Our Aims
To maintain a credible Evaluation Network for the Missouri River Basin that serves as a regional resource to program evaluators, organizations and community programs through:
- the provision of continuing education opportunities;
- student development; and
- a networked evaluation referral service.
Engender the development of community organizations that value evaluation and successfully use evaluation as part of a culture of continuous improvement.
Create support for an environment that has adequate funding for evaluation of programs to maximize the benefits for individuals, organizations, and communities.
History
In November of 2007 evaluators from Munroe-Meyer Institute (MMI) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center identified a need to explore networking with fellow program evaluators in their region. At that time MMI’s Interdisciplinary Center for Program Evaluation convened a focus group of stakeholders and consumers of evaluation. This led to conversations that carried on from February–June of 2008 during which time the MMI group convened with evaluators from other campuses within the University of Nebraska system to:
- Determine interest in affiliating with the American Evaluation Association (AEA);
- Draft a mission statement and intended outcomes.
- Extend invitation to evaluators beyond the University and the state of Nebraska.
Between July and September of 2008 the growing group of affiliated evaluators established bylaws, elected officers, then moved to become an AEA affiliate (per AEA guidelines which note that starting an organization and becoming an affiliate are two separate actions, and the first must precede the second). Staff at MMI discovered that there was precedence for allowing the new organization to exist under the fiscal umbrella of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, thus avoiding the daunting and expensive task of forming a new 501c3.
In October of 2008, at the Midwest LEND (Maternal and Child Health Leadership in Education in Neurodevelopmental & Related Disabilities) meeting, representatives from South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas joined the conversation. Midwest LEND’s parent organization, the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (UCD) hosts a Council on Research and Evaluation, which has at least one member from each of the eight Fertile Territory states.
Between November 2008 and January 2009 the Network grew as a part of work done in conjunction with the AEA Learning Circles Project. In the Learning Circles Project, 15 members of the AEA at large went through an application process to participate in an online professional development project. During Phase 1 of the project, Learning Circle Fellows participated in a pre-conference workshop to learn how to launch their own 6 month virtual Learning Circle, where ultimately each fellow would be expected to facilitate another Learning Circle with a project of their own choosing.
Dr. Bob Pawloski, a Learning Circle Fellow and EN4MRB founder, chose to focus his project on exploring the feasibility, governance and benefits of this regional organization with representatives from the states listed as Fertile Territory for New Affiliate. Selected invitations to participate were developed from lists of :
- Original group of University of Nebraska collaborating evaluators
- Members on UCD’s Council on Research and Evaluation from eight targeted states
- Evaluators listed on AEA online Member Directory
In June of 2009 a meeting was held on to consider forming an organization of the states with the region known as the Missouri River Basin. The meeting was held immediately following a full day workshop presented by Dr. Brian T. Yates at the Nebraska Children’s Home Society in Omaha, Nebraska. In December, 2009 Articles of Incorporation are filed in Nebraska creating the nonprofit corporation Evaluation Network of the Missouri River Basin.
On December 17, 2009 AEA announces that the Evaluation Network of the Missouri River Basin has been granted local affiliate status.