The Creative Research Solutions team is taking a moment to reflect on our growth as our #BothHands 10-year celebration draws to a close. We are partnering with organizations from across the Atlanta metropolitan area and in cities such as Washington D.C., Detroit, MI, Boston, MA, Jackson, MS, and Oakland, CA. Our partnerships have allowed our team to support organizations that provide programs in the arts, business, education, public health, and related fields. For all these opportunities and more, we are grateful. We are participating in, and bearing witness to, a wave of change towards increased equity and access. We are humbled by the fruits of our labor–but we know there is a great deal of work left to do.
Vision in Action
Our mission is “tying passion and practice with impact” by providing our clients with high-quality, culturally-responsive evaluations and deliverables. Our team of skilled evaluators is passionate about what we do. We collaborate with our clients to ensure that our work remains aligned with their organization’s goals and values while keeping broader social issues and contexts in mind.
We work with organizations that are addressing some of the most difficult social challenges of our time. We understand that addressing these issues requires deep, critical thinking. We utilize elements of culturally-responsive evaluation methods that aim to elevate stakeholder voices whenever possible.
This Year’s Successes
Creative Research Solutions is proud to have supported organizations that are at the forefront of today’s pressing issues. We have partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site to promote the successful futures of Atlanta youth through qualitative research. In June, our team completed a study on Diversity and Inclusion in Atlanta that detailed the challenges facing the city’s business sector and what must occur for socioeconomic equity to be realized. Both projects have far-reaching implications for the City of Atlanta and the Southeast region.
Our work has not been restricted to our city. We are currently working with The Guild and TandemEd. The Guild, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a multi-site, social enterprise and cross-sector ecosystem that is led by people of color to reduce disparities they experience and uplift their communities. TandemEd operates in multiple cities, including Detroit, to advocate for Black communities by consulting with anchor organizations operating in their neighborhoods in order to ensure that their cultural values, their goals, and their aspirations are met by the services provided to them. Currently, we are working with both organizations to document their impact on the communities they serve and nurture partnerships as they continue on their path towards advancing equity.
Expanding Our Mission
As we face the next 10 years of service, Creative Research Solutions will continue to grow. Next year will mark the official launch of our subsidiary, The National Center for Evaluation and Assessment (NCEA). NCEA’s mission is to provide comprehensive, culturally-responsive resources for organizations and individuals who aim to increase their evaluation skillset and capacity. Our vision is to close the gap between evaluation and programs by instituting processes and best practices that enable evaluators and their partnering organizations to work together more seamlessly. NCEA will serve as a hub for online-training, produce white papers, and provide a unique suite of consulting tools and resources utilized by our team at Creative Research Solutions. Follow NCEA on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to join us as we build the network of professionals and organizations that share our vision.
The launch of the NCEA is one step towards expanding the Creative Research Solutions vision. We know that sharing our knowledge and expertise is critical in supporting the work done by organizations. If you are interested in partnering with our team, contact us. We look forward to learning how we can support your goals.
I am a historian at Arizona State University, now enrolled in an M.Ed. program in learning design and technologies. As such, we had readings, other resources, and an assignment linked to understanding potential differences between research and evaluation. I am posting a comment as part of that assignment, but also because I am impressed with the sort of projects you do, Ms. Bennerson, and also interested in how, in spite of or because of its name, Creative Research Solutions seems to emphasize evaluation. As such, it drew my attention and led me to wonder how someone practicing in your field might separate out the terms–or if you do. As someone with a fair amount of research background and very little in formal evaluation, I see the differences between research and evaluation focusing on the areas of worth, making recommendations, and an evaluation leading to actions that are not the same as research, per se. That said, I get the impression that research is necessary to lay the foundation for programs and more that would then be evaluated.
I appreciate your expertise, the work that CRS seems to do on valuable projects that emphasize culturally-responsive evaluation methods, and perhaps especially, the development of the National Center for Evaluation and Assessment. Thank you for your time and look forward to learning more as I continue on in this course, my degree program, and working in the field. Thank you for your time.
Pamela Stewart