Data Support, Systems Administration and Evaluation

In April 2024, The University of Maryland Medical Capital Region Health Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (CAP-VIP) engaged with Choice Research Associates to provide ongoing training and technical assistance for the purpose of capacity building.  Initially, staff were trained to implement the Self-Sufficiency Matrix (SSM) to capture ongoing outcomes for violently injured patients who received services from CAP-VIP.  In September of 2024, CRA, working with Teddie Pierce, APRICOT System Implementation Practice Lead of Health Roads, launched a new APRICOT system for the program.  Report development, technical assistance, and training are ongoing.

The DC Jail & Prison Advocacy Project Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services (ULS) contracted with Choice Research Associates to configure a new APRICOT system to replace the prior District of Columbia Reentry Coalition (DCRC) Efforts to Outcomes System supported by Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants (OVSJG) for returning citizens with psychiatric and/or intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injuries and co-occurring substance use disorders in the District of Columbia. The project commenced in June of 2025 and involves review of existing documentation, configuration of the new system, migration of data, development of reports, and training and technical assistance to the end user.

Women’s Justice Institute (WJI) and A Safe Haven Foundation engaged Choice Research Associates in June 2025 to rebuild their new APRICOT system. The project involved extensive process engineering to revamp their existing forms by translating their complex program data into clear, actionable findings that inform continuous quality improvement and strategic decision-making. WJI seeks to end women’s mass incarceration, reduce harm, and improve health and well-being of women returning to Chicago Illinois and surrounding areas after a period of incarceration.

Choice Research Associates was hired by FAIR Girls (Free Aware Inspired Restored) in January 2024 to review and reconfigure their new APRICOT system to maximize the utilization of data for program feedback and efficiency. FAIR Girls provides direct services (crisis intervention, safety planning, emergency housing, case management and other services) to female survivors of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children.  They also provide prevention education and training to schools and community-based organizations.

The Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop (Free Minds) engaged Choice Research Associates in 2019 to provide evaluation planning services and data system development assistance focused on the Free Minds Reentry Program. This project involved reviewing the existing Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) legacy system; developing new data collection tools (e.g., a common intake survey that can be used across the Free Minds programs); assisting in the configuring the new Free Minds ETO system after it was migrated to ETO Touch Points, and developing custom reports.

The House of Ruth provides critical services to residents of the District of Columbia for over 40 years -- housing the homeless, providing domestic violence counseling and childcare. Beginning in 2017, Choice Research Associates (CRA) was asked to assist House of Ruth by conducting an assessment of their siloed data systems and providing a report including recommendations for streamlining and integrating data collection into routine operational processes. As a result, CRA is working with House of Ruth to implement an APRICOT Case Management system, agency wide. Once implemented, CRA will serve as an external Systems Administrator configuring the system, providing training, and developing custom reports. This project also involves a review of the House of Ruth strategic plan to map the plan to long term goals, short term outcomes, and common intervention process measures (e.g., case management assessment, referrals and contacts) captured in the APRICOT system.

Choice Research Associates worked with the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) Pathways Program as an Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) systems administrator from 2018 to 2023. Tasks included initial and ongoing configuration of the system, user training, helpdesk support, and development of custom ETO management and data validation reports.

Community Family Life Services (CFLS) is a community-based organization in the District of Columbia established in 1969, working with justice involved women returning from prison and jail. CFLS engaged CRA from 2021 to 2022 to conduct a review of their existing data system (Apricot) and program operating procedures and provide recommendations for data collection process revisions. The project provided for ongoing technical assistance to help CFLS to refine and/or develop short-term and long-term goals, with an emphasis on creating metrics to examine participant process and outcomes throughout the continuum of services provided by CFLS.

The ETO Support project for Choice Research Associates (CRA) was a continuation of prior work starting in 2013 with the Principal Investigator, Shawn Flower, and ETO Administrator Laura Gerhard in their former capacity with the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA). The prior project “Building Capacity for Performance Measurement and Evaluation” (BCPME) responded to the needs of OVSJG to help grantees become better prepared to respond to the Federal, State, and local demands for data-driven decision making.

The project included working with the OVSJG funded District of Columbia Reentry Coalition (DCRC) grantees to improve the capacity of the grantees to collect high-quality performance measure data. The DCRC project ended in 2024. The other portion of the project was development and configuration of the ETO system for three end users -- DCRC grantees (2017 to 2024), the Supportive Housing/Housing First program (2021 to 2024) and the District of Columbia Show Up, Stand Out Truancy Reduction Project (2012 to 2024).  For these projects, we provided training and technical assistance for integration of data from all community-based organizations involved in the project; monitored data and oversaw creation of ad-hoc and standard reports for ongoing evaluation efforts.