Community Food Security Coalition Evaluation Program
Summary of Services and Resources

Updated September 2009

Background:

The Evaluation Program of the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) was launched in 2002 to build the capacity of Community Food Projects in program evaluation. Since that time, we have expanded to provide training and technical assistance to other community food practitioners as well.

The goals of the CFSC Evaluation Program are:

• To strengthen community food security projects by building evaluation capacity.
• To develop evaluation tools and templates specific to community food security projects.
• To strengthen understanding of the operating elements of successful community food projects.

We hope to support community food practitioners to:

• Develop effective programs that include innovative and effective evaluation activities.
• Hear and respond to the interests and needs of their participants and stakeholders.
• Highlight their organization's accomplishments.
• Meet the evaluation requirements of their funders.

A hearty thanks to the following funders who support the CFSC Evaluation Program:

• USDA Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program
• UPS Foundation
• W.K. Kellogg Foundation

For more information contact:
Jeanette Abi-Nader, CFSC Evaluation Program Director
Charlottesville, VA
Ph: (434) 973-4435
Email:

Services and Resources:

We are excited to offer the services outlined below and invite Community Food Project grantees and other community food security practitioners to take advantage of these resources to strengthen their projects and to build evaluation capacity.

1. Evaluation Materials: We have a tool box of evaluation materials that were developed in collaboration with dozens of Community Food Project grantees. This page contains information on the following evaluation materials including excerpts from these documents and sample evaluation surveys that you can download and modify.
• Whole Measures for Community Food Systems: New release (September 2009)
• Community Food Project Evaluation Handbook: Updated and Expanded Third Edition (March 2006).
• Community Food Project Evaluation Toolkit: Updated and Expanded Third Edition (March 2006) and TOOLS ONLY TEMPLATES.
• Excel Data Analysis Training Guide
• Community Food Project Common Output Tracking Form, Updated Version October 2009.
• Go to the Evaluation Program Materials page to learn more.
2. Whole Measures for Community Food Systems: Hot off the press, this new planning and evaluation tool provides a lens for community food projects to dialogue about how their work affects whole communities. It includes a set of six core fields of value-based practices against which projects can measure the impact of their work. In 2010, CFSC, in partnership with the Center for Popular Research, Education, and Policy and Seeds of Solidarity, will be working with a core group of CFP grantees interested in utilizing Whole Measures CFS as a central planning or evaluation tool for their project. For more information, or to get involved with the Whole Measures CFS Learning Community contact Jeanette Abi-Nader at .
   
   Download the six core fields and practices of Whole Measures CFS. [PDF]
3. Evaluation Learning Community: During 2009, CFSC hosted five trainings as part of our Evaluation Learning Community. These conference calls built on the materials presented in the CFP Evaluation Handbook and Toolkit. Each call included presentations from CFP grantees regarding their evaluation experience.
4. A Field Guide to Evaluation Training: CFSC will host our next intensive evaluation training in October 2010, in conjunction with the CFSC annual conference in New Orleans, LA. This 1 ½ day training will provide an overview of the evaluation process from start to finish and include topics such as defining program outcomes, logic model development, designing evaluation tools, data analysis and using evaluation results. In addition, we will introduce the Community Food Project Indicators for Success and provide training on Whole Measures for Community Food Systems. Stay tuned for more details in the summer of 2010.
5. Evaluation Results and Research:
   CFSC has been working with CFP grantees over the past four years to collect information on common outputs and outcomes across programs. We aim to strengthen an understanding of the operating elements of successful community food projects and to share the many results and accomplishments of CFP grantees. The following links take you to the most recent results from the Common Output Tracking Form and to the CFSC research report Building Community Food Security as well as a summary of results from the past Common Output Tracking Forms.
• Fiscal Year 2008 Common Output Tracking Form (COTF) Results: The COTF includes data from 40 CFP Grantees who completed the form as part of their 2008 fiscal year (October 2007-September 2008) report.
• COTF 2008 Results Executive Summary pdf document (13 pages) includes executive summary, Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program description, COTF background, methodology and limitations.
• COTF 2008 Results complete document pdf document (56 pages) includes the executive summary, tables with cumulative totals, and, tables with individual activity results.
• Fiscal Year 2007 Common Output Tracking Form (COTF) Results: The COTF includes data from 46 CFP Grantees who completed the form as part of their 2007 fiscal year (October 2006-September 2007) report.
• COTF 2007 Results Executive Summary pdf document (13 pages) includes executive summary, Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program description, COTF background, methodology and limitations.
• COTF 2007 Results complete document pdf document (56 pages) includes the executive summary, tables with cumulative totals, and, tables with individual activity results.
• Building Community Food Security: Lessons Learned from Community Food Projects, 1999-2003
  This first-of-its-kind research project was conducted by Dr. Kami Pothukuchi with support from Jeanette Abi-Nader of the CFSC Evaluation Program. Building Community Food Security research is based on analysis of CFP project narrative reports from 1999-2003, CFP focus groups, and relevant literature. It outlines a summary of activities for which these projects engaged and include characteristics of successful community food security projects, factors for success, challenges CFP grantees faced, and, lessons learned.


6. Feedback and How to Get Involved: Community Food Project grantees and other community food security advocates have a variety of ways to provide their feedback and to get involved with the CFSC Evaluation Program. If you would like to provide your feedback through one of these venues or participate in one of these activities, contact Jeanette Abi-Nader at or 434-973-4435.