Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services Formula Grantees Performance Progress Report (PPR) Listening Sessions

MITRE-OFVPS Reporting Form Recipient Listening Session Guide - Coalitions

Agenda
Topic	Facilitator	Time 60 minutes total
Welcome and Brief Introductions/Icebreaker		10 minutes
Questions: Section 1 – Current Data Reporting and Collection Section 2 – Reporting Challenges and Barriers Section 3 – Reporting Opportunities and Future Focus		15 minutes 15 minutes 15 minutes
Wrap-Up/Next Steps		5 minutes

Overview of Listening Session Question Sections
Section 1 – Current Data Reporting and Collection	This section aims to gather information on methods used to report and collect data. Close attention is paid to their role as training and technical assistance (T/TA) providers, as well as other services they provide such as advocacy and policy expertise.
Section 2 – Reporting Challenges and Barriers	This section aims to understand challenges and barriers faced when completing reporting forms. Specific to Coalitions, there are probes related to systems and improvements, as well as support for Tribal Organizations and underserved populations as required by the FVPSA statute.
Section 3 – Reporting Opportunities and Future Focus	This section aims to explore what participants and survivors would like OFVPS/Congress to know and what changes participants would like to see made to the forms.

Welcome and Background

MITRE:

Hi everyone! We will wait a couple more minutes for people to join.

Good morning/afternoon, and welcome everyone!

Thank you for joining us today for this listening session.

My name is _[name]____________, and I am a _[researcher or title]__ with the MITRE Corporation.

My team and I are facilitating this listening session on behalf of the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services (referred to in this conversation as OFVPS) team. MITRE is an independent, not for profit company that operates six Federally Funded Research and Development Centers. We work together with government sponsors to solve critical problems, and provide technical expertise and unbiased advice.

The team members with me today are [names], who will be listening and taking notes to make sure that I don’t miss anything important.

During this session, I will ask questions about: 

• Your current data reporting and collection processes

• Challenges and barriers you experience completing the OFVPS Performance Progress Report (PPR) form

• Opportunities for future reporting and changes to the OFVPS Performance Progress Report form

A blank copy of the PPR was attached to this meeting invitation. We invite you to pull the form up to help guide your answers during this session.

Housekeeping and Disclaimer

Housekeeping

We’ll start our meeting with some housekeeping in a moment and then jump right into the discussion. Here you can see our full agenda of topics for the session [refer to slide].

Before we get into the discussion, we’d like to review some best practices to ensure we allow for a dynamic discussion while also ensuring everyone is able to participate and provide meaningful input.

• To optimize your meeting experience, please log in to Zoom through the app rather than dialing in.

• We encourage you to have your video on but understand there are many reasons why you might prefer to keep it off, and we fully support your choice. Please join the way that suits you best.

• Please introduce yourself when speaking and answering questions.

• Feel free to use the Zoom “raise hand” and chat functions to participate. We will do our best to ensure that everyone who wants to contribute to the conversation has the opportunity to share.

• Please keep your microphones muted while you are not speaking to prevent background noise.

• To allow everyone to participate in the time we have together, we ask that everyone be mindful of making space for others to share their ideas and offer their feedback.

• Attendees and facilitators introduce themselves.

Disclaimer  

[MITRE Facilitator reads]:

[OMB approval language]

Please note that participation in these listening sessions is completely voluntary, and you may leave the call at any point. The estimated time for this session will be 60 minutes. Your participation in these listening sessions (or decision to not participate) will not affect your grant funding in any way. Personally identifiable information collected will be only “business card information,” i.e., respondents’ first and last names, email addresses, and institutional affiliations. MITRE plans to record today’s session for internal notetaking purposes only. Once we have verified our notes, we will destroy the recording. We will not attribute anything you share during this session to you or to your organization in the recommendations report we are preparing for OFVPS. Does anyone have any objections to MITRE recording this conversation? [If there are no objections, notetaker hits the record button. If there are any objections, the MITRE team will aim to capture more verbatim notes]. Any questions before we get started?

Discussion Section 1 – Current Data Reporting and Collection

• What is the most important data you collect about your FVPSA funded services?

  • Probe: What specific activities do you collect data on?

  • Probe: How frequently is this data collected, and where is it stored?

  • Probe: Can you describe the process used to collect/input data about a service or event?

• In your role as T/TA providers, what methods do you use to collect data about the programs and services you provide to the organizations you support (examples: surveys, listening sessions, social media}?

  • Probe: Tell me about the tools you use to track your T/TA services and any challenges associated with those tools.

  • Probe: Do you use a tool such as Coalition Manager? If so, what do you generally track (in Coalition Manager) (examples: learning outcomes, surveys, etc.)?

    • Additional Probe (If they do use Coalition Manager): Do you track anything in Coalition Manager that is not asked in the reporting form but should be?

  • Probe: How do you track/measure the impact of your T/TA activities (examples: pre-/post-tests, etc.)?

• How do you track the T/TA services that you plan to complete versus the T/TA services that is completed?

  • Probe: Do you refer back to the plan from your application?

  • Probe: How can the reporting form be revised to accurately represent your planned activities as well as completed activities?

  • Mandatory Probe: What training and/or technical assistance would be helpful?

• Besides your work as T/TA providers, what other T/TA services do you do that we should know about? This might include examples such as T/TA services related to being an information clearinghouse and supporting the development of procedures/action plans to enhance intervention and prevention (examples: advocacy, policy expertise, media engagement, and data sharing).

