Using Data-driven Reflection to Improve Program Quality: New York City’s Human Resources Administration Redesigns Its Upfront Assessment Process for Youth and Families Receiving Cash Assistance

This brief outlines how New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) successfully restructured its upfront assessment process for individuals receiving Cash Assistance by utilizing data-driven reflection. In particular, HRA used a method called Learn, Innovate, Improve, an approach that supports rapid agency changes and ongoing improvement through the incorporation of data-informed reflection into the process of evaluating and refining solutions. HRA found that implementing this collaborative, evidence-based decision-making technique is both feasible and effective.