August 2003

Mixed, with inconsistent progress. That’s the overall rating Philadelphia received regarding the well being of its children in Report Card 2003, released last month by the City and Philadelphia Safe and Sound.

Report Card 2003 is the fourth annual accounting of 26 indicators of youth health and safety (to see the complete report, click here). Prepared by Safe and Sound, the report card has become a valuable tool and an integral component of a matrix that helps guide the City’s decision-making regarding investments in children and youth.

“The report card is the end result of a remarkable, annual collaboration between Philadelphia Safe and Sound, City government, scores of service providers, community organizations, child advocates and policy makers,” says Jo Ann Lawer, President and CEO of Safe and Sound. “But it is much more than a compendium of data and analysis; it is a process of action, reflection and refined responses.”

Combined with other data-rich and outcome-oriented products developed or guided by Safe and Sound since the publication of the original report card, a picture emerges of a City whose decision-makers and social service providers are committed to improving services for kids through the use of sound data. Some of these other products are:

• Children’s Budget. This document annually measures and analyzes all government spending for children and youth in Philadelphia. It allows comparison between government spending decisions and the areas of need (as depicted in the Report Card). The Children's Budget presents spending data by funding source, the purpose of the spending, and by the type of services being provided. It provides comparisons of spending for children over time. This type of analysis will be increasingly critical in future years, since patterns and trends in investments and results become clearer when viewed over a long period of time. The fourth annual Children’s Budget will be released later this year. Since publication of the first Children’s Budget, Philadelphia has increased funding for prevention services from two percent to 11 percent. This shift in resources evolved in part from the review and findings the first Budget provided.
  
  
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Safe and Sound works with social service agencies to analyze social indicator and resource data spatially across the physical geography of the City of Philadelphia. This mapping can provide guidance with regard to what areas of the city need the most attention in discreet service areas. GIS includes housing, health, crime, early childhood, and other relevant indicators along with public and private resources such as libraries, schools, out of school programs, police and fire departments, health centers and more.
  
  
• The Integrated Data Project. This involves integrating the data systems of social service agencies with those of the School District, Police Department, and other relevant city agencies over time. An integrated data system will allow greater data and information exchange among city agencies and social workers to foster better coordination and effectiveness in providing Philadelphia citizens of all ages with appropriate, seamless and comprehensive services. Until IDIS, when several city programs and agencies served a single individual or family, there was insufficient coordination and communication to ensure effective service delivery. An Integrated Data System is an essential first step toward development of an integrated case management system in which services are efficiently provided without duplication or gaps. IDIS allows case managers to access relevant client data from anywhere in the provider network and more effectively address issues and problems.
  
  
• Performance-Based Contracting. Safe and Sound, working in partnership with the City of Philadelphia Quality Management Division, is developing a Performance-Based Contracting system to judge the performance of private service providers based upon the demonstration of measurable changes in client outcomes, rather than just the number of clients served. This initiative, when completed, will radically change the public social service system, and will help to ensure that client needs are addressed in an effective and efficient manner.
  

An example of how a combination of these products works together to improve decision making in the City is the Children’s Investment Strategy (CIS). Created by Safe and Sound and championed by Mayor John Street, CIS is an effort to identify an additional $150 million in sustainable funding for the expansion of after-school programs in Philadelphia. At this writing CIS has reached 40 percent of its funding goal. For CIS…

• The Report Card put the spotlight on indicators of children’s well being, such as youth violence and substance abuse, which can be improved by quality after-school programs.
  
  
• The Children’s Budget showed how public funds were being spent, underscoring the need for dramatically higher investment in after-school programming.
  
  
• GIS shows where current after-school opportunities are located, what neighborhoods are underserved, what areas have the most problems and, therefore, optimal locations for new programs.
  
  
• And, as money raised through CIS is spent, the Performance-Based Contracting system helps ensure that program providers are focused on outcomes, rather than merely numbers of kids enrolled.
  

“Philadelphia Safe and Sound is dedicated to improving the quality of our children’s lives by fostering reform within major public systems that deliver services to youth,” says Lawer. “In a very practical sense, these products set the tone for a new way of addressing issues of children’s health and safety in Philadelphia.”

For more information on this website on Philadelphia Safe and Sound, click here. For more articles on this website about data-driven processes, click here.