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Rethinking Relevance, Rebuilding Engagement

February 2, 2022

The Culture & Community research series launched with a first wave survey in May of 2020 designed to provide actionable information about changing community needs, contexts, and behaviors to arts and culture organizations during a time of rapid change and uncertainty. This report shares findings from a second wave of the Culture & Community research, collected in May 2021, over a year into the pandemic, and at a point when cases were falling before new variants emerged. This Wave 2 survey tracked changes in key questions from Wave 1 and explored new lines of inquiry. We developed a new series of questions to explore the dynamics of race and identity in cultural engagement, perceptions of systemic racism across the cultural sector, and the roles that Americans want arts and culture organizations to play in addressing social issues. Along with our partners at LaPlaca Cohen and Yancey Consulting, we named the second wave of this initiative Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation to reflect our hope that this difficult period -- one in which the country has faced not just a pandemic but also a long-overdue racial reckoning and intense political polarization -- would be an opportunity for genuine, system-level change.

Black Perspectives on Creativity, Trustworthiness, Welcome and Well-Being--Findings From a Qualitative Study

December 9, 2021

Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation: A Special Edition of Culture Track is a collaborative effort to keep the cultural sector in dialogue with its communities and participants during the pandemic and inform deeper equity and justice in the years to come. The project pivoted from examining public attitudes and behaviors in a "time of crisis" in 2020 to doing so in a "time of transformation" in 2021, with a crucial focus around racialized experiences in connection with cultural participation and cultural organizations.The first phase of the research, conducted in Spring 2020, was a large-scale survey intended to inform not just resilience but also innovation and progress toward equity in the cultural sector, and to give the U.S. public a voice in the future of cultural engagement. But that first phase was designed and conducted before the murder of George Floyd ignited a national upswell of anger, sadness, and activism and the Movement for Black Lives began to reshape the discourse around racism in every aspect of American life. In a follow-up statistical analysis of the same (early 2020) data published in December as "Centering the Picture," we and our colleagues explored respondents' experiences in relation to their racial and ethnic identities to highlight and amplify what people of color have been going through and what they would like to see changed in the future. The report revealed some unique experiences and perspectives that Black and African American adults in the U.S. have in relation to cultural engagement, digital connection with arts and culture, and social change. The Slover Linett team, knowing that qualitative methods would be necessary to understand those perspectives in a more nuanced and holistic way, advocated for an additional phase of research in 2021 that would offer a triangulation with — as well as departure point from — the twowave quantitative survey.To that end, and in order to authentically amplify Black voices and stories, we dedicated this qualitative phase of the research solely to Black and African American participants' perspectives, since those viewpoints have historically been excluded or sidelined in most research studies and planning efforts in the cultural field. We intentionally took a broad approach to this inquiry, exploring general dynamics of creativity, trustworthiness, welcome, and community support rather than focusing narrowly on arts and culture organizations and attendance. This allowed us to hear and explore how culture and community experiences and organizations naturally fit into peoples' lives, and it led to rich insights that can inform practice, funding, and policy.

Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation: Key Findings from Wave 2

November 23, 2021

The second wave of the national study, Culture + Community in a Time of Transformation: A Special Edition of Culture Track, includes an even broader frame for culture (from libraries to parks, music venues, and festivals), as well as deeper involvement with small, rural or BIPOC-serving organizations.Culture + Community is a national research initiative aimed at bridging the cultural sector with the experiences and needs of its communities and audiences during the pandemic and beyond. The findings coming out of this survey also aim to provide the field with actionable insights towards becoming more equitable, inclusive spaces and toward a movement of transformation as cultural organizations become more active participants within movements for social and racial justice. In April and May of 2020, we conducted the first wave of research with a large-scale online survey that asked about the experiences, needs, and behaviors of a representative sample of the U.S. population plus a large sample of people on the contact-lists of more than 650 cultural organizations around the country.In this second wave of research, we broadened the kinds of organizations in our sample by actively inviting new organizations from categories of institutions who were underrepresented in our Wave 1 work: BIPOC-serving organizations, cultural organizations located in rural parts of the country, festivals (film, food, crafts, music), libraries, for-profit arts, and national and city parks. We also re-invited all 653 organizations from the first wave of the study to participate again in this second wave of research.

