Community Learning Network - Who We Are

Each Making Connections site has a Local Learning Partnership whose role is to coordinate research on community problems and shape and conduct evaluations designed to increase the effectiveness of local strategies. In Denver, this learning partnership is the Community Learning Network (CLN).
The CLN was founded in 1999 and the early years focused on recruiting residents, developing leadership and basic research skills. Now that CLN members have deepened their understanding of research techniques, the CLN and MC-D have stepped up the pace and rigor of evaluation and research with four projects:

  • Participant Family Data Collection (PFDC)
  • Performance tracking by agencies who partner with MC-D
  • Analyzing results of the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) cross site surveys
  • Building Capacity of Latinos in MC-D Neighborhoods

The Participant Family Data Collection (PFDC) is a multi-year research project interviewing 100 families who are actively involved in MC-D activities or those of MC-D partners.. This survey, is evaluating the cumulative effect of strategies. (See 100 family survey tab for more information.)

The Performance Tracking system is capturing data from MC-D partners to create a more complete picture of what is happening in MC-D communities. The system is tracking progress among individual participants and performance targets for Family Economic Success (skill and wages advancement and job placement); School Readiness and Beyond (early child care and education) and Resident Engagement (social networks). For example, Metro Organizations for People (MOP) engages residents to study problems in their neighborhood and take action. The new system is intended to go beyond tracking participation to capture what other engagement follows, such as how many go on to join neighborhood coalitions or participate in other organizing activities. The web-based database is now live.

The AECF cross site survey of all 10 Making Connections cities asks questions related to MC-D’s core result areas. Topics include residents’ attitudes about their neighborhood, whether they are involved in activities, have access to healthcare, their earnings, assets, parent involvement in schools, early childhood education and demographic questions. Changes in responses from the 2002 and 2005 surveys are being analyzed according to MC-D’s three results areas to measure progress and identify challenges.

Building Capacity of Latinos. The Community Learning Network has received a $15,000 grant from the University of Denver Latino Center for Community Engagement and Scholarship (DULCCES). The funds are being used to build research, evaluation and leadership skills among Latino residents and to conduct evaluations that can improve economic opportunity for Latino families. Part of the grant funds have been used to hire and train a part-time Spanish-speaking community researcher to interview monolingual Spanish families for the 100-family survey.

The DULCCES grant is also providing stipends to six researchers who belong to Amigos de Jesus, a youth group at Annunciation Church in the Cole neighborhood. The youth conducted a survey in 2006 that measured the amount of funds (remittances) being wired to families outside the United States. The youth now are collecting additional remittance data and will educate the community on the issue. The goal is to get financial institutions to reinvest some of the profits from remittances back into the community. The DULCCES grant also supports CLN Project Manager Rosella Palacios, who is providing one-to-one training to the youth leader so she can train her peers in research techniques.

Community Learning Network members have been trained on the six stages of evaluation. With this knowledge, members are now actively involved in designing evaluations and analyzing results.
The six stages are: 

  • Evaluation Questions (What do we want to know?)
  • Evaluation Design (How will we do this?)
  • Data Collection (Collect the data)
  • Data Analysis (Figuring out what the data says)
  • Data Interpretation (What does the data mean?)
  • Dissemination (Getting data out to community & stakeholders )