NYC Department of Education

Synced Services

How can we improve collaboration and communication between New York City agencies that serve students living in temporary housing?

Partners and Funders

NYC Department of Education

NYC Administration for Children’s Services

NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene

NYC Department of Homeless Services

NYC Department of Social Services

NYC Department of Youth & Community Development

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Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation

The Project

Families of students living in temporary housing, such as homeless shelters, are dealing with complex demands from multiple public agencies. Meanwhile, government agencies (and their CBO providers) often lack clear insights into other agencies’ roles and capacities to help students’ families, leading to gaps and overlaps in activities.

Uncoordinated services can lead to poor outcomes, from difficulties for families in securing permanent housing to student absenteeism. Our project goal was to reduce the complexity of interacting with multiple agencies, ultimately supporting better student access to education and stronger academic achievement.

In addition to our lead partner, the NYC Department of Education, five sister agencies (see left) participated in this effort. Generous support was provided by the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation.

The Outcome

We researched how to help families, agency staff, and other frontline providers gain a clear understanding of overlapping social-service systems, as well as what tools they might need to track and improve their system interactions.

We used these findings to develop a suite of digital tools, including the mobile-friendly Benefits Navigator website, to assist students’ families and staff in accessing support services.

Finally, we identified a set of potential Phase 2 projects to advance Synced Services’ aims. See below for more details on what we learned and designed.

Read the Full Report

201208_PPL_SyncedServices_Report-SinglePage-ForWebsite

What We Found

To identify core stakeholder needs, PPL conducted fieldwork with New York City students’ families and frontline staff at shelters and schools, as well as in systems-mapping workshops with the sister agencies. We also held interviews with each partnering agency’s leadership group to explore how the pandemic altered service delivery. In addition, PPL conducted an appraisal of City digital tools that families can access for support.

Synced Services Fieldwork Activities

Based on our research, we identified the key needs listed below.

Family Needs

Service literacy: Families need a clear understanding of how to access and use a breadth of programs and services.
Advocacy: Families need help navigating resources and locating assistance as they require it.
Emotional security: Families need trauma-informed service provision that anticipates poor mental health.
Slack: Families need additional time and resources that reduce daily pressures and requirement completion.

Agency Staff Needs

A unified mission: To overcome historical silos, agency staff need a shared obsession with keeping at-risk children in school.
Agile protocols: Staff need political dexterity and standardized procedures to manage successful service delivery to vulnerable families.
Shepherds: Staff need to be empowered to shepherd families across agency borders.
Consent: Staff need a way to help families feel empowered when giving consent.

Agency Leadership Needs IN TIMES OF CRISIS

Online servicing: Leadership need to keep service delivery online, where possible.
Bottleneck reduction: Leadership need to relax requirements beyond the crisis period.
Collaboration: Leadership need to maintain heightened collaboration between agencies and providers.
Proactive processes: Leadership need to sustain crisis-response innovation and creativity to support new ways of working.

What we designed

Drawing upon insights from our fieldwork, we co-designed and tested tools with and for students’ families and frontline staff. We also worked with agency partners to develop implementation plans for using the new tools. Ultimately, we created two digital deliverables.

The Benefits Survey

This digital questionnaire allows DOE staff to determine a students’ family needs and begin connecting families to sister-agency services.

The Benefits Navigator

Families can use this responsive website guide to orient themselves to a landscape of useful multi-agency resources and benefits.

201208_PPL_SyncedServices_Report-InteractionModel

What Comes Next?

The project team identified three Phase 2 service- and policy-design projects to address further opportunities for system-wide service coordination.

Collaboration Squad

All sister agencies have been invited by the DOE to join an ongoing Synced Services capacity-building and governance effort.

Resource Hub

This proposed neighborhood-level partnership model will bring school, shelter, agency, and library staff together to coordinate services for homeless students on a local level.

Fair Fi

Leveraging the 250,000+ tablets DOE provided for remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic, Fair Fi will seek to end the digital divide for homeless students and provide family access to multiple agency services and providers at home.

NYC Department of Education

Synced Services

How can we improve collaboration and communication between New York City agencies that serve students living in temporary housing?

Partners and Funders

The Project

The Outcome

Read the Full Report

What We Found

Family Needs

Agency Staff Needs

Agency Leadership Needs IN TIMES OF CRISIS

What we designed

The Benefits Survey

The Benefits Navigator

What Comes Next?

Collaboration Squad

Resource Hub

Fair Fi

Project Team

Natalia Radywyl

Stephanie Yim

Petey Routzahn

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