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How the Rocky Mountain Partnership leverages impact assessments to understand community and economic effects
What is a community and economic impact assessment?
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A community and economic impact assessment – much like a health, environmental, or racial equity impact assessment – identifies the expected and unintended consequences of a proposed policy, funding allocation, program, or practice on community members and the larger economy. |
These impact assessments consist of a short set of questions that we use local data, national research, and insights from community stakeholders to answer in order to help us better understand the proposed policy, funding allocation, program, or practice.
Why impact assessments?
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Insights from impact assessments provide critical information that can be used by leaders and decision makers on how to move forward with their policy, funding allocation, program, or practice. |
RMP is committed to not only arming our decision makers, but also our civic influencers with sophisticated and information needed to take action. For example, in fall of 2022, RMP’s Civic Influencers leveraged insights from an impact assessment to modify and target messaging out in the community in order to help pass a mill levy override for the third least funded school district in Colorado. See more on this below.
What questions do impact assessments answer?
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Impact assessments help us answer key questions about the likely impacts of a proposed policy, funding allocation, program, or practice, such as: |
- How will it impact youth and adults in the RMP Region?
- How will it support closing equity gaps for our most underestimated community members?
- How do youth and adults believe it will impact them?
- How will it impact the economic vitality in the region, in particular businesses, employers, and the larger economy?
- How do regional stakeholders believe it will impact them?
- How will it impact community members’ abilities to be economically and socially mobile?
- What are potential unintended consequences that could result?
RMP’s use of impact assessments is garnering national attention
Last fall’s unprecedented mill levy override win for 27J Schools is capturing national attention.
Communities across the nation are captivated by how 27J Schools and RMP mobilized a community coalition to help secure $17.7+ million annually for the third least funded school district in Colorado. This includes how the coalition leveraged a youth policy impact assessment to inform their action.
Our story was featured in four national highlights co-produced with StriveTogether (RMP’s national affiliate) and Kids Impact Initiative (a key technical assistance partner).
| CASE STUDY: Rocky Mountain Partnership Wins on Ballot Measure by Centering Youth: How They Did It | PODCAST: RMP’s CEO talks Economic and Social Mobility on the ‘Together for Change’ Podcast |
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| Co-produced with Kids Impact Initiative and StriveTogether, this briefing document tells the story of how RMP used a youth-centered strategy – including a youth impact assessment and youth-led coalition – to help pass a local school ballot measure in November 2022. | In a recent episode of the Together for Change podcast, Jennifer Blatz, president and CEO of StriveTogether, Lisandra Gonzales, CEO of Rocky Mountain Partnership, and Simon Tam, senior director of marketing and communications at StriveTogether, discuss the importance of economic mobility and getting better results in social impact work. |
| Read Now | Listen Now |
| REPORT: Impact Rising: Stories from the Network – Young Leaders Making an Impact | FACT SHEET: Youth Impact Assessments: Putting Kids Front and Center in Policy Discussions |
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| StriveTogether’s 2022 Annual Report highlights how RMP is making a profound impact on K-12 outcomes by building civic infrastructure with a coalition of youth and community members. | Kids Impact Initiative’s newest fact sheet dives into the value of youth impact assessments, and highlights how a number of communities, including RMP, are using them to understand the impact of policies on youth. |
| Read Now | Read Now |
Learn more about impact assessments
Part of the Rocky Mountain Partnership (RMP) Backbone Team’s role is to conduct impact assessments to understand how proposed policies, funding, programs, and practices across RMP’s shared goals impact the community and economy.
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Our impact assessments are powered through expert technical assistance and consultation from Kids Impact Initiative, who is the national leader around youth impact assessments in the U.S. |
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RMP also has a dedicated staff member to project manage this work. RMP’s Manager of Information Mapping and Special Projects, Ben Nash, serves as the project manager for conducting impact assessments. He also manages efforts to map and align existing community assets to support the collective work, including programs, policies, funding, and stakeholders. |
Contact Ben Nash to learn more about impact assessments.