For more than half a century, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has worked to build better futures for disadvantaged children and their families. The Making Connections initiative is a collaboration of local organizations and residents to strengthen families and improve neighborhoods.

Between August 2002 and April 2004, ten of the 22 Making Connections neighborhoods participated in the baseline data collection. NORC interviewers completed approximately 800 in-person interviews in the five Cohort I sites: Denver, Des Moines, Indianapolis, San Antonio, and White Center (Seattle). For Cohort II, which included Hartford, Milwaukee, Oakland, Providence, and Louisville, NORC interviewers completed approximately 700 in-person interviews in each of the five sites. NORC’s Telephone Survey Operations Department also completed approximately 700 random digit dial (RDD) city-wide control sample interviews in each of these ten sites. Baseline data are being used to evaluate important factors such as neighborhood conditions, services used by residents, family economics, and the health and education of neighborhood children.

Between 2005 and the first half of 2007, NORC returned to all ten of these city neighborhoods to complete Wave 2 data collection.  Information gathered in Wave 2 will be compared to the baseline information to measure the impact of interventions in the communities and to inform the development of future interventions.

A third wave of data collection in Des Moines, Indianapolis, Denver, San Antonio, White Center (Seattle) and Providence is scheduled to begin in the Spring/Summer of 2008.

The Making Connections Survey is the collaborative effort of many organizations: the Annie E. Casey Foundation, NORC, the Urban Institute, Local Learning Partners, and research advisors.

Related Links:
The Urban Institute
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

For Making Connections Survey Respondents