How can Columbia and Boone County nonprofits and businesses help address poverty?

Results-based accountability is touted as a framework for turning data into action.

Developed by author Mark Friedman, RBA is being used in all 50 states and in more than a dozen countries around the world to create measurable change.

For Megan Bania, data and performance analyst for Boone County Community Services and project leader for the county's Upward Mobility Action Plan, it is a way of reshaping one's thinking on how to reach solutions to address community issues like poverty.

"What I see for RBA (results-based accountability) is an opportunity to think about problems differently," Bania said. "Instead of seeking consensus and making everyone believe ... the same solutions are required and everyone has to contribute the same way, RBA allows for flexibility."

The RBA framework was used by Bania and community stakeholder workgroups to create the county's Upward Mobility Action Plan.

Previously: Missouri Foundation for Health grant could boost Boone County's efforts to address poverty

After a grant agreement with the Missouri Foundation for Health was approved Thursday by the Boone County Commission, Community Services now can hold a training program on RBA for nonprofit groups, elected officials, and community members and leaders, likely starting in September.

Participant recruitment efforts will advance soon, Bania said.

The RBA training program and the county's Upward Mobility Action Plan align with the work of the Missouri Foundation for Health, wrote Ryan Barker, vice president of responsive philanthropy, in a statement to the Tribune.

"Missouri Foundation for Health is focused on changing systems that perpetuate health inequities," he wrote. "Eliminating entrenched and complex social problems requires collaboration and consensus among a diverse group of stakeholders.

"Boone County’s commitment to bringing together community members, nonprofits, elected officials, and department heads to solve deeply entrenched issues will lead to greater impact and create substantial change."

Bania and Kristin Cummins, RBA training program manager, nearly have achieved their certification to provide training to upward of five cohorts over the next three years.

The Upward Mobility Action Plan process provided "some really great real-world experience ... where we used RBA," Bania said. "It was good to see it on the front lines."

The grant will ease the financial burdens on local entities, organizations and groups to seek RBA training, the grant application stated. Having more groups use the RBA framework will increase the common language used by the groups, the application read.

"The opportunity we applied for was all about creating systems change and social determinants of health. That really is in line with upward mobility work," Bania said. "We have an opportunity to do a lot of good and we have a ton of great partners at the table to be able to help us do this."

Results-based accountability vs. traditional planning efforts

RBA is a different approach to bringing about changes to community outcomes, the grant application noted.

The county traditionally has solicited feedback from the community via interviews, town hall meetings and other means to get buy-in or provide more stories to an already developed plan, it read.

The RBA framework "allows individuals, families and community members to work alongside nonprofits, community stakeholders and community leaders to utilize an equity-based approach to build buy-in for collective impact," the application read.

The ethos of RBA is about connecting nonprofits but also for-profit businesses together, so that they can help with implementing changes, such as construction companies and affordable housing efforts, Bania said.

"That is what I love about RBA. It is the ability to have everyone contribute in a certain way that advances an overall community goal," she said, adding RBA also incorporates performance accountability.

"How did we do, how much did we do and how well did we do it."

Shifting paradigms

More traditional community problem-solving would first ask to identify the problem and then reach conclusions on a solution, Bania said. RBA first looks at the end goal, or what a group wants to achieve, through a result statement.

In the case of the Upward Mobility Action Plan, there are three workgroups: early grade literacy; fair and inclusive housing; and jobs and workforce development.

For jobs and workforce development, for example, its result statement is: "Boone County is a flourishing community where everyone can live, earn and grow."

Result statements are "things (on which) everyone can agree, no matter what your own personal values or an organization's mission. What results do we want for our whole community — whether that is a neighborhood, ward or district," Bania said.

More: 'Different approach to planning' used to create Mobility Action Plan to address Boone County poverty

As a group progresses in its efforts, what they are working on should easily be explainable, she added, noting this is the "public square test." This test, in essence: Can you explain project indicators in an easily digestible way to the general public?

"It lends to that whole idea of we want (goals) to be broad-based and have everyone want to see things improve," Bania said. "How they improve may look different depending on your organization."

RBA can be used at every level of the community, even at a for-profit business for how it crafts its public interactions and policies, Bania added, noting it is about looking at data trends and how to change that trend if there is a negative community impact.

The data can find out why people are not completely filling out a hospital intake form, Bania said as a hypothetical example.

"You dig into the data, create an action plan because it is a way of thinking and planning and then assessing (action plan) performance afterward," Bania said.

Upward Mobility Action Plan progress

The work to implement the county's Upward Mobility Action Plan likely will start in August. Schedules are being finalized, Bania said.

"We are working to move through this next phase," she said, adding workgroups have added capacity via more memberships after the June action plan launch.

This next phase includes specific strategic actions by the workgroups, depending on preparedness, Bania said.

"I think in fair and inclusive housing, they are ready to start splitting up and tackling their specific areas and bring in more people to contribute," she said.

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Please consider subscribing to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Results-based accountability could help Columbia fight poverty