The Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at CHEO - Le Centre d'excellence provincial au CHEO en santé mentale des enfants et ados

Grants and Awards > Evaluation Implementation Grants

IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT THE CENTRE’S 2010-11 GRANTS AND AWARDS

The inaugural contract among the Provincial Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health (the Centre), the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services (MCYS) comes to an end in March 2010. While the Centre will enter into a new contract with MCYS in 2010-11, we are currently unable to commit to funding new projects in the next fiscal year. As a result, research grants and training awards have been temporarily suspended while the Centre and MCYS work together to renew the Centre’s mandate and identify ways to build on our significant accomplishments.

Current award recipients are not affected by this funding interruption, and should continue to carry out their grant-related activities. Read more...

The Evaluation Implementation Grant competition is now closed for 2008-2009.

Purpose

The Evaluation Implementation Grant is one of two evaluation grants designed to build capacity for evaluation within an organization, to enhance collaborative practice, and to provide additional time and resources necessary to fully implement an evaluation of an existing program relevant to child and youth (0-18 years of age) mental health.

Throughout the twelve-month award term, the Centre will maintain regular communication with all funded organizations and will require regular updates on the status of funded projects. The Centre will provide any necessary support and direction to service organizations for the evaluation of one of their programs. By the end of the award term, organizations will have used their existing program evaluation tools to conduct a full evaluation of an existing program. This includes having collected process- and/or outcome-related data and having conducted all analyses.

A further expectation and requirement of this grant is that organizations will collaborate with other organizations and stakeholders over the grant term. Collaboration in the context of this grant is defined as regularly sharing information with internal staff and external partners about the experiences and process of implementing evaluation activities. The linkages with internal and external partners that are established and maintained over the term of the grant will help form the basis for sharing results at the end of the grant.

*Funds are for the evaluation of existing programs and not for the development or implementation of new programs.

If you have an innovative idea related to evaluation that does not fall within these criteria, please contact one of our consultants to discuss the viability of your proposal.

Value of the Grant

Up to $30,000* per project, including up to $5000 for identified knowledge exchange activities.

*No more than $3,000 of grant funds may be used for external evaluation consultants, as the purpose of this grant is to enhance and build capacity for evaluation within the organization. The Centre’s Research Associate in program evaluation can serve as a consultant in this project. There is no fee for this service.

Previous grant recipients are eligible for only $15,000 and need to demonstrate matching funds, for a total of $30,000.

Terms of the Grant

The award term for this grant is September 1, 2009 to August 31, 2010. However, the Centre is undergoing an external evaluation and will need to disburse funds by March 31, 2010. Therefore, grant funds MUST be spent before March 31, 2010.

Eligibility Criteria and Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

Consultations MUST be conducted with the Centre prior to submission.
Program and evaluation processes MUST be consistent with all overarching criteria and conditions for Centre funding.
The program to be evaluated MUST be an identifiable program that directly provides child and youth mental health services to children, youth and their parents and caregivers within the province of Ontario.
- Funds are for the evaluation of existing programs and not for the development or implementation of new programs (in order to be eligible for this grant, a program must be operational prior to the competition deadline).
Each organization can only apply for one Evaluation Implementation Grant in any funding cycle.
Grant funds MUST be spent before the end of the award term, on or before March 31, 2010.
Grant funds MUST NOT be used to offset budget shortfalls.
Grant recipients MUST be willing to add their organization’s information to the Centre’s child and youth mental health services directory.
Where there are ethical review requirements, approval by a recognized Ethics Review Board MUST be obtained and either included as part of the application or submitted to the Centre prior to the funds being released.
Grant recipients MUST agree to the dissemination of their aggregated outcome data.
Previous recipients of a program evaluation grant(s) from the Centre MUST clearly demonstrate within the application, the benefits derived from these funds within their program(s) and the value added of the current request.
Previous recipients of the Evaluation Implementation Grant and who will be focusing on the same program need to provide matching funds and clearly demonstrate sustainability of evaluation efforts. The total amount of funds that the Centre can provide is $15,000 with the organization providing the same or more amounts.
Applications involving the evaluation of a program across several organizations will receive higher ratings from reviewers than those focusing on single sites.

Eligible Budget Items:

Personnel costs for data input, data analysis or secondary analysis of existing data sets, backfill (with a justification for projected time involvement), or honoraria for student assistants.
Funds are NOT intended to top-up research studies.
Up to $3,000 in computer software to facilitate program evaluation activities, unless the Centre has already allocated funds for the same/similar software to this particular program in a previous program evaluation grant competition.
Computer hardware is no longer an eligible budget item.
Up to $3,000 in external evaluation consultant costs (e.g., for conducting data analysis). Please note that it is expected that the organization will be consulting with the Centre on an ongoing basis. Centre consultants will provide needed support and will assess progress on the evaluation project. These services are provided at no charge.
Up to $3,000 in administrative costs such as photocopying, supplies, meeting expenses and purchase of evaluation measures.
Up to $5,000 for knowledge exchange activities.

Assessment of Evaluation Readiness

All organizations interested in applying for this funding are required to contact the Centre’s Research Associates in program evaluation:

Susan Kasprzak, skasprzak@cheo.on.ca, (613) 737-7600, Ext. 3320
Tanya Halsall, thalsall@cheo.on.ca, (613) 737-7600, Ext. 3483

The Centre consultants will discuss several aspects of your program to assess readiness for evaluation. These include overall program goals and activities, experiences with evaluation, current evaluation practices, and organizational characteristics.

An evaluation readiness checklist will be sent to applicants who contact the Centre consultants. This initial consultation will address the items in the checklist and will inform the application process. The existing evaluation framework will also need to be reviewed by the Centre consultants prior to submission.