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Units: Applied Research | MIDAS | Public Finance Initiative

The Applied Research unit projects consist of:

• Telephone surveys and focus groups of St. Louis metropolitan area residents, in-person and mail response surveys.
• Evaluation of health, education, community and economic development programs.
• Special reports on demographics, housing and transportation for local or regional organizations.

Recent Applied Research projects include:

Gateway Greening Whitmire Study

PPRC’s Applied Research unit developed a targeted research methodology, conducted surveys, and collected secondary data to examine the impact of 55 gardens in the City of St. Louis. The study was recently expanded and will also analyze the relationship between community garden areas and changes in community crime
rates.

St. Patrick's Center

St. Patrick Center has contracted the PPRC’s Applied Research Division to evaluate a five-year initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Children’s Bureau. Project Protect will develop a regional partnership including St. Patrick Center as the lead agency with the Family Court of the 22nd Judicial Circuit, the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services, the Family Resource Center, and Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club. These agencies will collaborate to annually serve 150 homeless and impoverished parents or substitute caregivers with substance-abuse issues or co-occurring disorders and the dependent children involved. These families will be at risk of having the children removed from homes or will have children in foster or substitute care. Project Protect will provide them a comprehensive continuum of care including parent-education classes, addiction treatment, recovery meetings, and case plans identifying recovery and family-stabilizing activities.

The Children’s Bureau is requiring each of its grantees to develop and monitor performance indicators to track the implementation of their project. PPRC will examine processes involved in the collaboration as well as the impact of Project Protect’s services on the target population’s recovery and family unity. This project will be ongoing through 2011.

United Way and ARCHS child care initiatives

United Way and ARCHS selected the Applied Research division to conduct an evaluation of their child care initiatives. United Way supports the Success by 6 program, and ARCHS supports the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) program. Applied Research is performing an outcome and implementation evaluation for the programs. Susan Catapano, Assistant Professor in the Division of Teaching and Learning at the College of Education joins PPRC staff for this evaluation. She has the faculty appointment in Early Childhood Education.

Funded by St. Louis 2004's Families and Learning Initiative Work Group, SB6 and ARCHS' ECCE have worked through four components in their current action plan. Their immediate objective is to add more child care centers and education programs for young children. This step will meet agreed-upon standards of quality, as well as accommodate the needs of families transitioning from welfare to work. The study will be completed in Fall 2004.

St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District

PPRC is working with the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District to conduct a survey of recycling infrastructure. PPRC is collecting data regarding solid waste practices in other metropolitan areas in states adjoining Missouri. PPRC will research the legislation currently in place in each metro area to enable and support solid waste recovery, the structure of other solid waste management agencies, the degree of state-level funding, and the types of programming available through state and state-affiliated agencies.

Cochran Gardens Hope VI

The Applied Research unit collected baseline data on Cochran Gardens residents' perception of community and supportive services they receive from an agency contracted by the Cochran Redevelopment Partners. PPRC also collected information on the impact of the Hope VI project on the community residents and on commercial development within a one-mile radius of the Hope VI site.

City of O'Fallon Fair Housing Analysis

PPRC partnered with the City of O’Fallon, Missouri to conduct an analysis of impediments to fair housing. The analysis included focus groups of protected class members, interviews, review of local fair housing law and policy. PPRC also recommended action for addressing identified impediments.

Vision for Children at Risk

The Applied Research unit is working with Vision for Children at Risk to provide an analysis of the St. Louis Children’s Agenda. PPRC studied the level of intergovernmental support for children in the City of St. Louis and the ways that new funding strategies could provide additional resources to support child-oriented initiatives.

Father's Support Center of St. Louis

The Applied Research unit is engaged in an evaluation of a health curriculum currently being promoted by the Father’s Support Center of St. Louis (FSC). PPRC is assessing FSC’s success in changing client behaviors that may be detrimental to general health. The study will also expand to the client’s attitudes towards the healthcare of their children. The funding for this study comes from the Missouri Foundation for Health.

Early Learning Opportunity Act (ELOA)

The ELOA project seeks to integrate the early childhood literacy efforts of multiple organizations in the City of St. Louis. The Applied Research unit is providing the comprehensive evaluation of this effort and of the activities of the various partners.

Beyond Housing/Neighborhood Housing Services

PPRC received funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Beyond Housing/Neighborhood Housing Services in a series of projects looking at the issue of homeowner sustainability, including how foreclosure and loss of housing impacts minority and first time homebuyers.

St. Louis Lead Protection Coalition

PPRC has partnered with the St. Louis Lead Protection Coalition to gather data and provide resources for the Lead Education and Awareness Project. PPRC examined the ways that property owners disseminate information about childhood lead poisoning and the way that renters respond to that information.

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