The Philadelphia “Building an Out of School Time (OST) System of Systems Project,” a joint effort of the Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia, the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Health & Opportunity, several operating departments, and funded by an array of funders including The Wallace Foundation, has selected Social Solutions’ Efforts to Outcomes (ETO™) software to support its outcomes tracking and reporting needs.
The OST System of SystemsProject aims to make high-quality after-school programs available to more children and teens by better coordinating the municipal agencies, schools, nonprofit youth programs and other institutions vital to providing these services.
ETO software will allow the OST System of SystemsProject to connect and measure the efforts and impact of multiple after-school programs through a combination of a web-based portal and back-office data systems’ integration. As a result, the Project team will be able to develop a comprehensive body of knowledge about the broad array of OST programs offered, and track outcomes and measure performance across the Project.
“We look forward to working with Social Solutions as we integrate a variety of data systems and raise the quality of all programs so our service population can benefit from a range of youth development programming,” said Tom Sheaffer, Director of Policy & Evaluation and Fiscal Director of the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Health & Opportunity. “We expect ETO software to provide us with the analytical means to improve program quality across several OST systems in the city and to meet the specific, dynamic needs of the many provider agencies serving Philadelphia’s youth.”
Gathering reliable data and improving program quality are two key elements of The Wallace Foundation’s Next Generation OST Initiative in which nine different cities are participating. Anticipation in Philadelphia is that the improved body of data -- to be shared with local policy makers, funders, and providers -- will further assist the Project in achieving its third objective, citywide coordination.
“Social Solutions is proud to be selected by the Philadelphia OST System of Systems Project to support their work to provide high-quality after-school programming,” Social Solutions CEO Steve Butz said. “We look forward to working with them as they improve services and grow impact for Philadelphia’s youth and families.”