  • Probe: What is most important to know about this other T/TA services?

  • Probe: What do you currently report on related to serving as an information clearinghouse?

  • Probe: How do you currently report on T/TA services within the statutory requirements of a coalition?

• Do you report on the Board of Directors and their work in the existing reporting form? Why or why not?

  • Probe: How does the board governance impact the T/TA services you do?

  • Probe: How does the board represent the community you serve?

Discussion Section 2 – Reporting Challenges and Barriers

• Which sections of the reporting form do you find most unclear or difficult to complete?

  • Probe: Looking at the current reporting form, tell me about anything that is confusing to you (e.g., definitions, calculations, instructions).

  • Probe: Is there any information you currently include in the narrative responses that could be expressed in specific data checklists or fill-in boxes?

  • Probe: Are there topics from your T/TA services that need more space for narrative responses?

• What challenges do you have in describing the T/TA services you do in the current reporting form (examples: definitions, instructions, and/or calculations)?

  • Probe: How do these issues impact your ability to accurately report your T/TA services?

  • Probe: Related to those challenges, is there anything about the reporting form that could be updated to make completion easier?

  • Probe: Can you tell us about your systems level T/TA services or partnerships? What kinds of organizations do you work with locally or statewide?

    • Additional Probe: Do you have a formal plan on your partnership the state administrator (like an MOU)? Are you able to do the T/TA services you would like to do within the requirements of the state?

    • Additional Probe: Do you currently report on changes in your relationship with the state or other partnerships? How would you like to report on this?

    • Additional Probe: Do you partner with Tribal Coalitions? If so, what does that partnership look like and is it challenging to report on?

    • Additional Probe: Can you tell us about your involvement with systems improvement T/TA (i.e., organizational procedures/policies, etc.)? Is this work something that you wish OFVPS knew more about?

  • Probe: Which activities would you like to provide more details on in the reporting form?

    • Additional Probe: In the current reporting form, are any areas unnecessary or not relevant for your T/TA services?

  • Probe: What are your experiences with gathering information on program activities provided to special populations, for example, people with disabilities?

    • Additional Probe: Are there changes to the form that would make the T/TA services you do to expand services and/or access for people with disabilities and/or culturally specific or underserved populations easier to report?

• Regarding both your T/TA and other work, do you find it easy to answer the questions asked in the reporting form with the data you collect?

  • Probe: How does the data you collect align with the reporting form requirements?

  • Probe: Is there data that you collect that is not captured in the PPRs?

  • Probe: What impactful activities would you like to be able to share more about in the reporting form?

Discussion Section 3 – Reporting Opportunities and Future Focus

• What would you like Congress and/or the OFVPS program management team to know about your T/TA services?

  • Probe: How can the form be changed to better tell stories about the T/TA services that coalitions do?

  • Probe: What additional information or data points would help Congress and OFVPS better understand the scope and impact of your T/TA services?

  • Probe: Are there any particular challenges or barriers you face that you think Congress and OFVPS should be aware of?

• What do you think the organizations you support would want Congress to know about Survivors’ experiences with the services they receive?

  • Probe: In section five, six, and seven of the reporting form, do you think survivor outcomes are adequately captured?

  • Probe: How can the form be changed to better share about the T/TA services that your partners are able to do with survivors based on your role?

• Which two to three areas have you had the most impact with T/TA this year?

  • Probe: How do you want to report on upskilling participants in those areas?

• If you had a magic wand, what changes would you make to the reporting form?

  • Probe: What do you wish the reporting form asked you?

  • Probe: Are there any parts of the reporting form that you find beneficial and believe should be further developed?

  • Probe: How can the form be organized to streamline the reporting process for you?

  • Probe: Are there any best practices or examples from other reporting forms that you recommend adding? 

  • Probe: How can the form be modified to minimize the time and effort needed to complete it? 

Wrap Up and Next Steps

• Before we wrap up, is there anything else I should have asked, or you’d like to share?

[Thank participants for their time. Explain the timeline for next steps (including providing asynchronous feedback) and remind them that their feedback will be synthesized and shared back with OFVPS to make recommendations to the reporting form design. Stop recording if the session was recorded.]

Post Meeting and Internal Team Roles

Primary Facilitator: Leads the discussion during the listening sessions using the guide and incorporates probing questions as needed. Primary facilitator will secure access to a premium Zoom account (enables longer meetings, more participants, etc.).

Secondary Facilitator: Supports the primary facilitator by monitoring the chat. The secondary facilitator also serves as backup in the event the primary facilitator is unavailable or experiences technical difficulties. Secondary facilitator will secure access to a premium Zoom account (enables longer meetings, more participants, etc.).

Primary Notetaker: Captures relevant information and content during the listening session. Primary notetaker will also share their screen, record the session, and save chat history and transcript before closing out of Zoom. After the listening session, uploads the documents to MITRE SharePoint site and cleans up the notes ahead of high-level analysis. Uploads meeting notes to MITRE SharePoint site one to two days after the listening session with the naming convention “Listening Session X Notes_YYMMDD.”

Secondary Notetaker: Supports the primary notetaker by capturing relevant information and content during the listening sessions. Secondary notetaker also serves as backup in the event the primary notetaker is unavailable or experiences technical difficulties.

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