The Social IMPACT Research Center (IMPACT) has issue-area expertise on issues facing low-income populations and an extensive portfolio of needs assessment and evaluation research. Below is a sample of recent and current IMACT projects:

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) Regional Indicators Project:
IMPACT is working with CMAP to collect data on the Chicago region's capacity in the areas of emergency preparedness and corrections. The indicators IMPACT collects will join over 200 other regional quality of life indicators and will be folded into a much larger data warehouse. The Regional Indicators Project will allow measuring and tracking on the GoTo 2040 Regional Vision.

Greater Chicago Food Depository, Child Hunger and Nutrition Study:
IMPACT is working with the Greater Chicago Food Depository to conduct a needs assessment on child hunger and nutrition issues. The study focus is two-pronged: First, we are examining the nutritional lives and food insecurity of a sample of over 400 Cook County children, and second, we are analyzing the geographic penetration of child nutrition programs in Cook County in relation to the need for such programs. Together these components will help determine how existing nutrition can serve kids better and where new programs can be located to serve more children.

Statewide Supportive Housing Tenant Outcomes Study:
IMPACT recently conducted a statewide study of supportive housing for the Supportive Housing Providers Association. This study includes 476 tenants from 31 supportive housing projects across Illinois. Through the study, IMPACT exploring if supportive housing reduces residents' reliance on expensive, publicly-funded emergency services. Using primarily public agency data, the study tracks individuals' usage of services for the time period 2 years before they entered supportive housing, comparing it to their usage of services 2 years after they entered supportive housing.

The Illinois Asset Building Group, Local Asset Poverty Indicator Project:
IMPACT worked with the Illinois Asset Building Group to develop a series of fact sheets on assets for each Illinois legislative district. The goal of the project is to use local asset and other related economic data indicators to educate decision makers on the importance of assets in creating strong and stable families and communities.

DuPage County Continuum of Care's 10-Year-Plan to End Homelessness Evaluation:
IMPACT conducted an evaluation of progress made on DuPage's county's Plan to End Homelessness. The evaluation focused on the progress of the Plan's nine components to date, successes, and challenges of implementation, interaction among Plan components, assignment of responsibilities, stakeholder engagement and commitment, evaluation and reporting mechanisms and funding. This evaluation included a review of relevant research, an analysis of the Plan components and supporting documents. IMPACT also surveyed the entire Continuum membership and conducted interviews with Continuum leaders and focus groups with each Continuum committee.

McHenry County Affordable Housing Needs Assessment:
IMPACT recently conducted an assessment of the need for and the supply of affordable housing in McHenry County, Illinois. Specifically, the assessment focused on economically vulnerable populations and those with additional housing support needs such as people with disabilities, mental health or substance abuse issues, seniors, and people experiencing homelessness. The assessment included an analysis of secondary data sources; surveying homeless and mental health service providers, local businesses, municipal and township representatives, and housing industry experts; roundtable discussions with low-income McHenry County residents, municipal and township representatives, and homeless and mental health service providers; and key informant interviews with county officials.

Challenges and Opportunities in Meeting the Needs of Metropolitan Chicago's Latino Community: An Evaluation of Nonprofit Services to Latinos:
In partnership with the Illinois Facilities Fund, IMPACT compiled a snapshot of the current nonprofit services, capacity gaps, and four communities in the metropolitan Chicago area. A series of eight focus groups was conducted with community members and nonprofit leaders in four communities with large Latino populations to understand more about nonprofits in those communities and also to better understand unmet service needs.