A user-friendly approach to program evaluation and effective community interventions for families at risk of homelessness

This article demonstrates how a user-friendly evaluation of a federally funded homeless prevention program using an action research approach-and using a logic model as the analytic frame work-informed multiple stakeholders, including members of Congress, other decision makers, and Family Center practitioners. The program's target population was very low-income families at risk of being evicted from public housing. The authors discuss the methods used, the application of the logic model, and the study's findings as they unfolded in four phases: (1) logic modeling as program planning, (2) conceptualizing the intervention, (3) delineating implementation processes, and (4) determining the range of client outcomes. Implications for social policy, social work practice, and evaluation research are discussed.