Getting the Most Out of the

Transcription

1 Getting the Most Out of the THP-PLUS PARTICIPANT TRACKING SYSTEM Wednesday, March 27, 2013

2 Technical Information (Your name) Call-in number is (646) and access code is To submit live questions, click on the Questions panel, type your question, and click Send This PowerPoint and audio will be posted at

3 Today s Presenters JOHN BURTON FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN WITHOUT HOMES Amy Lemley, Policy Director Simone Tureck, Policy Associate

4 The Transitional Housing Placement Plus Program THP-Plus

5 THP-Plus Created in 2001 by state legislature Up to 24 months affordable housing & supportive services Former foster and probation youth ages California counties 57 service providers 81 different programs Serves more than 2,000 youth annually

6 THP-Plus Participant Tracking System THP-Plus PTS

7 Overview of the PTS Web-based database developed by JBF in close consultation with CDSS, counties and providers Designed specifically for the THP-Plus program Collects participant-level demographic and outcomes data Security and privacy features

8 Currently The PTS tracks data on 855 THP-Plus participants 38% 62% Housing Capacity in PTS Housing Capacity not in PTS 40 THP-Plus service providers use the PTS 21 counties administrators use the PTS 30% 70% 58% 42% Use PTS Do not use PTS Administrators use PTS Administrators do not use PTS

9 Getting Started BECOMING A PARTICIPANT TRACKING SYSTEM USER

10 When and how often is data submitted? AT ENTRANCE QUARTERLY AT EXIT AT 6 MONTHS FROM EXIT AT 12 MONTHS FROM EXIT July-Sept due 10/15 Due 15 days after entrance date Oct-Dec due 1/15 Jan-Mar due 4/15 Due 15 days after exit date (If possible) due 15 days after 6- month mark (If possible) due 15 days after 12- month mark Apr-Jun due 7/15

11 What data is collected? Demographics Housing Employment & Income Education & Training Additional info Identifying info Gender LGBTQ status Race & ethnicity Parenting status Previous / current / future housing Homelessness Employment status Hourly wage Public benefits Other support (e.g. financial aid) Educational status Vocational training status Other training status (e.g. military training) Health insurance Bank account Criminal justice system involvement Permanent connection(s) Treatment services (at exit)

12 What is the process of becoming a PTS user? Sign a User Agreement Determine data entry process Receive user name & password Training Start entering data!

13 Entering Data For a step-by-step tutorial on entering data, new users should refer to the archived webinars and the user manual available on the THP-Plus website

14 Reporting Functions BRINGING PTS REPORTS TO LIFE

15 What reports are available? Administrative reports Participant reports Overdue & due report Overdue form counts Caseload report Caseload counts Invoice report/enrollment list Entrance snapshot Quarterly snapshot Quarterly statewide comparison Progress report entrance to exit exit to 6 months Export full participant data

16 Running Reports For a step-by-step tutorial on running reports, new users should refer to the archived reporting functions webinar and the reporting functions manual available on the THP-Plus website

17 What information do reports produce? Numbers served and demographics Individual participant progress Program performance and progress over time Program performance against the rest of the state

18 How can we use this information? Externally Internally Report to stakeholders and funders Advocate for program Identify areas for program improvement Identify what we do well Raise staff morale

19 Examples Provider Questions County Questions Are we doing what we can to help participants prevent unplanned pregnancies? Are participants exiting our program prematurely? How many of these exits are involuntary? Are providers meeting their outcome goals for number of youth employed? Are we doing enough to promote retention in community college amongst our participants? How many of our participants are accessing Medi-Cal? How many of the participants in my county are former probation youth?

20 Example #1: Program Development There are concerns that participants are exiting prematurely. Are these concerns valid? Does this need to be looked into further? Overall, participants stay in the program for an average of close to 11 months. That is a little less than half of the full program time. In the past 2 years, participants have stayed in the program for an average of 13 ½ months. That is progress, although I would still like to see that number increase.

21 Example #2: Program Development Are we doing what we can to help participants prevent unplanned pregnancy? Custodial parents double by the time they exit the program, accounting for 23% of the program participants.

22 Example #3: Staff Development You need data to share at a monthly all-staff meeting to raise morale in response to staff feedback that helping youth identify, secure and maintain employment is one of the most difficult parts of their job. Looking at youth who have exited during the past year, none of them started with full-time employment. By exit, 12 of them were employed full-time, and of those whose goal it was to be working, half were employed at exit, compared to only 17% at entrance.

23 Example #4: County Administrator- Contracts Management Are the providers in my county meeting their outcome goals in the area of employment? Overall, the number of participants employed at exit during this fiscal year has increased to 53% from 35% at entrance. However, given that almost half (27) exit without jobs, have they advanced themselves in education? The good news is that over 61% participants have made progress in their educational achievements.

24 Example #4: County Administrator- Contracts Management, PART 2 How does my county compare to the rest of the state in the area of employment? In comparing data from the most recent fiscal quarter, it looks like my county s employment trends are just under the rest of the state s. A total of 55% of my county s participants were employed vs. a total of 57% of THP-Plus participants statewide.

25 Example #5: Advocacy Your county s board of supervisors has proposed that the number of THP- Plus slots be decreased. You develop informational materials and schedule a meeting with supervisors. Sunshine Youth Program serves some of the most vulnerable youth in the state. At entrance to our program over ¼ of our young people report having experienced homelessness, and 13% enter our program directly from homelessness, an emergency shelter or other unstable situation. While studies show that less than half of the former foster youth in the U.S. graduate from high school, 93% of the youth in our program leave with a high school diploma or GED Even during an economic downturn where transition aged youth have been disproportionately detrimentally affected in the area of employment, over half of those seeking employment have secured a job by the time they exit the program

26 Example #6: Advocacy & Organizational Development You write an op-ed in response to an article. For example, recent coverage of how unemployment is down

27 What s New? RECENT CHANGES MADE TO THE PARTICIPANT TRACKING SYSTEM

28 Reports can now be exported in Excel

29 Unknown data has been removed from reports

30 Need Assistance? WHERE TO GO AND WHO TO CALL

31 Training & Technical Assistance Tools & documents available at Archived training webinar for service provider users Archived training webinar for county users Archived training webinar on reporting functions (This overview webinar) PTS User Manual PTS Reporting Functions Manual PTS Data Codebook Live assistance available via or phone: (415) If you think an in-person session is necessary that may be able to be arranged

32 Questions? Use the panel on the right hand side of your screen to type questions into the box and hit send Or contact us at a later date: Simone Tureck simone@johnburtonfoundation.org (415) Amy Lemley amy@johnburtonfoundation.org (415)