A new report by the Casey Foundation highlights that while two-generation approaches — efforts to create opportunities for parents and children together — have evolved and improved as a promising strategy to interrupt intergenerational poverty, gaps in the research base are hindering progress in bringing the best efforts to scale. The report offers recommendations on how public and private funders can target their evaluation and funding strategies to build evidence demonstrating which approaches and components work best; what kinds of research funders should support; and how to communicate evidence-based findings effectively to inform program leaders and policymakers.
Public and private funders can play an important role in strengthening the evidence for two-generation approaches by strategically investing in research and evaluation. This report can serve as a starting point for funders to have conversations — among their own staff, leadership and external partners — about how their work already contributes to the knowledge about what works, and places where further contributions can be made by investing in comprehensive evaluation strategies and providing support for programs to be evaluated in ways that advance the field.
