Evidence Capacity Support for the Administration for Children and Families

The project builds on OPRE’s existing efforts to augment evidence capacity at ACF and incorporates the principles of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act). It prioritizes the learning needs of agency staff and stakeholders for information about the context, reach, implementation, performance, and impact of their programs. The project aims to strengthen the capacity for using evidence in five areas:

1. Evidence culture: The organization routinely uses evidence to support the organization’s mission, objectives, and program and policy choices.
2. Evidence infrastructure: Evidence-related tools, resources, routines, and processes form an infrastructure that enables the organization to build and use evidence timely and efficiently.
3. Engagement: Systems and processes promote collaboration among internal and external audiences. This includes communicating and connecting with a variety of audiences.
4. Human capital: Staff have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to build evidence and communicate about it, and opportunities exist for staff to develop this expertise.
5. Leadership: Leaders foster an evidence culture, identify opportunities to build evidence, allocate staff time and other resources to support evidence activities within existing budget constraints, and make decisions transparently informed by evidence.