Communities of Opportunity is intended to be a data-driven initiative. One of the five bedrock principles outlined in the 2006 pilot phase business plan (2006 Plan) was to "Manage change dynamically by quantifiable outcomes, expand successful approaches, stop failed ones, and introduce new evidence-based approaches."

The Communities of Opportunity 2008 Business Plan Update (2008 Plan) also promotes data-sharing among City departments. The focus of this data-sharing has been the implementation of coordinated case management for the approximately 650 of the 2,600 families living in Communities of Opportunity nodes who are involved in multiple City systems.

Overall, Communities of Opportunity will need to collect and track data from several different programs and sources to measure the effectiveness of specific programs as well as Communities of Opportunity as a whole.

Prior to the 2008 Plan, Communities of Opportunity directly funded community-based organizations to provide services. Under the 2008 Plan, City departments and agencies will be responsible for providing services and programs, either directly or through community-based organizations. Successful tracking of program performance will therefore be the responsibility of City departments. The Deputy Director of Communities of Opportunity will be responsible for collecting and evaluating program data from City departments and programs, and identifying barriers to achieving program goals.

Data Sharing for Coordinated Case Management

Coordinated case management will be piloted in the Hunters View and Hunters Point nodes, and will require City departments to share data on the approximately 150 Communities of Opportunity families living in those nodes and involved in multiple City systems. The Communities of Opportunity work group is in the early stages of developing data sharing protocols. As discussed in Section 2, the development of data sharing protocols will take approximately 9 to 12 months, including obtaining informed consent from families and allowing the sharing of data.

Coordinated case management calls for two levels of data-sharing:

• Family-specific data that allows case workers to plan programs for families; and
• Aggregate data that allows tracking and measuring long-term outcomes for Communities of Opportunity families as a whole.

The coordinated case management work group is currently evaluating standard approaches to information gathering and sharing for managing coordinated case plans. However, actual coordination of different City department data systems faces technical obstacles because each department has developed its systems in its own way and at different times.

Communities of Opportunity has held only one meeting with City department information technology staff, which included staff from the Human Services Agency, Adult Probation Department, Juvenile Probation Department, Department of Public Health, and the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families. Representatives from the Family Justice Initiative in New York and Stanford University were present at this meeting to discuss information sharing needs among City departments as well as data necessary to participate in national research on the effectiveness of coordinated case management. A follow-up information technology meeting has not been scheduled.

Communities of Opportunity has spent $117,000 to develop a database that will be used as the foundation for a web interface for the coordinated case management program once it is implemented. According to the Deputy Director of Communities of Opportunity, specific City department databases would feed the fields necessary for coordinated case management through the web interface.

The Housing Authority's and Human Service Agency's Aggregate Data Collection

The San Francisco Housing Authority and Human Services Agency are the key departments in collecting aggregate data for Communities of Opportunity residents. The Housing Authority collects income data on each family once per year, providing this information quarterly to Communities of Opportunity.[1]

The Human Services Agency is able to cross-match Housing Authority information to Human Services Agency information, based on the residents' addresses. The Human Services Agency can then match Housing Authority residents to its databases and report on these residents' status in the aggregate. The Human Services Agency maintains several different statewide databases, including:

• CalWIN, the statewide database for CalWORKS, MediCal, Food Stamps, and other state benefit programs;
• In Home Support Services; and
• Child Welfare.

The Human Services Agency also has several local databases, tracking adult and aging services, general assistance, and other local programs.

Currently, the Human Services Agency provides ad hoc reports to Communities of Opportunity using aggregate data. The base data includes a unique identifier number, address, age, gender, language, and ethnicity. This data can then be compiled to show public housing residents' participation in Human Services Agency programs. Table 3.1 shows the Human Services Agency aggregate profile of residents of five public housing nodes in April 2008, two of which were Communities of Opportunity nodes.

Table 3.1
Public Housing Residents in Human Services Agency Programs
April 2008

Source: Human Services Agency

The Human Services Agency can show changes in public housing residents' participation in Human Services Agency programs and benefits. Because this information does not track individual residents or families, the data cannot be used to show whether individual families are improving in economic or social status. If families leave public housing when their incomes increase, the Human Services Agency data will continue to reflect the lower incomes of families remaining in public housing.

The Human Services Agency can match information from different databases, including different City departments' databases, based on matching Social Security numbers. The Human Services Agency would need informed consent from all 1,203 families currently registered with Communities of Opportunity to track improvement in families' social and economic status. The Human Services Agency has reliable social service data beginning in 2006 and child welfare data beginning in 1998.

