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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
May 15, 2019 

OMNI Institute awarded Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant
3-year study will examine the impact of enhanced family support services on economic security and family resiliency.

DENVER—The OMNI Institute, in partnership with the Family Resource Center Association of Colorado, is excited to announce a three-year grant from Evidence for Action, a Signature Program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the largest public health foundation in the country. The grant was awarded to study the impact of enhanced family development services on progress toward economic security, family resiliency, and improved health outcomes. 

 Across Colorado, Family Resource Centers provide safe, accessible places for families to connect with comprehensive, coordinated services that help them achieve their goals. Evaluation of their enhanced case management model, characterized by client-choice and personal goal-setting, has shown measurable family progress toward economic and health outcomes that merit deeper research. Study findings will provide key insights into effective models that can be scaled in Colorado and nationally, and contribute to the evidence base on family supportive services.

“We are passionate and dedicated not only to helping families achieve their goals, but also figuring out how to best use limited resources to achieve best results," said FRCA Executive Director Mark Kling. "This project may reveal improvements in family support work that will benefit many families in Colorado and beyond." 

“There is promising evidence that Family Development Services benefit families; in previous non-experimental studies, families that received these services demonstrated statistically significant gains in economic self-sufficiency and health outcomes as well as in the areas of family functioning/resiliency, social support, and concrete support in times of need,” said Melissa Richmond, Vice President of Human Development for OMNI. “The RWJF grant will allow us to determine if these services directly contribute to those improvements.”

Family Resource Centers representing regions throughout the state will participate in the study: Sister Carmen Community Center in Boulder County, Mountain Family Center in Grand County, and La Plata Family Centers Coalition in La Plata County.

This longitudinal study uses a rigorous methodology and will begin in 2019 with final analysis and the dissemination of findings in 2022.

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The OMNI Institute is a Colorado-based non-profit social science consultancy that provides integrated research and evaluation, capacity building, and data utilization services to accelerate positive social change. OMNI specializes in working with nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies addressing human development, public and behavioral health, and adult and juvenile justice reform, and has honed a service delivery model focused on rigorous research and application of best practices, authentic engagement with our clients and their vested partners, and the cross-systems expertise and insights needed to address complex social issues. For more information, visit omni.org.  

Family Resource Center Association For over 20 years, FRCA has worked with our member centers to improve how support is provided to local families and to supply Colorado families with the knowledge and tools needed to become self-reliant. FRCA helps our member Family Resource Centers expand their reach and capacity to serve families, supports the implementation of family development programs with proven success, and works to help centers continuously improve their programs as well as their organizational sustainability.  Our mission is to ensure that our member centers are strong and optimally equipped to serve Colorado families. FRCA provides public advocacy, capacity building, and resource development to strengthen our statewide network of Family Resource Centers as they bring help and hope to Colorado families.

Evidence for Action (E4A) is a Signature Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. We are committed to developing the evidence base to align with RWJF’s vision to build a Culture of Health. We do this by supporting investigator-initiated research and providing technical assistance to researchers and organizations working in communities to develop rigorous evaluations of innovative interventions.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation For more than 45 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working alongside others to build a national Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.