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Eastside High School in Paterson sits in the middle of a struggling neighborhood, in a city where 25% of the residents are living below the poverty line, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.

Paterson’s poverty rate is more than twice the state average of 10%, which makes the school, built in 1926, a refuge — and now a resource.

On Thursday, Montclair State University president Jonathan Koppell came to Eastside with a $1 million grant and a vision: to make the school into a community hub, offering free meals, health care, and mental health counseling, not just to the 2,000 students, but to their families as well.

The initiative is called One Square Mile, and it is being seeded with a $1 million grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The program was developed by Koppell during his tenure as Dean of the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions at Arizona State University, which worked with the Phoenix-area community of Maryvale to address poverty.

This piece captures five key insights to guide organizations as they develop ongoing Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation plans to achieve greater social impact:

1. Theory of Change amplifies your impact—helping you focus on the linkages between, and assumptions underlying, your strategies and outcomes.
2. Progress toward long-term goals is observable in interim measures.
3. Setting targets along the way forecasts your trajectory and provides feedback that tells you if you’re moving in the right direction.
4. Impactful measurement needs to align with the rhythm of your work and provide the right data at the right times.
5. The payoff of measurement is in the practice, and putting that practice to use greatly increases your odds of success.

When confronted with measurement and evaluation, some turn first to the expensive and time-consuming practice of “gold standard” experimental designs requiring comparison groups to definitively prove whether an intervention delivers the expected results. While measurements of this type are reasonable in certain situations, they are often a stretch for the real world of social innovation and are limited in their timeliness, strategic value, cultural applicability, and validity for measuring the changes sought. 

You can get more for less—by deploying measurement based on social science rigor and valuing adaptability and learning. In other words, social innovation is best measured in real time and in ways that can be seamlessly woven into the rhythm of the business cycle and the daily practices of those responsible for funding, managing, and implementing social change.

On February 27, 2013, CNJG submitted a statement for the official record of the House Committee on Ways and Means hearing on the charitable deduction. The hearing on February 14 heard from a number of nonprofit leaders, policy experts and academics from throughout the nation. The CNJG Board of Trustees formally adopted the position following much discussion and consideration. The central principle of our position is that any changes made to the tax code must continue to include an incentive for charitable giving. Not only was this the first time the CNJGl has submitted testimony, but it also marks the first time the CNJG Board of Trustees has taken a formal position on an issue in our 15 year history. This represents a real change in how the CNJG supports the work of our members and is a significant step in the policy and government relations arena for CNJG.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced the nine communities chosen to receive the 2023 RWJF Culture of Health Prize. The Prize celebrates communities across the country where community members and organizations are collaborating to build solutions to barriers that have created unequal opportunities for health and wellbeing. With the Prize, RWJF seeks to inspire others to take action and create a healthier future for everyone’s children and grandchildren. Since partnership within communities is at the heart of the Prize, it is awarded to whole cities, towns, tribes, reservations, and counties. The 2023 Prize winners, which will each receive $250,000, are Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Detroit, Michigan; Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles County, California; Ramsey County, Minnesota; Tacoma, Washington; and Zuni Pueblo.