Providing positive opportunities for children who need it most.
For over 30 years, Real Options for City Kids (R.O.C.K) has served the needs of children (TK-8) in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley by providing structured programs that foster personal development within a safe, loving and supportive environment. With the help of their programs, children who might not otherwise have a reasonable chance to succeed are granted a level playing field.
Founded: 1994
Location: Visitacion Valley in San Francisco, CA
R.O.C.K. began working with UpMetrics in 2023 as part of our Bay Area Cohort, which is generously funded by Quest Foundation, Walther Family Foundation, O'Brien Family Foundation, Morgan Family Charitable, and the Payne Family Foundation.
Mission
To nurture the healthy development of children by listening attentively to their needs and by providing opportunities to those who might not otherwise have access.
Vision
By providing unique program models and utilizing structured curriculum with intentional student-level outcomes, our participants become connected to their communities, are productive in their endeavors, develop a strong sense of self, and are ultimately prepared to navigate life.
Values
Love
Respect
Courage
Self-Control
Programs & Impact Approach
R.O.C.K's programs focus on addressing the whole needs of the child through uplifting sports and fitness programs, outdoor adventures, and nurturing school-based support.
They believe that by providing high quality programs rooted in Social & Emotional Learning, highly-trained staff members in safe environments with low adult-to-child ratios, and opportunities to broaden horizons, their children will have the tools necessary to navigate life.
- In-School Support: They provide one-on-one and small group reading support, facilitation of healthy play during recess/lunch, and wellness support.
- After School Programs: Their after school programs take place every day school is in session, providing academic support, recreation, and enrichment.
- Saturday Activities: They host team-based sports clinics for elementary school students and outdoor adventures and community service activities for middle school students.
- Summer Camps: They provide day and overnight camps throughout the summer.
- Family Support: They listen to their families and provide them with the tools and resources necessary to better support their children.
Using Data & UpMetrics to Drive their Mission Forward
When asked how UpMetrics has helped their organization further their mission, R.O.C.K's Executive Director, Curt Yagi, shared the following:
- Easier Data Collection & Analysis: Prior to working with UpMetrics, we were collecting many data points, but only able to conduct a thorough review of it twice a year. The data was labor intensive to both collect and analyze. It was difficult to get the full picture of what was happening with our students, especially with enough time to allow us to make meaningful changes in time to impact students during the current school year.
- Prioritizing Datapoints that Move the Needle: Building our UpMetrics framework pushed us to identify and prioritize the data points that are most impactful for our students. They helped us answer two important questions: 1) What do we need to know to improve our programs? And 2) What helps tell our story to our community, our partners, and our funders? Ultimately this has helped us determine the cumulative impact of our programs on each student, and our community as a whole.
- Improved Programs & Outcomes for Students: At one elementary school, we saw an increase in behavior incidents immediately following lunch/recess. Since we were able to see this early in the year, we could prioritize placing more of our staff on lunch/recess duty, and added more support for transition periods. After that change we saw an 85% reduction in behavior incidents.
When asked about R.O.C.K's plans for leveraging their data to support their mission going forwards, Curt shared:
In the short term, the data will provide us with the information we need to make program design improvements. We can accomplish this both quickly to meet a specific need, as well as in planning for year-over-year program changes. The data will also increase our ability to share our work with the community, Board, and funders, which will impact our ability to grow as an organization.
In the long term, the data will help us determine if we should grow our programs deeper (more/different programs with the same students) or wider (reaching to work with different students or schools).
When asked about advice he'd give other organizations looking to improve their impact measurement and management practices, Curt shared:
My advice would be to just start with the data you already have instead of waiting to have everything perfect.
Most organizations are collecting data for various funders and other constituents, but the framework process will help you determine which data points are most directly measuring the impact your organization has. Zero in on getting those data points right and that will help you determine what else you might need to connect down the line.
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