Facevalu

We are contextually responsive multicultural consultants who partner on evaluation, facilitation and training projects. We bring years of experience and practice in a variety of cultural contexts; work to construct and conduct culturally valid evaluation, research and data collection processes; and focus our efforts on building capacity with a broad array of local and national communities and projects.

We partner with programs and organizations to ask critical questions about organizational direction and program effectiveness. Face Valu offers integrated services including program evaluation, evaluation capacity building, facilitation and training. Using participatory and developmental approaches, we work with clients to design and implement evaluation strategies to assess progress, build organizational infrastructure for evaluation, and systematically use evaluation as a learning tool for improvement

We use multiple data collection methods and believe that conducting valid and reliable research and evaluation requires that we "attend to culture" and community contexts. Data gathering strategies must be culturally appropriate and reflect sound practice.

Our Learning What Works® model connects program theory and program design with program evaluation. This approach emphasizes the importance of integrating evaluation, reflection and learning and embedding them in organizational process and expectations. We partner with programs and organizations to examine implementation, define and capture progress, discover lessons learned and use those lessons to support decisions making and effective action.

The core of Face Valu's work focuses on social and community change through addressing issues of access and equity through organizational practice and policy. Our principal consultant, Vanessa McKendall Stephens, leads associate teams that partner with non-profit, education, community, state and other organizations.  Projects include work in a variety of fields such as education, health, arts integration, community development and corrections.

Philosophy

We share these philosophies of social research and evaluation that influences how we work as researchers and evaluators:

• We choose to work as partners with clients through coaching and developmental skill building;
•  We are committed to constantly enhancing our capacity to work in diverse cultural settings, through ongoing partnerships with contextual, cultural and/or language experts who contribute to the validity and authenticity of the data gathered;
• Conducting research and evaluations that are valid and reliable requires that we "attend to culture" and cultural contexts;
•  Discovering and appropriately representing  "truth" from multiple perspectives demands that evaluators and social researchers acknowledge and address  the ways in which our own  "filters and frames may illuminate as well as obscure";
• Evaluators and researchers must be sensitive to and engage a relevant range of key stakeholder voices and plan a process that facilitates their participation in ways that reflect their realities;
• Data gathering approaches must represent methodologically sound practice and be culturally appropriate to ensure validity and reliability; and
• Evaluators and researchers have the responsibility to conduct evaluations and research that are responsive and socially responsible.