Evaluations of Health and Educational Interventions

Effort will work to improve health care, educational, and economic outcomes in the Mississippi Delta.

In July 2023, the Center for Community Research and Evaluation (CCRE), directed by sociology professor Dr. Wesley James, received a three-year, $2.2 million award from regional partner Delta Health Alliance (DHA). The award, “Evaluation of Health and Educational Interventions”, continues a long partnership between CCRE and DHA. Since 2015, CCRE social scientists have worked closely with DHA to improve health care, educational, and economic outcomes in the Mississippi Delta.   

DHA has over 30 programs across the lifespan that collectively aim to reduce health and socioeconomic disparities in a historically disadvantaged region. CCRE has served as the primary external evaluation team supporting DHA’s programming. After collaboratively developing assessment tools and data collection strategies, CCRE researchers lead external evaluations that help DHA measure and quantify their programs’ impact, which can be leveraged for additional funding, as well as identify areas of program improvement. Evaluation reporting feeds into DHA’s results-based accountability model, which ensures that programming decisions are data-driven and lead to measurable impact. With expertise in program evaluation strategy, data management, visualization and dashboarding, statistical research, multimodal survey design/implementation, and qualitative interviewing, CCRE also serves as DHA’s “scientific help desk” to conduct rapid research analysis of program outcomes, including supporting grant proposals to state and federal agencies.  

This model of collaboration has had considerable success in helping DHA to implement and extend its work. A key component of the partnership involves the evaluation of DHA’s Promise Neighborhoods – modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods are $30 million, 5-year cradle-to-career pipeline grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to support schools in a defined geographic footprint with comprehensive services. Following years of success producing historic gains on educational outcomes in both Sunflower and Washington County, in 2022 DHA became the only organization in the nation to ever receive a third Promise Neighborhood. Underpinned by an extensive needs assessment prepared by CCRE, the $30 million award extends wraparound services to the Leflore Promise Community, reaching the families of over 4,000 children in Greenwood, Itta Bena, and surrounding communities.

In addition to the Promise Neighborhoods, CCRE’s research underpins a variety of DHA projects that have received national acclaim, including a $9 million Mississippi-wide COVID-19 vaccination initiative which contributed to a substantial increase in African-American vaccination rates and an endocrinology telehealth intervention leading to large decreases in the severity of diabetes. On the research front, CCRE researchers have published eight academic papers on DHA projects, delivered numerous conference presentations to diverse audiences, and collaborated on several research proposals under review, including an NIH grant addressing maternal health. The DHA-CCRE model demonstrates how pairing rigorous social science methods with community action has the capacity to improve communities' well-being.

For more information, contact James at wljames1@memphis.edu.