Evaluation Projects
The evaluation team at Perales & Associates Evaluation Services (PAES) provides comprehensive program evaluation services to federal, state, and local public health agencies, as well as community-based organizations.
What We Deliver
We offer wide-ranging consulting services—from program planning and evaluation design to creating concise reports, publications, and presentations—to help your organization assess what’s working and inform your communities about your program’s impact.
We provide you with effective program evaluation methods and strategies to help strengthen your programs, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes in your local communities.
The following are examples of program evaluation services provided by PAES to state, county, and local non-profit organizations in California. A detailed list of publications derived from these services is available upon request.
Evaluation Capacity Building
The capacity-building process provides individuals and organizations that have limited budgets with the skills, knowledge and tools they need to conduct their own evaluations.
The San Diego Accountable Communities for Health: PAES developed an Evaluation 101 training for 50 community partners dedicated to achieving a heart-healthy San Diego. The training provided attendees with the tools to collect the evidence they needed to determine their program's impact.
California Department of Public Health: Nutrition Network for a Healthy California - Local Food and Nutrition Education Channel: PAES provided evaluation capacity-building through technical assistance to over 60 community-based nutrition education projects throughout California. They were funded to improve food access in low-income communities and to provide nutrition education for healthy eating.
Best Practices
We pride ourselves on creating the best outcomes for our clients using a series of best practice program evaluation tools and strategies. Our work has impacted the following organizations:
California Association of Food Banks: A review of the literature and identification of nutrition education best practices for food banks and food pantries that resulted in the development of the Nutrition Education and Produce Distribution Toolbox. The Toolbox contents were pilot-tested with a sample of California food banks. The data was analyzed and the results were used to finalize and distribute the Toolbox to California food banks.
Gold Milestones Coalition Building & Maintenance: Effective Tools for Change. This publication summarized a 10-year retrospective study of coalition best practices for the American Lung Association’s regional project.
Maintaining the Vision - Tools for the Trade: Developing and Maintaining Effective Partnerships. Partnership best practices are documented in this guidebook for the California Department of Health Services Breast Cancer Early Detection Program.
Public Health Trust - Public Health Institute - Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium: Rodeo Tip Sheets. We reviewed the literature and identified best practices that resulted in tip sheets for rodeo insiders, with the goal of eliminating tobacco industry sponsorship at California rodeos.
Community Assessments
Our program evaluation tools were used to improve initiatives at the following organizations:
Needs Assessment of Strategic Collaboration and Fostering Collaboration: A two-phase needs assessment, recommendations and action steps to promote collaboration between California local health departments and local lead agencies. PAES collaborated with Penguin Consulting to design this needs assessment for the California Healthy Kids Resource Center.
Assessing the Efficacy of the Community Food Security Coalition’s Community Food Assessment Program. This report summarizes the findings of the Community Food Assessment Program to provide training and technical support to groups working in low-income communities in California. Our goal was to help them organize effective action-oriented community-based food assessments.
California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN). PAES worked with CYAN to conduct a youth advocacy study to assess the training and technical assistance needs of California-funded tobacco control agencies. Findings from this study and a follow-up assessment assisted the CYAN project with developing a training and technical assistance program and creating two educational manuals titled the CYAN Youth Advocacy Guide: How to Integrate Youth into Tobacco Prevention Programs, and the publication, CYAN College Advocacy Guide: How to Start Your Own Coalition.
Multi-Project Evaluation
Often, we work with organizations on several different program evaluation initiatives. Here are some examples of that work.
Catholic Charities of California: Evaluation of nutrition education and Policy, System and Environmental change interventions conducted by 12 Catholic Charities of California agencies funded through USDA SNAP-Ed funds awarded to CCC by the California Department of Social Services.
Public Health Trust and Public Health Institute: “Buck Tobacco Sponsorship” Project. A case study of five California communities funded to use social marketing and policy advocacy activities to eliminate tobacco industry sponsorship of rodeos and rodeo-related events.
County of Monterey Health Department: A case study of efforts to eliminate tobacco sponsorships in seven Monterey County venues, including the Laguna Seca Raceway and the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Multi-Year Evaluations
We have worked with these clients on several years’ worth of program evaluations.
Calaveras County Public Health Services: Evaluation of interventions related to a Tobacco Retail Licensing Policy, as well as engaging youth in tobacco control activities and smoke-free outdoor dining policies.
Breathe California of the Bay Area: Evaluation of interventions related to creating smoke-free policies for parks, outdoor dining, multi-unit housing, banning flavored-tobacco, and enhancing the availability of tobacco cessation services for vulnerable populations.
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Health and Environmental Justice (HEJ) Project, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The evaluation was focused on documenting the community-organizing and policy-advocacy activities developed by HEJ in their efforts to create healthier environments for underserved workers and residents, especially those from low-income, immigrant as well as communities of color, who may be disproportionately exposed to toxics at work and in their communities.
Strategic Planning Consultations
We work closely with our clients to achieve actionable strategic plans.
San Joaquin County Obesity and Chronic Disease Prevention Task Force: We helped them create a five-year Strategic Plan
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition We helped with the creation of a Strategic Plan
Gold Country Tobacco Control Regional Project We helped with the creation of a Strategic Plan
California Dental Health Foundation: We facilitated the Dental Health Foundation staff and executive board with its strategic planning process
California Council of Local Directors of Health Education We helped them create a Strategic Plan
San Joaquin County Public Health Department. We facilitated the development of a Health Education Section Strategic Plan
Santa Clara County Senior Care Commission: We helped them create a Strategic Plan for the county’s senior care services
American Lung Association of Santa Clara & San Benito Counties – San Jose Tobacco-Free Collaborative: We helped them create a plan for a tobacco-free San Jose