Charlotte, NC is an “immigrant gateway” that has one of the fastest growing immigrant communities in the country. Over 30,000 students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools speak a language other than English at home. Immigrant students and their parents encounter all kinds of challenges at school, and immigrant youth often lag behind their peers in a variety of academic and social indicators.

To talk about the challenges immigrant families face, we invited Sil Ganzó of ourBRIDGE for Kids to talk about her work in providing services for immigrant and newcomer families to Charlotte, NC. On the episode, she discusses the importance of meeting families where they are, how to truly be community-centered and culturally-responsive, and ultimately how to help immigrant youth feel welcome in a place that can feel very unfamiliar - and at times uninviting - to them. Sil also shares great examples of how ourBRIDGE uses survey and focus group data to gather insights into the immigrant family experience, and how they used empirical data to show how youth and their families enrolled in their programs were able to develop an increased sense of cultural identity and pride. We also discuss the importance of ethical storytelling, building a team for evaluation, and share exciting news about the opening of the new Charlotte is Home Center.

This podcast episode focuses on planning for successful grant writing in prevention, with an emphasis on factors outside the proposal narrative that are critical to success. This podcast was generated following a workshop given by Drew in collaboration with the Southeast PTTC. Though the examples focus specifically on substance use prevention, many elements of this presentation are relevant for grant writing in any field.

Download the Prevention Grant Writing Toolkit which provides a step-by-step guide to winning your next 6- or 7- figure federal, state, or local grant. In this episode:

Listeners will learn how to:

• Identify and select grant opportunities that are a strong fit for their organization. Participants will know where to go to find grants and opportunities for their organization.

• Develop a year-long timeline for grant writing and reports to funders.

• Describe standard components of a grant proposal.

• Prepare pre-written materials that can be modified to meet grant requirements.

• Build a team to write the grant.

• Identify common frameworks, including SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework, to reference when writing prevention grants.

• Organize their work to meet grant requirements.

• Identify community engagement strategies to demonstrate your commitment to the problem and your relationships with existing partners engaging in similar work.

• Build effective partnership agreements to accomplish grant goals and document these through letters of support or memoranda of understanding.

Roughly 1 in 3 Latino adults do not have access to health insurance in Charlotte, NC - a rate much higher than other cultural groups. Lack of access to health insurance coupled with mental health stigma lead to significant barriers for Latino families in accessing mental health services and programs. As we celebrate May as maternal and mental health awareness month, we’ve invited Juliana Lozano of Despierta CLT to talk about her work providing culturally responsive mental health services and reducing stigma. We talk about the importance of community partnerships, use of surveys to gather community feedback and how referral processes can help clients get access to care. Juliana also shares two compelling success stories of clients who have been transformed through the work of Despierta. Roger, Juliana, and Drew also reminisce about songs that bring joy.

On March 28, 2024, the US Census Bureau published a news release that they have issued updated standards for maintaining, collecting and presenting race and ethnicity data.

Because so many nonprofit and public sector organizations base their collection of race and ethnicity data on US Census standards, these changes will likely have far-reaching effects, particularly for those organizations who receive federal funding to provide programs and services.

In this episode, Drew provides a quick summary of the new US Census updates and how you might implement changes in your data collection processes to be consistent with the new standards. You can also read a blog post on this topic on the website.

View the podcast and show notes at www.commongooddata.com/podcast

Please subscribe, rate and review.

How does your organization use data and storytelling to drive positive narratives and engage stakeholders in the “why” of your mission? We are joined today by Becca O'Neill and Stefanía Arteaga of Carolina Migrant Network who talk about their work protecting immigrant communities through the provision of legal assistance and organizing/advocacy work. This compelling episode will help you better understand the challenges facing undocumented individuals, including the difficulties of obtaining asylum and the ways that enforcement and detention can dehumanize migrant communities. We also discuss how data can drive narratives - both negative and positive - and the importance of storytelling in communicating an organization’s mission and values.

View the podcast and shownotes at www.commongooddata.com/podcast

Please subscribe, rate, and review.

Writing federal grant proposals can be tough - especially when it comes to writing goals, defining outcomes, and showing how you will demonstrate your impact. In this episode, Drew dives into tips and strategies for how to talk about data collection in your federal grant proposals. He talks about performance measures, building a plan for data collection, identifying useful data collection tools, and how to align your data collection procedures across your proposal with a performance measures table. Use tips from this episode to help separate yourself from the field and win that next six- or seven-figure federal grant.

Announcing: The Common Good Data Podcast! In our trailer episode, we share how this podcast - designed for nonprofit and government leaders - will help you use data and evaluation strategies to build effective and sustainable programs in the areas of prevention, mental health, human services, and education. Hosted by the dynamic social work duo - Drew Reynolds and Roger Suclupe

What brings you joy in your work? How do you find purpose and meaning in your career? This week, we invited award-winning mental health practitioner, speaker, spiritual healer, podcaster, advocate, and author Erica Sandoval to talk meaning, purpose, leadership, and storytelling in social work practice. Erica shares about her experience as President of NASW New York, her career journey in starting Sandoval CoLab, and her book Latinx/e in Social Work. We also talk a lot about the importance of relationships in social work leadership - and not being afraid to take a new courageous step in your career. Keeping with the New York theme, we talk Beastie Boys and A Tribe Called Quest. At the top we listen to U2’s “Angel of Harlem” and close out the episode with “It’s Tricky” by DMC.