Foundations & Government

O’Connor Mentors Next Generation of Leaders through Marsellus LeadUp Program - January 2023 

For the 5th year, Cynthia O’Connor, in partnership with Katie Doucette from The Leading Element, is providing mentorship, support, and instruction to the next generation of leaders of nonprofit agencies in Onondaga and Madison Counties in Central New York.

The Marsellus Family Fund at the Central New York Community Foundation created LeadUp to invest time and resources in future leadership development. Cynthia and Katie work with the program’s annual cohort of ten to twelve participants selected from small or mid-sized organizations with limited professional development resources. They help each participant create an individualized development plan to allow for demonstrated growth toward their goals.

Through one-on-one coaching, half-day group learning sessions, panel discussions, and networking with key community leaders, participants gain exposure to many perspectives within the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Cynthia and Katie bring their unique real-world experiences and a genuine and straightforward approach to the program’s activities. The participants provide glowing reviews each year:

LeadUp changed us all for the better and in doing so presented Syracuse with ten leaders more able to lead with compassion, confidence, and connections. LeadUp changes the community for the better.

LeadUp gave me the opportunity to take the goals I’ve had in my head, get them down on paper in an achievable format and finally execute on them! The networking with other local, like-minded leaders was so valuable. That coupled with the individual coaching sessions made for one of the best professional development opportunities I’ve had the pleasure to take part in. I would recommend this to anyone looking to grow their networks, achieve new goals and sharpen their leadership skills

The coaching sessions were amazing. I am not sure that I would have accomplished some of my personal and professional goals this year without Katie and Cynthia's mentorship.

Central New York Community Foundation: The Literacy Task Force

Apter & O’Connor led the CNY Community Foundation’s initiative to develop community wide indicators to assess literacy in Central New York. A&O conducted background research, guided the management team and facilitated a task force of 25 community leaders and literacy stakeholders through a six-month strategic planning process. Throughout the process we prepared materials and planned & facilitated all Community Stakeholder meetings, provided regular summaries and feedback to the management team and produced a final report with indicators that served as the foundation for the establishment of a community wide literacy coalition that continues today, five years later.

Cities First Readers (CFR) is a collaboration of numerous nonprofits and all three public library systems across New York City designed to support the development of a literacy rich ecosystem. Their overarching goal is to ensure young children and their families receive needed supports to become successful readers. The collaborative partners are implementing numerous services and programs including parent education, book distributions, guided reading programs, professional development, home visiting and public awareness campaigns. A&O led the partners through a process of clarifying their goals, outcomes and strategies as well as each partner’s capacity for evaluation and their role within the collaborative. They were then ready to take the next step and document the benefits or impacts of this extensive endeavor.   A&O conducts several independent evaluation inquiries each year utilizing a variety of methods analysis for statistical significance using standardized assessments, geocoding and mapping, descriptive illustrations of service statistics, interviews, observations, and surveys of numerous stakeholder groups. A few of these recent and current inquires have examined:

• the strength and maturity of the coalition using the lens of Collective Impact[1],
• whether targeted CFR interventions lead to improvements in knowledge, skill, and behavior among parents to support early literacy for young children
• the concentration of CFR services as related to poverty levels across all NY City council districts
• if attendance is improving at library story times within high-risk neighborhoods? Is there a correlation with the CFR public awareness campaign?
• how has CFR adapted and responded in the time of the COVID19 pandemic
• is there consistency across CFR partners in the use of evidence-based/ best practices for book distribution and associated educational messaging to support home environments and early literacy development?

A&O was chosen for their years of evaluation experience in early childhood and literacy related programming and is thrilled to support this important initiative. 

[1] Preskill, H., Parkhurst, Marcie, Juster, J.S., Guide to Evaluating Collective Impact; Collective Impact Forum, FSG.

Rigorous Inquiries into Trends and Impacts of The Early Childhood Alliance of Onondaga

The Early Childhood Alliance of Onondaga County (ECA) was launched in 2015 to advance a comprehensive, coordinated, well-funded system of high-quality, prenatal-to-age-five early childhood programs and supports. It is a diverse cross-section of community stakeholders with a shared vision that all young children in the county are healthy, thriving, and successful in school and life, and that all families of young children are supported in their parenting. A&O was engaged to examine two of teh ECA’s key areas of effort: funding support and parent engagement.

