Leah Goldstein Moses, Founder and CEO of The Improve Group, has stepped down as CEO and into an advisory role.

The Improve Group is a St. Paul-based evaluation, research, and strategic planning consulting firm with a staff of 21 people. The organization is dedicated to helping nonprofits, foundations, and government agencies make the most of information, navigate complexity, and ensure their work contributes to a better, more equitable world.

Read more about Leah's journey and hopes for the future in her letter.

The Colorado Evaluation Network invites MNEA members to a one-hour discussion with Dr. Martha Brown titled Why Should Evaluators Be Trauma Informed? The Zoom event will take place on Wednesday, October 12, from 1-2p CT.They ask affiliate members to pay a reduced rate of $5. Learn more and register.

The Arizona Evaluation Network (AZENet) is hosting a one-day virtual conference featuring a variety of national and local leaders in our field. AZENet has offered reduced pricing of $50 per registration for members of MNEA. Visit the For Members section of the MNEA website for the registration code and further details.

Do you want to use data to work smarter, not harder?

How can data reveal inequity and help us find stronger solutions?

What are data-driven strategies that get results?

Join Every Hour Counts to strategize with peers about how to collect, analyze, and use data to advance racial equity and drive continuous improvement in your community.

This free Virtual Symposium will feature ten 75-minute sessions that tap into the expertise of community leaders who are committed to demonstrating the value and impact of afterschool and summer experiences for youth, families and communities.

The Every Hour Counts network represents leaders from 28 communities, including 3,500 school and community partnerships that reach 500,000 young people, who are excited to share successes, challenges, ideas and resources to ensure thriving communities designed to holistically support children and youth.

The link to the event page can be found below:

Indiana Evaluation Association invited MNEA member to join them as Jenny Nulty from Pivot Data Design discusses strategies you can use to tell stories in a way that promotes equity and uses intentional narrative, data, and design. Join for free with the code available in the For Members section of the website.

You can learn more and register at http://www.indianaevaluation.org/event-4631828.

If you are thinking about starting or further developing an independent consulting practice, consider registering for the Introduction to Independent Consulting Workshops with Matt Feldmann. Participants will work independently and in small groups to create a business plan. Matt leads the weekly Independent Consulting Chats, is the president of the St. Louis evaluation affiliate, and co-edited the New Directions for Evaluation special edition on independent consulting.

You can learn more at this registration link: https://gosheneducationcenter.regfox.com/introduction-to-independent-consulting-workshops

MNEA members can receive a $50 discount on the session with a discount code found in our "For Members" section of the MNEA website.

The Australasian Evaluation Society (AES) is offering a seminar title, "How can evaluators organise for racial justice and decolonisation?" Featuring Minnesotan Vidhya Shanker, PhD, the goal of the virtual seminar is to reflect on how to organise and disrupt oppressive practices in evaluation.

Learn more about this free event and register by noon on Wednesday 8 December here.

This is a special event organised by the Multicultural Evaluation Special Interest Group (MESIG). AES free events provide an opportunity for you to meet with AES members and others in the evaluation community and to share and learn from the experiences of fellow evaluators.

The Indiana Evaluation Association invites you to join a training on breaking the habit of exercising bias in our decision-making. To learn more about the event and register, click here.

Increasingly, organizations have become concerned with identifying strategies to reduce rates of bias incidents and to promote equality. Abundant evidence indicates that, however well-intentioned, diversity and bias intervention efforts that are not based on scientific evidence at best do not work and very often make bias problems worse (e.g., Apfelbaum et al., 2012; Dobbin & Kalev, 2013; Legault et al., 2011; Paluck & Green, 2009).

The bias habit breaking training was the first intervention that has been shown experimentally to produce long-term changes in bias (Cox & Devine, 2019; Devine, Forscher, Austin, & Cox, 2012). This training was built on more than 30 years of research on the prejudice habit model (Devine, 1989), which approaches bias as a type of mental habit.

Arts-Based Methods for Evaluators: Beginner Course is an exciting 6-week continuing education online course for evaluators practicing in Canada and the USA. With hands-on activities, 12 hours of original content, one-on-one coaching, and access to a supportive learning community, this course offers evaluators a comprehensive glimpse into the world of arts-based methods. Facilitators and arts-based evaluators, Jennica Nichols and Maya Lefkowich from AND implementation, help learners bring creative strategies into their evaluation practice. Learn more & register here: https://www.andimplementation.ca/artscourse.

The Indiana Evaluation Association (IEA) invites the evaluation community in Indiana and beyond to join their fourth biennial (but first virtual) conference! This interactive, multi-day event is designed to equip evaluators with the skills they need to help their organizations and clients succeed in a more equitable, post-crisis world. Attendees will also have opportunities to connect with other evaluators.

The conference will take place on October 1, 8, and 15 from 12-4pm Eastern Time. Early bird pricing available through September 17th! Non-member early bird registration is $40 and $60 after that. Learn more and register here.