarized environment but also makes a tangible, real-world impact. Their efforts are simply amazing and I cannot wait to see what LEO will accomplish in its next decade.

To learn more about Notre Dame’s Lab for Economic Opportunities, please visit: https://leo.nd.edu/mission/. 

By: AIF Staff

JANESVILLE, WI – This week, AIF President Paul Ryan announced 5 non-profit organizations from around the country would be receiving financial and strategic support from the American Idea Foundation to advance evidence-based programs focused on fighting poverty and promoting upward mobility.

The grant awards reflect Ryan’s ongoing commitment to help organizations on the front-lines of American communities develop and scale solutions rooted in data and empirical research. The funds will assist these local programs that help individuals who are in need of support and will expand the use of evidence-based solutions around the country.

In announcing the American Idea Foundation’s 2022 grant awards, Paul Ryan said:  

“With polarization, partisanship, and cynicism on the rise in America, we have an obligation to strengthen civil society and support organizations that are making a tangible difference in people’s lives. After 20 years in Congress, I know the answers to all of America’s problems are not necessarily found in Washington, they are found in our neighborhoods and in our communities.

“We need to champion these groups who are fighting to make our communities better and stronger. These grants from the American Idea Foundation will directly support those organizations who are tackling major challenges like recidivism, childhood health and wellness, and workforce training. These grants will help create bodies of evidence and grow bodies of evidence. They will promote innovative strategies and solutions with track records of success. And hopefully, they will take some of the politics out of fighting poverty.

“These groups are making a difference and with the American Idea Foundation’s help, they will make a more profound impact in their individual communities. Because of their work, more people will be able to realize their version of the American Dream and it’s a privilege to partner with such amazing organizations.”

The American Idea Foundation believes by taking the politics out of poverty-fighting and focusing on outcomes and results, successful programs can be scaled, elevated, and replicated. The Foundation believes this approach – prioritizing what works and validating these interventions with evidence — will provide the federal government with a better blueprint to address the challenges facing individuals and communities across the United States.

The 2022 American Idea Foundation grant recipients are:

GateKeepers

Located in Hagerstown, Maryland,Gatekeepers is an organization that focuses on re-entry and reducing rates of re-offending and recidivism. Their mission is to motivate, empower, and encourage both current and ex-offenders through mentoring services by challenging them to make positive decisions and ultimately help facilitate the process of a successful transition back to their communities.  Formerly incarcerated individuals often do not have positive role models in their life to aid them in their efforts and that is where Gatekeepers comes in. Through their Business of Living program, the Gatekeepers team is dedicated to helping people overcome obstacles standing in their way to achieving success and reaching their life goals.

Corner to Corner

Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Corner to Corner is a non-profit organization supporting the financial and educational futures of kids and families by promoting entrepreneurship. One of their programs, The Academy, is a ten-week course that strives to equip underrepresented entrepreneurs with the tools they need to plan, launch, and grow their small business. The Academy serves predominantly Black female entrepreneurs and aims to directly address the racial wealth gap in Nashville, all while creating a culture of business ownership. The goal of this program is to help these entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next step and ultimately create a pathway to self-sufficiency.

Child First

Located in Connecticut and North Carolina, Child First is a home visitation program for low-income families with young children at high risk of emotional, behavioral, or developmental problems, or child maltreatment. The program helps to heal and protect children and families from the effects of chronic stress and trauma by fostering strong, nurturing, caregiver-child relationships and connecting families with needed services and supports. The organization focuses on the child’s health and development and the challenges experienced by parents and caregivers that prevent them from nurturing and supporting the child’s development.

Similar to the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visitation program (MIECHV), the Child First program has already established a strong base of evidence that supports their approach. Because of their successes, the Child First program is looking to reach more families in-need by replicating its efforts in communities that currently lack access to these services.

Merit America  

A national programfounded in 2018, Merit America works with major employers to build scalable pathways to upwardly mobile careers for Americans without college degrees. Merit America serves low-wage workers and recently out-of-work individuals who have at least a high school degree but no college degree and who are interested in making near-term job transitions but need additional assistance.

Merit America works by identifying family-sustaining careers, preparing learners for those careers, and placing graduates in those careers. Their approach builds on a large body of research indicating that increased wages generate significant additional monetary and non-monetary value for individuals, their families, the government and employers even beyond the wage gains themselves. To date, Merit America has served over 2,000 learners and aims to reach more than 10,000 learners annually by 2024.

The Joseph Project

Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,the Joseph Project, is a faith-based initiative that seeks to train men and women — often with criminal backgrounds — and find them jobs with Wisconsin businesses. Participants go through a weeklong life skills training program and then are offered a chance to interview with companies looking to hire. As the Wall Street Journal noted, as part of its programming, the Joseph Project puts individuals through a vetting process; teaches them interview skills, financial literacy lessons, and conflict management techniques; and then links them with Wisconsin employers who are in need of quality workers.