Denise Martin supported qualitative data collection and impact storytelling efforts at the Sustainable Cities Fund, a project of the New Venture Fund.
Goals
The Sustainable Cities Fund (SCF) operates as a strategic regrantor, working with cities, local partners, and other subnationals to advance equitable climate action and environmental justice initiatives in support of Funders' objectives. SCF enlisted Climate Corps Fellow Denise Martin to interview participants of its Local Infrastructure Hubs (LIH) Cohorts program to gather qualitative insights and write narrative profiles illustrating the impact of their on-the-ground efforts. SCF was also interested in using these insights to inform their impact and evaluation design and further articulate their place-based theory of change.
Solutions
Ms. Martin met with local program partners to discuss active LIH Cohort projects, learn about their history and challenges, and identify opportunities for rich exploration. She then developed an interview guide to facilitate one-on-one conversations. In alignment with a racial equity-focused Results-Based Accountability impact framework, she included the interview guide in the invitations sent to potential interviewees. After conducting the interviews, she analyzed responses to identify patterns in project activities, challenges, and outcomes. To support the development of SCF's impact framework design, she also noted which questions generated the most valuable insights. She used these insights to write one-page narrative profiles summarizing each project's efforts and community benefits. To ensure that each interview participant retained agency over the final narrative, she shared the drafts with them for feedback and approval confirmation.
Potential Impact
By directly engaging with LIH Cohort participants, SCF captured perspectives that enriched its understanding of their needs and aspirations. The resulting analysis and narrative documentation identified areas for programmatic improvement, including questions and metrics that can inform robust impact framework design. Ultimately, the findings emphasize that SCF's localized technical assistance support is critical in helping cities and community-based organizations achieve their environmental justice and climate action goals.