Projects and Initiatives

Child welfare initiatives of The Social Impact Institute span evaluation, workforce development, and implementation support to strengthen Maryland’s child welfare system.  

• Through the Adult Services and Child Welfare Accountability Act, the Institute partners with Maryland’s Department of Human Services to evaluate system efficiency and effectiveness and to provide policy and practice recommendations that promote safety, permanency, and well‑being for children. 
• The Child Welfare Academy builds workforce capacity by delivering evidence‑informed training for child welfare professionals, resource parents, kinship caregivers, and residential child and youth care professionals, ensuring learning is relevant and directly applicable to practice. 
• Through Child Welfare Technical Assistance, The Social Impact Institute supports child welfare, juvenile justice, and behavioral health systems in implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act and other policies through needs assessments, training, technical assistance, participatory evaluation, and startup support for evidence‑based and promising programs. 

The Social Impact Institute advances outcomes across child-, youth-, and education‑serving systems by pairing strong community‑based program support with advanced data analysis.  

• Through its Community‑Based Programs work, The Social Impact Institute supports the development, implementation, monitoring, and continuous quality improvement of evidence‑based and promising practices serving families involved with or at risk of involvement with child welfare and juvenile justice systems. 
• Through the Maryland Longitudinal Data System Research Branch, The Social Impact Institute researchers conduct advanced statistical analyses that provide timely, actionable information on student performance to inform system improvement and decision‑making at all levels of education. 

Juvenile Justice - The Social Impact Institute provides research, evaluation, and technical assistance to support fair, effective, and research‑informed juvenile justice policies and practices in Maryland. In partnership with the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, this work strengthens decision‑making across intake, detention and alternatives to detention, supervision, and service planning; evaluates assessment tools and system reforms; and examines the impact of legislative and policy changes to improve outcomes for youth and families. 

The Parent, Infant & Early Childhood (PIEC) - The Social Impact Institute is dedicated to addressing the mental health needs of parents and young children through statewide coordination, training, technical assistance, and research. Our team brings together expertise in early childhood, maternal and child health, program development, and evaluation to support high‑quality, developmentally informed systems and services.