Juvenile Probation, Adult Probation, and Department of Public Health Participation in Coordinated Case Management Data Sharing

The Department of Public Health's existing Shared Youth Database potentially overlaps with the coordinated case management system.

The Shared Youth Database

The Department of Public Health is the lead agency in coordinating the Shared Youth Database, which integrates data from Department of Public Health's Children's Mental Health system, the Human Services Agency's Child Welfare system, and the Juvenile Probation Department. The database includes all youth served in each service system, not just clients who consent to share data. The system has three main functions:

• Client history look-up, in which case managers can view the lifetime clinical history of individual clients;
• Management reports, in which aggregate data can be used for program planning and decision making; and
• Research and evaluation, using limited dataset extracts.

The Department of Public Health, Human Services Agency, and Juvenile Probation Department entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in 2005 regarding joint use of the database and client confidentiality. The Department of Public Health has recently completed a Request for Proposal process to select a new contractor to manage the database and develop a web interface allowing real-time updates of client information.

The Shared Youth Database has some outstanding issues, including sharing of information with the San Francisco Unified School District which has different state requirements for sharing of information.

According to the Deputy Director of Communities of Opportunity, Communities of Opportunity is working with the same vendor who originally built the Shared Youth Database to minimize duplication of effort between the proposed coordinated case management database and existing Shared Youth Database.

The Department of Children, Youth, and their Families also has a contract management system that is shared jointly by the Juvenile Probation Department, Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, and the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families. This system, which monitors contracts with community-based organizations, includes case level service data on approximately 40,000 children and youth.

Defining Youth Centered Outcomes

The Department of Public Health has an adult data warehouse (the Adult Coordinated Case Management System) that serves as an updated electronic record for the Homeless Outreach Team and other Department of Public Health and Human Services Agency case managers. The data warehouse is intended to allow sharing of information among the Department of Public Health, the Human Services Agency, and the Fire Department's Emergency Medical System, although Human Services Agency data has not yet been integrated. According to the Department of Public Health representative responsible for the Adult Coordinated Case Management System, the warehouse architecture could be applied to the Communities of Opportunity's coordinated case management database.

The focus of the Communities of Opportunity database needs to be defined. The Communities of Opportunity's conversation with the Department of Public Health is in the early stages with no specific design for the actual database. One component of the coordinated case management work plan is determining outcome measures for children and families involved in multiple City systems. Communities of Opportunity will need to determine which case they are coordinating, since several members of a family can be involved in multiple City systems, and how case outcomes will be measured.

Coordinating Existing City Systems

The City lacks systems for coordinating multiple City departments, especially in implementing information technology projects, as discussed in the Budget Analyst's October 3, 2007 management audit of San Francisco's Information Technology Practices.

City departments face several barriers in implementing a shared database, including:

• Because the Adult Probation Department's existing case management system, CTAG, was poorly implemented, the Department is working on improvements to CTAG functionality.
• The Juvenile Probation Department expects to encounter technical difficulties in data sharing because City systems were set up at different times with different abilities to integrate.
• The Department of Public Health's Shared Youth Database and Adult Coordinated Case Management System required intensive staff time and department resources to develop.
• The Human Services Agency data is not yet connected to the Adult Coordinated Case Management System.

Communities of Opportunity does not have a specific work plan for data sharing; the coordinated case management work plan developed by the consultant from the Family Justice Initiative does not specifically address development of systems to share data.

The Department of Public Health has identified several steps in developing a shared database. Communities of Opportunity will need to address these steps in developing data sharing protocols and technical capacity, including:

• Developing a Memorandum of Understanding among the City departments clearing defining roles and responsibilities, as well as confidentiality requirements; and
• Establishing timelines and methods for each department to provide data downloads.

The Communities of Opportunity program staff are currently facilitating coordinated case management planning among City departments with assistance from Family Justice Initiative consultants. However, according to interviews, Communities of Opportunity has not been able to get City department staff actively engaged in the planning for data sharing. According to the Communities of Opportunity project tracking report, scheduling a follow-up meeting between information technology staff and Stanford University researchers has been delayed, requiring follow-up with City department directors.

Based on the Department of Public Health's experience in developing their shared databases, the Communities of Opportunity's development of a shared data system will most likely extend beyond the expected 9 to 12 month timeframe for implementing the coordinated case management initiative. The City departments participating in development of shared databases have not yet identified staff and resource requirements. Communities of Opportunity will need to work with City departments to develop realistic budgets, staff and information technology resources, and time schedules for coordinated case management data sharing.

