Building Evidence and Scaling Impact: The Role of Logic Models in Colorado’s Child Welfare Efforts

Since the fall of 2022, the Colorado Implementation Science Unit (CISU) has been partnering with communities across Colorado to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of child welfare/maltreatment prevention services/programs. This aligns with Colorado’s broader goal of using evidence-based decision making, reinforced by HB24-1428, which emphasizes the importance of considering evidence of a service’s effectiveness when requesting state funding.

One of the first tools that CISU uses in evidence building is the logic model. Think of it as a visual roadmap for how a service works – from the resources invested, to the activities carried out, to the ultimate outcomes expected. It’s a powerful tool that helps everyone involved in a service’ s implementation understand the service’s design and how it can achieve its goals.

More than just a planning tool, logic models guide the design of research activities to build evidence. “In order to engage in evidence-based decision making, it’s important to support evidence building if a service isn’t evidence-based. In order to build evidence, services need to move through a series of steps,” said MacKenzie Mixer, Implementation Scientist with CISU. “The logic model is part of step one, ‘program design,’ of Colorado’s Steps to Building Evidence, which focuses on articulating how a service works and manualizing the service.”

Logic models also support the successful scaling and replication of services. “They serve as a shared vision that partners can rally around,” Mixer said. “When a service wants to expand into new communities or reach more people, the logic model offers a clear and structured framework that outlines what is crucial for success and what might need to be adapted in different contexts. This ensures that when scaling, a service can maintain consistency in its quality and outcomes.”

Creating a logic model typically involves writing down the key components like inputs (resources and funding), activities (what the service does), outputs (direct results of activities), and outcomes (longer-term changes or impacts). To aid in the development of logic models, CISU has published examples on its website and has created a useful guide for communities.

Overall, logic models are vital for services’ success. They are crucial for ensuring that services not only start strong, but can grow, adapt, and prove their impact in the long run. By making the path to success clear, they make complex services feel more manageable and scalable, helping communities confidently help those they serve.