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A message from our CEO:

I had the privileged to hear from Janina Fariñas, Founder & Chief Executive of La Cocina - a mental health provider primarily serving the Latinx Spanish-speaking population in Colorado. She shared the reflection that academic research is recognized as a valid source of “knowing” and is elevated in importance above other ways of “knowing,” such as community knowledge and lived experience. She was not questioning the validity of research, but rather reflecting on our cultural tendencies to prioritize one method of understanding the world over others. This struck me as both true, and an opportunity.

Engaging community members, participants, and those with lived experience is vital to designing and operating strong, relevant services and programs – and what an opportunity we have to utilize the tools of evaluation and research to raise the voice of lived experience to be heard and recognized as a relevant and equal point of “data.”

The word data itself holds a lot of history past and present – from historic oppression and discrimination through research and deep harm brought to African Americans as detailed by Harriet Washington in Medical Apartheid: The dark history of medical experimentation on Black Americans from colonial times to the present, to the emergent awareness that artificial intelligence is not the neutral ground it was proclaimed to be and often is inherently biased. After all, algorithms are developed by humans who hold beliefs, perspectives, and biases even if we claim not too.

So can we have data for good? We believe yes, with notable intentionality. Elevating the voice of lived experience through the full data cycle is key. Practices spanning from choosing what question to ask and how to ask it, to who gets to ask the question, and how data is analyzed, interpreted, and by who, are all key. This is often referred to as participatory research, and we believe in taking the next step to teach the tools and practices of data use to many to democratize data practices and harness them for good.

With Gratitude,

Cindy Eby
Founder and CEO

July Resources
 
 
Listening
Tools
  • Video making: Biteable. Great workaround for teams that don’t have the technical expertise or budget for video production. What Canva is to images, this is to videos
  • Chalk Talk: Reflection tool to engage youth voices
  • Photovoice: a qualitative research method, creating a platform for under-represented individuals to share and express their voice
Announcements
  • Are you a nonprofit that is using technology to deepen your impact? TechForward is granting $10k to nonprofits to help implement these technologies. (FYI - they’re accepting applications through July 24)
  • Emerging with Clarity: Bouncing back with data-informed decisions - Registration is open
    • 7-week online course for nonprofit program leads who need to make timely programmatic decisions and want to tell a data-driven story about the current reality and future of your organization’s work.
    • New start date is on July 27
 
 
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ResultsLab reduces barriers to data literacy, equipping nonprofits with the mindset, skill set, and tool set they need to manifest their missions effectively, for the long-haul.
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