The Center for Evaluation and Applied Research (CEAR) partners with community organizations, health departments, philanthropic organizations, healthcare providers and other researchers to:

1. Plan, assess and strengthen programs focused on health and well-being.
2. Incorporate community perspectives into program development, program assessment and decision-making.
3. Build and disseminate evidence on strategies to improve healthcare and related services and address the structural, social, economic and environmental factors that impact health, including racism and other inequities.

CEAR also provides research and evaluation training and technical assistance to organizations and institutions with the aim of building internal capacity to self-assess their work, better document their accomplishments, improve programs and respond to community needs.

Selected Work

Conducting a Virtual Public Deliberation on Prioritizing COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution
CEAR conducted a series of public deliberations (PDs) on behalf of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) to inform priorities for distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in NYC when initial supplies were limited. Discussions with a diverse cross-section of city residents, using a public deliberation approach, yielded a wealth of information on what is most important to New Yorkers when considering fair vaccine distribution. Funding for the pilots was provided by the Altman Foundation, New York State Health Foundation, United Hospital Fund and the de Beaumont Foundation.
Read our publication on the findings
Learn more about Public Deliberation

Evaluation of Exhale, a Respite Initiative for Family Caregivers
CEAR is the evaluator of Exhale, a program created to support the development and implementation of innovative respite opportunities for caregivers of older adults. Funded by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York and the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation—and working in collaboration with The Philanthropic Initiative—the program is focused on Western New York State and Washtenaw County, Michigan. CEAR is evaluating the overall initiative and provides ongoing evaluation support to Exhale grantees, working collaboratively with stakeholders to meet the evolving needs and priorities of the program.

Research to Support Income and Food Security Among Latinx Immigrant Families
CEAR is collaborating with Make the Road New York (MRNY), a community-based organization that builds the power of immigrant communities, on a study examining policies and practices that perpetuate, exacerbate or reduce inequities related to income and food security for low-income Latinx immigrant families. The research focuses on access to well-established benefit programs (e.g., SNAP); innovative city and state-specific programs, including initiatives developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and MRNY Community Health Worker and promotora programs that facilitate access to these services. The work uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods and is funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Family Resilience Program Evaluation
CEAR is working on behalf of Montefiore Medical Center to conduct interviews that aim to understand the impact of its Family Resilience Program, which has provided critical financial relief and other supports to low-income families that lost a breadwinner or caretaker to COVID-19. This work additionally seeks to understand families’ scope of needs; program challenges and successes; and lessons learned that may inform sustainability, expansion and replication. The program and evaluation are funded by the Robin Hood Foundation.

Diabetes Prevention
Through the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP), public and private organizations across the U.S. are working together to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. Over the last 10 years, CEAR has contributed to the evidence base for the NDPP, advancing the program’s reach and effectiveness through research and evaluation. CEAR has evaluated the effectiveness of community-based and worksite NDPPs; helped to design a novel male-only adaptation; and examined retention issues in diverse NDPP programs in communities throughout New York State.
Read our publication on the NY State YMCA DPP
Read our publication on an adaptation of NDPP to engage men

Evaluating Case Management and Care Coordination for Older Adults
CEAR has supported Lifespan of Greater Rochester since 2016. Lifespan is an aging services provider serving the Finger Lakes Region of New York State, and NYAM works with them on using data to communicate the impact of their programs and seek sustainable funding for their programs. Most recently, CEAR conducted an evaluation of Lifespan’s Geriatric Addictions Program (GAP), a harm reduction counseling program for older adults struggling with substance use. The NYAM team helped demonstrate that integrating health care coordination services into the program contributed to positive health outcomes among participants, including better physical and mental health, lower rates of substance use, and improved access to and use of health care. Lifespan is using the results to share the value of this whole-person care model to community stakeholders and others to initiate replication of the approach in other regions of New York State.
Read our publication on CCC

Healthy Start Evaluation
CEAR is the evaluator for two Healthy Start Programs in New York City—Bronx Healthy Start and Queens Healthy Start—which are federally funded programs that serve pregnant and new parents, children and families. CEAR works collaboratively with both programs to collect data to assess program impact and guide quality improvement for better health outcomes before, during and after pregnancy and to reduce racial and ethnic differences in rates of infant death and negative maternal health outcomes. CEAR also leads a learning collaborative that brings together the programs to learn from each other and promote best practices.
Read our Bronx infographic
Read our Queens infographic

Language Access for Immigrants at New York City and State Pharmacies
From 2006 to 2009 CEAR received funding from the Altman Foundation to assess the availability of language access services for limited English proficient patients using New York City pharmacies and to develop pilot interventions to address unmet needs. Findings from this work supported successful lobbying efforts to pass regulations in New York City and State that require provision of translated medical labels and other language services in chain pharmacies. In 2015 the PCLB Foundation supported research to evaluate the impact of these regulations. Both phases of this work were carried out in partnership with Make the Road New York, a community-based organization that builds the power of immigrant communities.
Read our initial study
Read our 2019 publication

Evaluation Training and Technical Assistance
CEAR staff regularly conduct evaluation training and technical assistance on a broad range of topics, including logic model creation, survey design, focus group facilitation, collection and analysis of qualitative data, and “evaluation 101.” Training and technical assistance has been provided to the NYC DOHMH and their contracting agencies, grantees of the NYS Health Foundation, Community Healthcare Network, Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness, and the New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In addition, with funding from the New York State Health Foundation and the GE Foundation, CEAR developed an online evaluation toolkit: “Project ECHO® Evaluation 101: A Practical Guide for Evaluating your Program.”
Read the Project ECHO Toolkit

If you are interested in working with us, please reach out to Maya Scherer, Director of CEAR (mscherer@nyam.org) to discuss your needs. We are always looking for new partners.