Effective Strategies to Support Advocacy Campaigns: Considerations for Funders and Advocates

October 27, 2016

This report shares collected insights from funders and advocates across the country, in the hope that their observations will helpfully contribute to other funding and campaign efforts. The respondents noted that while considerable attention has been paid to factors informing the development of sound campaign strategy, comparatively less attention has been paid to the structural and operational issues that undergird successful campaign efforts. Our research accordingly focuses on these matters.

Investigating Philadelphia's Uncertified Childcare Providers

May 25, 2016

Reinvestment Fund's ChildCare Map provides information about the location, size, and quality of early childcare centers operating in Philadelphia. When ChildCare Map launched in 2014 researchers identified a large number of "uncertified providers"--childcare centers operating in Philadelphia, but not listed in the state's OCDEL database. Uncertified providers operate outside of the state's official records, and therefore very little information exists about their size, services, or quality.

An Inquiry Into Pennsylvania's Keystone STARS: Research Report

November 9, 2015

This study examines opportunities for improvement in Pennsylvania's Keystone STARS Rating System and recommends next steps for improved child outcomes. The goal of this research was to support the continued advancement of quality early learning programs state-wide to ultimately strengthen student outcomes. In 2003, Pennsylvania implemented Keystone STARS, one of the first state-level Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) in the country, as a tool to improve access to quality early learning programs for young children. The study explores three areas of the Keystone STARS program: the relationship between STARS ratings and child outcomes; the link between child outcomes and each of the 12 quality components assessed in the STARS system; and the perspectives of childcare providers and system developers. The research findings aim to inform improvements to the Keystone STARS program in order to positively impact child outcomes. As a well-established QRIS program, one of just eight nationwide with more than a decade of experience, Pennsylvania has a strong base on which to build in order to support positive child outcomes.This research provides guidance to Pennsylvania as it considers revisions to Keystone STARS. The opportunities uncovered in this report provide an opportunity for Pennsylvania to lead the nation in ensuring that the next generation of QRISs better support early care programs, families, and young children.

2015 Portfolio: Culture Across Communities, an Eleven-City Snapshot

October 27, 2015

This report examines the heart of the nonprofit cultural sector across 11 of the country's major metropolitan regions. Using Cultural Data Project (CDP) information, we examined 5,502 organizations, which collectively have 906,000 paid and volunteer positions and spend $13 billion annually. The communities examined had a collective population of over 75 million residents, 23.7% of the total population of the country. Our goal was to understand the distinctive and shared attributes of the cultural communities across every metro region and 11 distinct disciplines. What are the underlying trends running across all metro regions and disciplines?Are communities recovering from the Great Recession? Where are the pressure points for the sector? What are the challenges and opportunities for specific disciplines? What trends are impacting the long-term health of all cultural nonprofits? Keeping in mind that all data has limitations and that our snapshot represents only a portion of the full scope of creative activity across the country, our analysis nonetheless revealed both expected and surprising findings.

Predicing Ecological Effects of Watershed-Wide Rain Garden Implementation Using a Low-Cost Methodology

