Learning Cluster Members

Five organizations were selected in 1999 to receive two-year, $100,000 grants from FIELD to pursue projects that would ultimately lead to a better understanding of what constitutes effective training and technical assistance. A description of each grantee's research project follows:

Central Vermont Community Action (CVCAC)
Barre, Vt.
Evaluation of CVCAC’s work suggested that one of the important factors in determining an entrepreneur’s success appeared to be the set of perceptions he/she brings into the program – especially the ability to develop linear, focused and long-term ways of thinking. Using a qualitative research design, CVCA sought to develop measures that track clients’ movement from one set of thought patterns to another, and explore how these changes are linked to particular training interventions, as well as to business and personal outcomes.

Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute, Inc. (DEI)
Detroit, Mich.
DEI sought to track two groups of 25 clients each, one receiving advanced level, intensive post-core training technical assistance and the other accessing the organization’s regular assistance package. In addition to comparing overall outcomes between the two strategies, this detailed information was intended to allow DEI to better understand the critical skills clients need as their businesses evolve, and what to emphasize in both up-front training and ongoing technical assistance.

The Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED)
Iowa City, Iowa
Using a quantitative research design, ISED tracked between 400 and 500 clients through its program to answer four key questions: First, how are client characteristics and differences in interventions associated with intermediate and final outcomes? Second, how effective are different training strategies after controlling for client characteristics? Third, are various strategies differentially effective for clients with various characteristics? And finally, to what extent are intermediate indicators reliable proxies for final outcomes?

Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDCO)
South Bronx, NY
WHEDCO sought to understand the specific indicators associated with success in operating a high-quality, financially viable, family day-care business, and set out to test measures in four key areas: business development, professional development, personal effectiveness as a child care provider, and effectiveness as an entrepreneur. Early work by WHEDCO suggested that five particular attributes may be critical to success. The research specifically examined these factors: general orientation to training, length of time in and stage of business, personal and professional goals, literacy and educational attainment.

Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment
San Francisco, Calif.
Women’s Initiative set out to test the premises that clients need to learn, understand and practice certain core business skills in order to succeed in business, and they are more likely to be effective if they also experience personal growth. They used a mixed-method model of research, tracking 102 clients, and gauging their progress toward economic self sufficiency by comparing household income to a California–based Family Self-Sufficiency Standard developed by Wider Opportunities for Women.