Over the past three months, UNITE-LA has partnered with the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative (OYC) to build a shared foundation for using data to drive systems change in L.A. County’s child welfare system. Through a series of trainings with both foster youth leaders and staff in the Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS') new Youth Engagement Section (YES), the OYC is co-designing a set of priority metrics that will guide continuous improvement and accountability for transition-age youth outcomes.

In July, 10 young leaders from the OYC participated in a Data 101: Using Data for Systems Change training, where they explored how to read and interpret data, analyze root causes of systemic problems using fishbone diagrams, and translate insights into recommendations through the “What? So What? Now What?” reflection tool. The following month, a dozen YES social workers and system leaders took part in the same training, focusing on how data can shine a light on disparities and drive practice change to better support foster youth, ages 18-21.

Building on these sessions, in September, UNITE-LA brought youth leaders and YES staff together for the first time in a joint Measuring What Matters training. Guided by the principle of treating data as a “flashlight, not a hammer,” the group identified the qualities of a good metric — relevant to youth priorities, measurable and trackable over time and actionable for YES staff. Participants then worked together to brainstorm potential metrics in the domains of education and economic mobility.

This three-part training series laid the groundwork for a youth-adult partnership in shaping how YES will measure its success across the five holistic stability domains identified by young leaders: Housing, Mental Health, Economic Mobility, Education and Relationships. In the months ahead, these conversations will inform a set of shared recommendations that youth and system leaders will present to DCFS Director Brandon Nichols, strengthening the department’s capacity to use data for learning, improvement and accountability.

For more information, please reach out to Carrie Lemmon, Senior Vice President, Systems Change Strategy, UNITE-LA, and Brisia Gutierrez, Systems Change Project Manager, OYC.