Starting the pursuit toward evidence-based practice.

3/28/14 We had an exciting SIF ( Social Innovation Fund) meeting last Friday! Those attending—Karen Barsell, Cherie Jamason, Monica DuPea, Marilyn York, Laura Vargas, Lynn Houghton—all agreed that to be competitive for SIF funding, our community should have strong documentation of evidence-based practices. One of the quick-response questions we addressed was: what is evidence-based practice and how do we start? To that end, the group has agreed to continue to meet weekly on Fridays at 8 a.m. at the Community Foundation to explore what this means. The thought is that a committee will emerge to focus on the steps it will take to develop evidence-based practices in our community so we can—with credibility and confidence—apply for future SIF funding. There is even a possibility that we can access funding through the Edna McConnell Foundation to help us start this process. All of us at the table left with excitement in our steps at the thought of developing a strategic approach to EBP. Please attend the meeting this Friday morning, April 4, as we start this conversation with an introduction to EBP by Dr. Bob Quilitch. Dr. Bob recommends reading Leap of Reason: Managing to outcomes in an era of scarcity by Mario Marino. It’s available on Amazon. In retrospect perhaps this is the course of action we should have taken three years ago after our first attempt, because we did realize at that time the lack of evidence-based practices among service providers in the community, and we also recognized that the Community Foundation grant process didn’t tie into that type of funding as well.  I believe that this process will strengthen our ability to secure funding from other sources as well.