July 13, 2015

Stormwater control measures (SCMs) have been employed to mitigate peak flows and pollutants ssociated with watershed urbanization. Downstream ecological effects caused by the implementation of SCMs are largely unknown, especially at the watershed scale. Knowledge of these effects could help with setting goals for and targeting locations of local restoration efforts. Unfortunately, studies such as these typically require a high level of time and effort for the investigating party, of which resources are often limited. This study proposes a low-cost investigation method for the prediction of ecological effects on the watershed scale with the implementation of rain garden systems by using publicly available data and software. For demonstration purposes, a typical urban watershed was modeled using Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) 5.0. Forty-five models were developed in which the percent impervious area was varied 3 to 80%, and the fraction of rain gardens implemented with respect to the number of structures was varied from to 100%. The river chub fish (Nocomis micropogon) and its congeners (Nocomis spp.) were chosen as ecological indicators, as they are considered to be keystone species through interspecific nesting association. Depth and velocity criteria for successful nest building locations of the river chub were determined; these criteria can then be applied to many other watersheds. In this study, both base flow conditions and a typical summer storm event (1.3 cm, 6 h duration) were evaluated. During the simulated storm, nest-building locations were not affected in the 3 and 5% impervious cover models. Nest destruction was found to occur in approximately 54% of the original nest building sites for the 9% and 10% impervious areas. Nearly all of the nest-building locations were uninhabitable for impervious areas 20% and greater. Rain garden implementation significantly improved river chub habitat in the simulation, with greatest marginal benefit at lower levels of implementation.

Predicting Ecological Effects of Watershed-Wide Rain Garden Implementation Using a Low-Cost Methodology

July 13, 2015

Stormwater control measures (SCMs) have been employed to mitigate peak flows and pollutants associated with watershed urbanization. Downstream ecological effects caused by the implementation of SCMs are largely unknown, especially at the watershed scale. Knowledge of these effects could help with setting goals for and targeting locations of local restoration efforts. Unfortunately, studies such as these typically require a high level of time and effort for the investigating party, of which resources are often limited. This study proposes a low-cost investigation method for the prediction of ecological effects on the watershed scale with the implementation of rain garden systems by using publicly available data and software. For demonstration purposes, a typical urban watershed was modeled using Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) 5.0. Forty-five models were developed in which the percent impervious area was varied 3 to 80%, and the fraction of rain gardens implemented with respect to the number of structures was varied from to 100%. The river chub fish (Nocomis micropogon) and its congeners (Nocomis spp.) were chosen as ecological indicators, as they are considered to be keystone species through interspecific nesting association. Depth and velocity criteria for successful nest building locations of the river chub were determined; these criteria can then be applied to many other watersheds. In this study, both base flow conditions and a typical summer storm event (1.3 cm, 6 h duration) were evaluated. During the simulated storm, nest-building locations were not affected in the 3 and 5% impervious cover models. Nest destruction was found to occur in approximately 54% of the original nest building sites for the 9% and 10% impervious areas. Nearly all of the nest-building locations were uninhabitable for impervious areas 20% and greater. Rain garden implementation significantly improved river chub habitat in the simulation, with greatest marginal benefit at lower levels of implementation.

Overcoming Financial Barriers to Expanding High-Quality Early Care and Education in Southeastern Pennsylvania

July 8, 2015

High-quality early care and education (ECE) programs have been proven to create positive outcomes for children -- especially among those living in poverty. Yet many children from low-income families have a hard time accessing high-quality child care and miss the critical developmental growth and foundation needed for academic and life success. Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) released a new report that examines the financial challenges program providers face, and offers recommendations about actions to increase access to quality care. The report is based on NFF's work with more than 147 nonprofit child care centers in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

A Blueprint for Early Care and Education Quality Improvement Initiatives: Final Report

March 3, 2015

As Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) continue to launch and mature across states, questions emerge from stakeholders about how to design and implement effective quality improvement (QI) initiatives that accompany a QRIS. Funders, policymakers and program developers with limited resources are looking to invest in activities that will be most successful in supporting early care and education (ECE) program quality improvement and ultimately improving outcomes for young children. The purpose of this report is to address questions about effective QI initiatives by proposing a blueprint of quality improvement practices and design considerations generated from a synthesis of the existing research literature and input from national experts in ECE quality improvement.

Capitalization, Scale, and Investment: Does Growth Equal Gain?

February 3, 2015

This study, commissioned by the William Penn Foundation, examines the state of Philadelphia's arts and culture sector.The study is divided into two major sections: trends in the greater Philadelphia ecosystem and assessing investments toward growth.