City Departments' Program Data

Coordinated case management is only one component of Communities of Opportunity data requirements. Several different City departments fund programs providing services to Communities of Opportunity residents. Types of data collected depend on the funding source and the City departments' current program data requirements. The Department of Economic and Workforce Development, Mayor's Office of Community Investment, and Department of Children, Youth, and their Families have programs providing services to Communities of Opportunity residents.

Workforce Development Data

Both the Mayor's Office of Community Investment and the Office of Workforce Development, within the Department of Economic and Workforce Development, fund community-based organizations to provide workforce development services to Community of Opportunity residents. Neither the Mayor's Office of Community Investment nor the Office of Workforce Development currently collects or reports data specific to the Communities of Opportunity nodes.

• The Mayor's Office of Community Investment collects data based on federal Housing and Urban Development requirements, which oversees the Community Development Block Grant. This data includes participation (such as x number of clients participated in soft skills training) and general outcomes (such as y number of clients were initially placed into jobs).

• The Office of Workforce Development funds some community-based organizations in the City's southeast neighborhoods to provide workforce development services, but workforce development participation data is reported by zip code and is not specific to the Communities of Opportunity nodes.

The Hope SF Pre-Development Services Plan has identified data needed to measure workforce development programs, including the number of residents completing job readiness and vocational skills training and placed into construction and other jobs. The Office of Economic and Workforce Development will need to collect data for specific Communities of Opportunity locations, rather than by zip code.

ParentUniversity, Heritage Camp, and Other Community of Opportunity Programs

Communities of Opportunity also provides programs in conjunction with the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families and the First Five Commission. Data is collected by several different departments.

• The Heritage Camp program is funded by the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families and private matching funds from Communities of Opportunity. The Mayor's Office of Community Investment maintains Heritage Camp attendance data.
• The Parent University is funded by the Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families, the First Five Commission, and Communities of Opportunity private foundation funds. The Department of Children, Youth and Their Families tracks on program component – the "family ambassadors" – by zip code, and the First Five Commission tracks the "baby college" component. Communities of Opportunity tracks family participation.

Other Communities of Opportunity programs are in early stages of planning or implementation, with no reportable data. Each of these programs is managed by different City departments or agencies.

• The Single Stop program is sponsored by private foundation and Communities of Opportunity funds, with support from Federal grants obtained by the Human Services Agency. Services are provided through community-based organizations.
• Communities of Opportunity, the Community College District, and the San Francisco Unified School District are jointly submitting a proposal to the Gateway to College program to fund a drop out recovery program.

Communities of Opportunity will need to coordinate City departments and agencies' collection of data, including defining data requirements for programs in the early stages of implementation and identifying data specific to Communities of Opportunity nodes.

Conclusions

The development of effective data sharing systems among the City departments who will participate in coordinated case management will require strong sponsorship from the Director of Communities of Opportunity, a formal Memorandum of Understanding among the respective departments, and a work plan. Because City departments' data systems are generally not technologically compatible and developing data sharing systems can take significant time and staff resources, Communities of Opportunity will need City departments to agree and adhere to a timeline for developing data sharing.

City departments' current data collection does not necessarily meet Communities of Opportunity needs. Currently, program data is collected by several different City departments and reflects the respective departments' current data capabilities and the data requirements set by the funding sources. Communities of Opportunity will need to work with City departments, including epidemiologists, to define what data should be collected for City department programs providing services to Communities of Opportunity residents.

Recommendations

The Director of Communities of Opportunity should:

Define his role as the project sponsor for implementing shared data systems among City departments participating in the coordinated case management initiative.

3.2 Work with the Family Justice consultant and City departments participating in coordinated case management to develop a work plan for implementing shared data systems.

3.3 Implement a Memorandum of Understanding with City departments as part of the process of implementing coordinated case management data sharing that:

(a) Defines each department's roles and responsibilities;

(b) Defines confidentiality requirements; and

(c) Establishes timelines and methods for each department to provide data downloads.

3.4 Submit a report to the Board of Supervisors prior to the FY 2009-2010 budget review identifying:

(a) Expected expenditures, staff and information technology resources, and time schedules for implementing data sharing systems; and

(b) Expected cost savings and work process improvements resulting from coordinated case management data sharing.

Costs and Benefits

Communities of Opportunity, and the respective City departments, have not yet identified the City's costs for implementing shared data systems as part of the coordinated case management initiative, nor fully defined the benefits, including cost savings or increased benefits from more efficient practices. The Budget Analyst's recommendations are intended to better define the work process, timelines, and costs, as well as benefits, for implementing data sharing systems.