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Challenge

In January 2003, the United Way of Greater St. Louis’ SuccessBySix Leadership Council launched an initiative to improve the quality of care offered by “kith and kin” childcare providers. Selecting two low-income urban areas as the target area, the agency contracted with Vector Communications to conduct an outcome-focused strategic planning process with local early childhood development experts.

Action

In addition to collaborative planning sessions with early childhood development experts, the planning process included a literature review with best practices research; focus group sessions with family home care providers in the target area, and key informant interviews. The final plan, which was structured using the United Way’s Outcome-Focused Model, included logic models for ten critical program elements. Since a critical component of the plan was leveraged resources through partnering organizations, Vector’s work also included identifying potential resources for program implementation.

Results

United Way of Greater St. Louis submitted the plan to Bank of America and received a $75,000 grant to implement the family home care quality improvement initiative. While many United Way agencies competed during the grant process, United Way of Greater St. Louis and another agency were the only two to receive $75,000, the largest amount granted. Additionally in-kind donations from local partners equally matched the Bank of America grant.