In 2022, we completed a study of recent early childhood funding levels and trends nationally, statewide, and within Onondaga County. The results serve as an updated baseline for monitoring future growth and to measure ECA’s advocacy impact.

Methods for this inquiry included a document review of past ECA reports, a literature review on early childhood funding levels and trends at state and national levels, interviews with ECA staff, and a spring 2022 funding survey of local anchor systems (nine key early childhood services and supports).

That report, Funding to Support A Strong Early Childhood System 2019–2021, detected an 8% decrease in funding for the early childhood ecosystem from 2019 through 2021 in Onondaga County. Several survey respondents noted that COVID-related challenges, closures, and lockdowns skewed service delivery data and, in some cases, resulted in underutilized services which could explain some of the funding decreases.

The second inquiry, also completed in 2022, examined the Parent Advisory Council (PAC), the primary mechanism for the ECA’s parent engagement work. A group of parents of young children meet regularly to discuss improving the early childhood system, leveraging their own experiences to provide the ECA with input about its initiatives.

The ECA funded this study to learn how the PAC was functioning, what impact the members have on ECA planning and decision-making, and if the parent participants perceive any value or benefit for themselves. ECA was also interested in gaining new knowledge and ideas from other parent engagement professionals and endeavors statewide and nationally to help inform their overall parent engagement strategy.

A thorough report, Parents in Partnership: An Initiative of the Early Childhood Alliance of Onondaga County, offered valuable insights to the Alliance and strong recommendations and references to strengthen their early efforts.

Needs Assessment for NYS Commission for the Blind

The New York State Office of Children & Family Services (OCFS) has selected A&O to conduct a comprehensive statewide needs assessment  for The New York State Commission for the Blind (NYSCB). NYSCB provides vocational and rehabilitation services to more than 4,500 consumers with blindness and visual impairment through seven district offices located throughout New York State. The assessment will include quantitative analysis of the state's case management data system, fiscal modeling and forecasting, as well as surveys, focus groups and interviews - all developed to meet 508 compliance and accessibility standards. The inquiries are designed to:  

• assess factors related to successful case closures, i.e., demographics, secondary disabilities and functional limitations, and the combination/s of services received;
• gain the perspectives of district office staff regarding system outcomes, service barriers and successful collaborations;
• examine how the use of braille impacted success in school, college, and/or vocational training;
• assess proficiency and level of experience with braille among  teachers of the visually impaired and vision rehabilitation therapists;
• and complete fiscal forecasting to gain an improved understanding of students who are eligible or potentially eligible for services.

A&O will present the analysis, findings, and recommendations in a white paper to be incorporated into the annual plan for the Federal Rehabilitation Services Administration.  

Apter and O’Connor assisted the One Love Foundation staff in Yonkers, NY in completing a comprehensive assessment to better understand the educational needs to prevent sexual and dating violence among young people. A team of four at A&O began by helping the staff at One Love to prioritize data elements and indicators and identify relevant secondary data sources. Our team then worked to review, analyze and interpret all of this existing data. We used local measures to compare with regional, state, or national benchmarks to provide context for the findings. Finally, we provided guidance and technical assistance to the One Love staff to develop a logic model and evaluation plan, strengthen survey tools and plan for future focus groups and interviews.   

The Gifford Foundation: ADVANS Consultation

Apter & O’Connor provides consultation and assistance to a wide array of not-for-profit agencies to increase their ability to respond and thrive in challenging fiscal climates. Our capacity-building work with health, educational and human service agencies is taking several forms, depending on the needs and “life-cycle” stage of the organization. As part of this renewed emphasis on capacity building and organizational development, A&O President, Cynthia O’Connor, has served as a consultant for ADVANS (Advancing and Developing the Value & Assets of Non-Profits in Syracuse), an initiative developed and funded by the Gifford Foundation and the Ready or Not initiative supported by the Health Foundation of Western and Central New York (HFWCNY).

Cynthia was certified by Dr. Susan Kenny Stevens, Gifford’s lead consultant for the project and the author of the award-winning book Nonprofit Lifecycles Stage–Based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity. This organizational development framework assumes predictable needs, challenges, and strengths dependent on an agency’s life cycle — from start up to maturity — and works intensively with agency leadership teams to assess and fortify their infrastructure across management, governance, financial, and administrative systems, as well as programs and services.

Cynthia has had the privilege of three 2-year engagements through the Gifford ADVANS program and a fourth for the HFWCNY’s Ready or Not initiative.