This Thanksgiving and all year round, we continue to be very grateful for having work, staying safe, and healthy. Some of you may know that I self taught crochet in March 2020 when the pandemic struck and I have not stopped making things (as and when I am able) since then. I have made over 25 “gratitude” scarves and shawls this year to give friends, colleagues, and clients a small token of our appreciation and gratitude. We also donated a few crocheted items including a few full-size …
News and Updates
Clemson University Taps MNA to Conduct An Evaluation of the NPD Grant
We are glad to be partnering with Clemson University over the next 5 years to complete an external evaluation of the National Professional Development program funded by the U S Department of Education. The NPD Program provides grants for eligible entities to implement professional development activities intended to improve instruction for English Learners (ELs) and assists education personnel working with ELs to meet high professional standards. Professional development activities may include …
Some Working Saturdays are Totally Worth It!
Grant development process takes a lot of time, energy, effort, careful and strategic planning, institutional support and commitment and consistent team work from the beginning until a proposal is written well and submitted on time to a funding agency. We have had the honor of planning and collaborating closely with a very talented and motivated department chair and faculty team members at the Department of Natural Sciences at Coppin State University (MD) for the past year of or so on a …
Some Projects Are Labor of Love
Some projects are labor of love. The work that began in fall 2019 is now taking its final form. We are very glad to announce that our white paper is close to being ready for a public release on/about December 1. Funded by the United Engineering Foundation (UEF) and completed for the 50K Coalition's Engineering Society Engagement (ESE) initiative, this document draws data from literature, surveys, interviews, and a focus group to provide insights on how to identify, develop, and disseminate …
Spooky Reporting
Since this is the season of ghouls, goblins, pumpkin (spice in everything), elections (in VA), and reporting (well, not particularly seasonal at MNA since we haven't stopped writing at all this year!), I want to share a few thoughts on reporting. Recently, I read (rather thoroughly) a summative evaluation report completed by another evaluation firm. I have to say, I was disappointed - not because of its format, layout, dataviz, etc., - those were professionally done, but with the long list of …
A Webinar On Role and Importance of Evaluation in Grants: Nov., 17th, 2.30-3.30PM ET
My late father would never tire of retelling stories from his Ph.D. years spent in Aachen, Germany (between late 50s and early 60s) to anyone who would listen. He would often say to my brother and me when we would complain of hearing the same story over and over again, "Tell your story in such a way that will bring joy and laughter to your listeners even if it's the same one you told them before. There is power in the narration and the truth behind it." My father had a knack for finding a story …
Highlighting Our Work With Hispanic Serving Institutions
The National Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual celebration of the history and culture of the U.S. Latinx and Hispanic communities. The event, which spans from September 15-October 15, commemorates how these communities have greatly influenced and contributed to the American society at large. Our education research and evaluation journey with Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) spans over a decade when we first evaluated a 2-year USDA-HSI grant awarded to Broward College (FL) in 2010-11. …
MNA Adds Another NSF S-STEM Grant Evaluation To Their Growing Portfolio
One of the most sought after grants to date that we have had the good fortune and opportunity to collaborate on with several talented principal investigators (PIs) and their team members (Co-PIs, grant writers, reviewers, etc) at both 2-and-4 year colleges and universities since 2015-16 is the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in STEM (S-STEM) program. The main goal of the S-STEM program is to enable low-income, talented domestic students to pursue successful careers in promising …
MNA to Work With Five HBCUs To Evaluate their NSF Grants!
This week happens to be the 2021 HBCU Conference Week and we are glad to be making this short announcement. Our education research and evaluation work with HBCUs spans over 14 years when we first teamed up with national-level experts and education consultants to assess the network of UNCF-supported colleges and universities in 2007-2009 which was funded by the Mellon Foundation (GA). What a fantastic learning experience! Since then, we have continued to partner, collaborate, and contribute …
Wait, (But) This Grant Also Needs an Evaluation and An Evaluator!?
Wait, (but) this grant also needs an evaluation and an evaluator!? What do we do? Where can we find one? The grant is due soon! (Kind note to organizations, colleges, universities, and evaluators too--please do check with the contracting officer(s) at your institution before engaging with an evaluator and be sure to follow rules/regulations on any bidding out for evaluation services, if needed.) Well, I am quite certain that most of the evaluators at least once in their lifetime were …