PART XIV - EVALUATION AND INDICATORS.
The ultimate goal of the REAP plan is to improve outcomes for wellbeing for residents of the Northeast Kingdom, especially low income residents. To measure improved outcomes, the Northeast Kingdom Enterprise Collaborative has selected a set of indicators to measure different aspects of income, employment, family well being and community involvement. The criteria used in selecting these indicators is that they are:
Tracking of indicators will benefit from an effort of the Vermont Agency of Human Services to track indicators of community well being for all of Vermont's supervisory unions, called Community Profiles. These indicators are updated annually and will be easily tracked over time. Not all of the Agency of Human Services Community Profile indicators are listed here, in part because some of the indicators are measured at a specific school or community level. Participants in the Northeast Kingdom Enterprise Collaborative are also encouraged to use the other indicators in the Community Profiles as appropriate.
Progress on any of these individual indicators may not necessarily be attributable to the benefits of REAP designation. However, when taken as a whole, these indicators will tell us over time if the people of the Northeast Kingdom are better off than the were before the REAP designation took place.
It should also be noted that individual projects that become part of the REAP Work Plan will also have their own sets of evaluation criteria, including benchmarks of accomplishment and indicators of success.
The indicators chosen for the REAP plan, with their most current measured values, are as follows:
Sources:
Average annual wage: Includes private-sector jobs covered by unemployment compensation (does not include self-employment). Figure covers hourly workers, salaried workers, and those paid on commission; includes part-time, full-time, and overtime wages. Source: Vermont Department of Employment & Training.
Rate of employment: 100 minus the annual average unemployment rate (percent). Source: Vermont Department of Employment & Training.
Rate of job creation: The percent change from the previous year in the total number of private sector jobs covered by unemployment compensation (does not include self-employment). Source: Vermont Department of Employment & Training.
Percent of people receiving welfare (ANFC): Caseloads as of January, as a percent of the estimated population in each age-group. Sources: Vermont Department of Social Welfare; Vermont Department of Health, Population Estimates.
Percent children in families receiving Food Stamps: There is currently no reliable measure of child poverty at a sub-state level. Families eligible for Food Stamps are those with incomes 130% of federal poverty level, or less. Not all eligible families receive Food Stamps. Enrollments may be sensitive to differences in public awareness of the program. Caseload data are for January of the year named. Source: Vermont Department of Social Welfare.
Percent children in poverty: Related children (ages 0-17) in households earning less than the federal poverty threshold in 1989 (this averaged $12,674 for a family of four in 1989). Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census, Tape STF3.
Percent of population aged 65+ in poverty: Individuals ages 65 years and older with 1989 income below the federal poverty level, as a proportion of all individuals in that age-group for whom poverty status is determined. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census, Tape STF3.
Percent occupied housing units with telephone. U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census, Tape STF3.
Percent housing units with plumbing facilities. U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census, Tape STF3.
Percent of High School Seniors Aspiring to Go on to Higher Education. Vermont Student Assistance Corporation annual survey.
Percent met need for child care: Number of regulated child care slots as a percent of need for child care. For 1994, based on estimates of the number of two-earner households, need was estimated at 50 percent of the population aged 0-12; for 1998-99, need was estimated at 55 percent. Sources: Ad Hoc Task Force on Child Care, Investing in Vermont's Future: Strategies for Strengthening Vermont's Child Care Infrastructure, 1995; Vermont Department of Social & Rehabilitation Services, Division of Child Care Services.
Child abuse and neglect: Substantiated victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect, aged 0 through 17, per 10,000 population. Because the substantiation status of abuse/neglect reports may change over time, data here are adjusted to reflect reported state totals of substantiated victims, as of March for the preceding year. Sources: Vermont Department of Social & Rehabilitation Services; Vermont Department of Health, Population Estimates.
"New Families at Risk": Defined as the percent of first births that are to unmarried women younger than 20, with less than 12 years education. According to national statistics, families with all 3 "risk factors" (unmarried status, teenage, little education) are 10 times more likely to live in poverty than those with none of the 3 factors. Source: Vermont Department of Health, Vital Statistics System.
Percent of eligible population voting in general elections: Eligible population is considered to be residents aged 18 and older. Sources: Vermont Office of the Secretary of State; Vermont Department of Health, Population Estimates.