Evaluation Report Brief

United Way of Central Indiana: 

Great Families 2020 

Office of Research and Evaluation, Corporation for National and Community Service December 2020

nationalservice.gov/research 1 

What is the community challenge? 

There is a philosophical gap in the understanding of twogenerational approaches for comprehensive service delivery

models supporting whole family units aimed at poverty 

reduction and better youth outcomes in Indianapolis. 

What is the promising solution?

Great Families 2020 (GF2020) is based on the 2Gen model 

developed by Ascend at the Aspen Institute, and uses family 

case management to direct families in need of financial 

services to evidence-based interventions and wraparound 

services. The family unit receives family-focused case 

management provided by a family coach. The family coaching 

process involves developing a relationship with a family coach and to create a Family Success Plan (FSP) that 

helps the family set and maintain goals in the five areas of the 2Gen model—high quality early childhood 

education, economic assets, postsecondary and employment pathways, social capital, and health and wellbeing. Additionally, GF2020 connects families to services in those five areas that are provided by participating 

subgrantee agencies. 

What was the purpose of evaluation?

The evaluation of United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI)’s Great Families 2020 by Indiana University Public 

Policy Institute and The Polis Center began in 2016 and finished reporting in 2020. This evaluation is an 

implementation study that (1) examines the implementation of the GF2020 service delivery process and model, 

and (2) an outcomes study that assesses the extent to which the GF2020 model is associated with 

improvements in outcomes of the GF2020 model to achieve short-term outcomes during the first six months to 

two years of enrolling families. The implementation study employed a mixed-methods approach, including 

interviews and focus groups with UWCI GF2020 staff and GF2020 subgrantees and web-based pre- and postsurveys of staff at each subgrantee site, descriptive analysis of GF2020 programmatic and administrative data, 

participant interviews and surveys, and a review of subgrantee documents. The outcomes study analyzed 

programmatic data of 675 adult GF2020 participants. The statistical analyses included t-tests, Wilcoxon signed 

rank tests, general linear models, and multilevel models to understand statistical differences across groups and 

factors associated with individual outcomes across program components.

What did the evaluation find?

As a grantee of the Social Innovation Fund, UWCI engaged an independent evaluator to evaluate GF2020. 

• GF2020 is largely being implemented with fidelity across three core components of early childhood 

education, economic assets, and employment coaching, with financial counseling standing out as the 

most popular service. Coaching is largely perceived as an integral component of GF2020. 

• Participants are satisfied with all services received through GF2020. 

Program At-a-Glance

CNCS Program: Social Innovation Fund

Intervention: Great Families 2020 (GF2020)

Intermediary: United Way of Central Indiana 

Focus Area(s): Economic Opportunity /Youth 

Development

Focus Population(s): Parent/s or caregiver/s with at 

least one child (age 0-6), living together as part of a 

family, who need economic support or stabilization 

services. 

Community(ies) Served: Indianapolis, IN
Office of Research and Evaluation, Corporation for National and Community Service December 2020

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• Over the course of their participation, adults experienced significant improvements in 

o Monthly income 

o Social networks 

o Physical and mental 

o Child development & knowledge of parenting 

o Family functioning and 

o Concrete supports.

• There was no significant difference in the change in monthly income between treatment and 

comparison groups.

Notes on the evaluation

Due to congressional sun-setting of the Social Innovation Fund program, UWCI was not able to conduct an 

impact evaluation, and instead conducted an implementation evaluation and exploratory outcome analysis. 

UWCI’s G2020 program activities and data collection efforts during the final year of their evaluation in 2020 

were severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the Indiana Department of Education 

implemented a state policy change that shifted to new assessment tools, and lack of reporting requirements for 

child care centers that are not affiliated with a school affected the collection of outcome data for children and 

ultimately prevented the in-depth analysis related to child outcomes. 

How is UWCI using the evaluation findings to improve?

As a result of GF2020, in 2019, UWCI launched a funding 

mechanism called the Family Opportunity Fund. This effort 

provides funding for local community-based organizations to 

build capacity for serving an entire family’s needs in areas 

highlighted by the 2Gen model. The evaluation findings helped 

highlight gaps and key implementation opportunities in their 

development of that fund, including: 

• Leverage success with GF2020 organizational 

partnerships and relationships for ongoing 

programming 

• Provide clear and consistent communication with 

grantees/subgrantees 

• Integrate grantees/subgrantees in decision-making processes 

• Provide ongoing learning and networking opportunities to increase capacity and relationships among 

subgrantees 

• Consider including transition planning into the program to help families with children prepare for 

changes as the children age out of the GF2020 program 

• Consider the role of policy-related barriers 

• Develop an advisory board or other partnership with local agencies and stakeholders 

• Invest in data-specific positions 

Evaluation At-a-Glance

Evaluation Design(s): Implementation evaluation 

and exploratory outcome evaluation (single group 

pre-post and two groups pre-post)

Study Population: Parents and caregivers

(Independent) Evaluator(s): Indiana University 

Public Policy Institute and The Polis Center

This Evaluation’s Level of Evidence*: Preliminary

*SIF and AmeriCorps currently use different definitions of levels of evidence.

The content of this brief was drawn from the full evaluation report submitted to CNCS by the grantee/subgrantee. The section of the brief that 

discusses evaluation use includes contribution of the grantee/subgrantee. All original content from the report is attributable to its authors.

To access the full evaluation report and learn more about CNCS, please visit nationalservice.gov/research. 

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), combines public and private resources to grow the impact of 

innovative, community-based solutions that have compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-income communities throughout the U.S. The SIF invests in three 

priority areas: economic opportunity, healthy futures, and youth development.