Looking Back, Moving Forward: An Evaluative Learning Piece for the Parks, Trails, and Green Design Program
Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation
Economic Strategy
The Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation is a sunset foundation that will spend-down all funds by 2035. In 2018 the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation announced a $200 Million commitment to support the development of parks, trails, and greenways in Western New York and Southeastern Michigan through grantmaking and relationship-building. Today, nearly $1 Billion has been invested or leveraged across both regions, which have required different approaches given their context and capacity levels.z
The foundation wants an independent assessment to make visible the processes that built the relationships and coalitions that have developed funding to leverage the foundation’s initial investment with the goal of not just building parks and trails, but establishing sustainable financing structures to manage and maintain these assets for the future. Fourth Economy partnered with Gehl to conduct a retrospective evaluation of the development of the initiatives and the collaborations formed in each region, as well as a prospective evaluation plan to track progress and impacts for the future.
Our Approach
The project is an evaluative learning piece, which the Gehl and Fourth Economy team will be undertaking in two parts. First, a retrospective evaluation focused on understanding process impacts — namely, how the program set a new bar for effective collaboration across departments and sectors to shape flagship public spaces. Second, a prospective evaluation focused on developing a framework to evaluate future project impacts — namely, how the spaces built will impact everything from resident quality of life and well-being, to economic development.
Using very targeted interview questions and a hand-picked list of interviewees in both regions, we are exploring how the Foundation’s financial and relational capital helped to meet community needs, who was impacted, what capacity was built for organizations, what partnerships and collaborations were key to success, and what the legacy of these investments might be.
Location
Southeast Michigan, Western New York