A grant from Legal Services Corporation allowed The Public Good to provide Northeast NJ Legal Services insights into their most challenging pro bono cases by using the data they already had. We helped them make their client data a strategic asset and find external data to support their plans for innovation and growth.
Our data audit and analyses of their Legal Server data, combined with extensive regional demographic research highlighted insights and trends into their client's needs and the connections between case management and case outcomes. Our data intelligence focused on client recruitment strategies and improving case outcomes.
The Challenge of Legal Server Data
Like most government-funded service providers, NNJLS must maintain client case records in a database created and managed by their funders. The database was set up to manage client data that the funders want to see but it doesn’t necessarily provide program managers and lawyers with the data they need to make strategic decisions. Like many case management systems that don’t take users’ needs into account, the ability to analyze data is limited and cumbersome.
Yet, the demand for empirical evidence of impact in publicly funded programs is increasing. Leaders rely on data to refine services and design programs that meet constituency needs; data can make the case for policy shifts. Clear and compelling data helps government and philanthropic leaders decide what programs and organizations to support. Which is where The Public Good can help. We are policy analysts and data nerds who can support your strategic needs.
Pro bono legal aid: focusing on what help is most needed
Harnessing evidence to scale up
Our approach
We engaged in iterative feedback sessions with the pro bono team to discuss findings and explore further questions. This allowed us to hone in on emerging trends in the data and to follow up with revised findings and recommendations.
Technical skills when you need them
Too many nonprofits and small businesses lack the technical skills in data collection, analysis, presentation and visualization AND deep expertise in public policy, government funding and nonprofit operations.
They make do with what they have while feeling the pressure to provide evidence of their impact.
Our team provides combined expertise in data analysis, government funding and research rooted in human experiences.
Using the data they already had, we created new variables and restructured others. This allowed us to aggregate and hone in on the types of cases where NNJLS pro bono was experiencing the greatest challenges to successfully close cases and to analyze data in ways that resonated most for the legal team.
Where we found interesting patterns such as case types and outcomes by location, we added demographic data and created map visualizations.
Targeting those in need
Combining household income at the census tract level with client locations and patterns in case types provided a clear evidence-based picture of where to target specific legal services.
The Results of our Legal Services Data Analysis
““Through Public Good’s research and analysis, we walked away with a clearer vision on how we had been operating and how we can move forward to better serve our clients and volunteers.””
Identified where pockets of low income legal needs exist within each county
Provided a visual understanding of where rent burdened households (those at risk of eviction) exist
Located community services related to high frequency case problems to expand referral pipeline
Adapted Legal Server case data into user-friendly data sets for more robust analyses
Analyzed referrals from clinics vs. non-clinics to support more focused intake and case management
Data Exploration & Analytics Offerings
Data audit
We evaluate your data to assess its quality and ability to answer pressing questions or demonstrate program effectiveness.
Data scan
To add context and strengthen your case, we find external data resources from open repositories that are:
valid
relevant
free
Data collection
We create and implement the following techniques to learn what matters, to whom.
surveys
focus groups
stakeholder interviews
data analysis
We use quantitative and qualitative techniques and creative visualizations to identify trends, answer questions and share insights that help you make key decisions and inform your program partners.
“The Public Good helped us hone in and prioritize what we really needed to evaluate our existing program for opportunities and gaps. They expertly dove into our complex legal data and helped us shape a compelling story for our board and stakeholders.””
Who We Are
The Public Good (Public Good Consulting LLC) is a woman-owned New York City-based research and strategy firm that leverages data and conversations to support strategic decisions and business solutions that benefit communities and social change.
We work with government policy makers and funders to achieve their strategic goals while supporting nonprofit service providers on the ground to execute programs with scalable solutions.
Besides our facility with data and twenty years of working with government, nonprofits and policy makers, our team brings a human oriented perspective to our work. We unravel complex processes with the goal of identifying greater efficiencies and designing effective solutions rooted in the needs and priorities of targeted communities.