Category Archives: Data and Evaluation
Power and Potential: Youth Organizing in Southeast Michigan (Landscape Scan)
by: The Skillman Foundation | Jun. 21st, 2023 We are excited to announce the release of Power and Potential of Youth Organizing in Southeast Michigan, a landscape scan of the current state of youth organizing in Southeast Michigan and analysis of strengths and growth opportunities to build from to support a strong ecosystem of youth-led […]
Read more »In Their Own Words
by: Andrea Anderson, PhD | Dec. 16th, 2021 The Skillman Foundation’s commitment to Detroit children means that we must keep youth at the center, listen intently to what they have to say, and respond boldly. Centering youth is crucial to our ability to confront contemporary inequitable and unjust practices, policies, and narratives as well as […]
Read more »What Michiganders want: Investments in children
by: The Skillman Foundation | Sep. 20th, 2021 Michiganders expect more investment in children. 62% support Even if it raises their taxes. 58% support Across every region of our state. Top Concerns Kids falling behind in school because of the pandemic Kids living in households that struggle to afford basic needs Exposure to trauma in […]
Read more »Detroit Charter Case Studies Summary 2021
by: Every School Day Counts Detroit | Aug. 16th, 2021 In the fall of 2020, Attendance Works and Every School Day Counts Detroit conducted interviews with school leaders from five local public charter schools to document their efforts to sustain school attendance during the Covid-19 pandemic. The schools chosen represented diverse grade levels. Based upon […]
Read more »Changing in Place: The Skillman Foundation, Detroit, and the Good Neighborhoods Initiative
by: The Skillman Foundation | May. 12th, 2021 In 2006, the Skillman Foundation committed $100 million to a decade-long investment in six neighborhoods. Through this Good Neighborhoods Initiative, the foundation directed a majority of its grantmaking toward an intensive focus on changing the conditions where, at the time, one-third of Detroit’s children lived. The goal […]
Read more »From Citywide to Neighborhood-Based: Two Decades of Learning, Prioritization, and Strategic Action to Build The Skillman Foundation’s Youth-Development Systems
by: The Skillman Foundation | May. 12th, 2021 This article is informed by evaluation reports and memos, interviews, meetings with foundation staff and community stakeholders, foundation documents, research from the field, and a previous article in The Foundation Review about Skillman’s work (Brown, Colombo, & Hughes, 2009). It chronicles the history, challenges, and lessons of […]
Read more »Changemaking: Building Strategic Competence
by: The Skillman Foundation | May. 12th, 2021 This article aims to capture The Skillman Foundation’s initial lessons about changemaking practice by examining how one foundation with a genuine desire to expand the range and scope of its own practice is building its strategic competence, and by highlighting what it is learning that is likely […]
Read more »Foundation Readiness for Community Transformation: Learning in Real Time
by: The Skillman Foundation | May. 12th, 2021 The article conveys a snapshot of a complex undertaking very much in development; there is value in examining and sharing it now because many of the readiness issues facing this foundation are ones with which others have struggled, not always successfully. Read the report.
Read more »Finding the Fix: Embracing Philanthropy’s Role in Transforming an Urban Education Landscape
by: The Skillman Foundation | May. 12th, 2021 This article describes the events that led to the fundamental shift in strategy and role for the foundation and its partners, identifies the necessary conditions for a successful implementation of a game-changing plan for all schools in an urban center, and examines the challenges of such a […]
Read more »Two Reports on School Attendance & Academic Outcomes
by: Wayne State University | Feb. 17th, 2021 These reports were produced by the Detroit Education Research Partnership at Wayne State University and funded by The Skillman Foundation in partnership with Every School Day Counts. Report highlights include: Third Grade Reading and Attendance in Detroit Being chronically absent is a stronger predictor of third-grade reading […]
Read more »Safety Strategy Review 2013-2016
by: The Skillman Foundation | Feb. 19th, 2018 Prepared by JFM Consulting Group A review of the Foundation’s safety strategy from 2013-2016, during which time the Foundation set out to increase the actual and perceived safety of children through an alignment of efforts between a broad cross section of stakeholders, including the Detroit Police Department […]
Read more »Kids Matter Here: An Analytic Review of the 10-year Good Neighborhoods Initiative
by: The Skillman Foundation | Jan. 4th, 2018 In 2006, the Skillman Foundation set out to change conditions for Detroit kids by creating the 10-year, $120-million Good Neighborhoods Initiative. To best understand the outcomes of the long-term neighborhood-based work, we worked with a variety of evaluators, residents, stakeholders, grant partners, staff and trustees to form a series of analyses and dialogues. Together, […]
Read more »Civic Leadership: Highlights from the Good Neighborhoods Initiative
by: The Skillman Foundation | Jun. 15th, 2017 Authored by Mark A. Lelle An examination of the Skillman Foundation’s civic leadership practice. Download the report
Read more »Strengthening Grassroots Community Leadership in Detroit
by: Touchstone Center for Collaborative Inquiry | Aug. 31st, 2016 An evaluation report on the Community Connections Grants Program (2006-2015), a resident-centered grant program working to strengthen civic engagement and grassroots leadership in Detroit. It awards grants of $500 to $5,000 to local projects that mobilize residents to improve opportunities and conditions for youth. Download […]
Read more »The Added Value of Long-Term Investment in Neighborhoods: Two Case Studies from the Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods Initiative
by: David Scheie | Aug. 21st, 2016 What difference can 10 years of steady, responsive philanthropic support make to a resourceful but distressed neighborhood? What is the added value of long-term investment in neighborhoods? These are the questions probed in two case studies at the heart of this essay, giving the reader a sense of […]
Read more »Neighborhood Impact Statements
by: The Skillman Foundation | Aug. 19th, 2016 Written by Neighborhood Governance Organizations The Good Neighborhoods Initiative was structured around residents leading change in the their neighborhoods. To support resident-led change, the Foundation helped bring community members together so they could organize, and provided leadership training, technical assistance and funding. In some communities, this organizing […]
Read more »Maximizing Returns: Investing in Nontraditional Leaders
by: The Skillman Foundation | Aug. 19th, 2016 Co-authored by resident leaders Mohammad Dawood, Jerry Ann Hebron, Lisa Luevanos, Mary Luevanos and Victor Robinson Learnings from a group of resident leaders on the importance of grassroots leadership capacity building. Download the full report View related videos
Read more »A Decade in Review: Conditions in Detroit and the Skillman Good Neighborhoods
by: | Aug. 14th, 2016 Authored by Data Driven Detroit A report on the overall context for the initiative that draws from a wide range of data sources to describe macro-scale trends in Detroit and each of the Skillman Good Neighborhoods. It is designed to provide a description of major demographic, political, economic and social […]
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