Services
The Evolution Foundation can help you and your community in a variety of ways. We offer technical assistance to coalitions, strategic planning, relationship building, resource analysis, opportunity optimization, and more. We also offer various kinds of training.
If you would like to request any of the services listed below, please fill out our service request form.
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Coalition Building
The Evolution Foundation has consultants with years of experience working with coalitions, so we have a plethora of knowledge about what works and what doesn't. We are available to help start coalitions, give suggestions to existing coalitions, lead coalitions through a strategic planning process, and provide one-on-one guidance for coalition leadership. In addition, under certain conditions we can provide limited financial support for coalition projects.
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Strategic Planning
Service providers, non-profits, and coalitions all need to pause every year or two to evaluate where they've been and where they are going. The Evolution Foundation has consultants with decades of non-profit leadership experience. We have led multiple agencies and scores of coalitions through the strategic planning process and are available to help any children's behavioral health agency or health coalition in Oklahoma develop their own plan.
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Relationship Building
Relationship Building is at the core of everything the Evolution Foundation does. There are dozens of community coalitions in Oklahoma focusing on children's behavioral health needs across the state, and they are guided by local volunteer groups of service provider agencies and community champions whose vision and reach is dependent on the strength and cohesion of those alliances.
Evolution Foundation Community Consultants work with those local teams to ensure that the right parties are in the discussions, that the leaders are supported, that resources are available, and that the family voice is honored in the deliberations.
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Resource Analysis
Resource Analysis is an important step that each local coalition must undertake in developing its action plans for achieving its goals, and while the word 'resource' is often equated with money, the most important resource is often the way the members of the coalition themselves are organized for task completion. “Who is going to be responsible for this objective, and what do they need to be successful?” becomes a key question, and one that the Evolution Foundation helps to answer.
While the Evolution Foundation also assists in reviewing possible grant, foundation, and other funding opportunities on behalf of the local partnerships, it has established a niche for itself in a smaller arena—emergency needs of family members needing immediate resolution to prevent further setbacks.
Any family need presented to an Evolution Foundation Community Consultant by a representative of a local children's behavioral health coalition receives an immediate review, and if approved, is fast tracked for rapid intervention, usually in less than 24 hours.
Examples: Lice kits have been express mailed to a local school, along with funds for shoes for children who had none; cars have been repaired to keep people from losing their jobs; beds have been purchased for families to enable them to accept foster children; rents have been paid to prevent evictions; etc.
The Evolution Foundation also partners with local coalitions to fund small joint projects, such as trauma training for agencies and family members; public school art contests promoting behavioral health themes; mini conferences on suicide awareness; farmers market promotion; etc.
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Opportunity Optimization
Opportunity Optimization is the art of scanning the landscape, selecting an available resource, and modifying it in such a way that it provides extra benefit to a target population.
Example 1: Evolution Foundation participated in a federal grant aimed at lessening trauma. (Click to expand/collapse)
The foundation was given the opportunity to participate in a federal grant that had an overall aim of lessening trauma in school-age children. In discussing that opportunity with teachers associated with local coalitions in the selected geographic area, Evolution Foundation helped to sponsor calm or reset rooms in elementary schools, to offset the increased trauma that was being observed.
Example 2: Evolution Foundation partners with Oklahoma Family Network (Click to expand/collapse)
The Evolution Foundation partnered with the Oklahoma Family Network (OFN) to compensate family members for their participation in community deliberations. The Evolution Foundation helped develop a family advisory committee for OJA in order to gain the family perspective on policies and practices effecting juveniles in custody. Utilizing those foundation funds, Evolution Foundation and OFN assembled the Office of Juvenile Affairs Family Advisory Committee, that meets monthly with OJA executive staff to review policies, practices, training materials, detention issues, etc.; and are regarded as a valued partner.
Evolution Foundation and OFN also created a joint EF/OFN Family Advisory Committee of family members with lived experience in behavioral health, child welfare, public school, and developmental disability issues, which has been made available to provide input to all state agencies in Oklahoma.
Example 3: Evolution Foundation awarded a Tough As A Mother grant (Click to expand/collapse)
The Evolution Foundation was recently awarded a Tough As A Mother grant from the Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services to reduce the stigma surrounding pregnant women using substances, and increase the likelihood of their seeking treatment early in their pregnancy. Originally envisioned as a state-centered initiative, efforts are underway to bring in the existing local coalitions as resource and advisory.