Statewide CSA Project

CEDAM seeks to understand the impact CSA participation has on students, particularly on postsecondary attainment. The metrics employed by local CSA programs in Michigan tend to track product utilization, like savings amount and rate. While vitally important, these metrics only tell one-half of the story. The other half, engaging with a CSA program, is where we see critical cognitive-behavioral changes that empower students to pursue postsecondary education despite socioeconomic and environmental factors. The limitations of our current metrics and their varied approach by programs highlight a crucial need to create universal statewide and program metrics that can be uniformly deployed. We seek to create a standard set of metrics for the local CSA programs and the Michigan CSA Network. Ideally, these metrics should incorporate measures for product utilization and program participation. Additionally, we want to connect our CSA program data with existing Department of Education data to understand CSA students' educational outcomes. Finally, a portion of the LEO funding has been designated for subgrants to existing CSA programs to pursue innovation projects. These projects will range from increasing student participation to improving program administrative functions. These projects will help to advance optimal CSA design and implementation in Michigan. Supporting CSA programs throughout the evaluation process of their projects is necessary to capture valuable learnings from their initiatives.