Missouri

In 2022, the Missouri Department of Economic Development used a tiered evidence framework from the AmeriCorps Evidence Exchange to both define and prioritize evidence, as well as allocate funds through its AmeriCorps Missouri State Grant Program. Criteria from the Evidence Exchange assigned preference to evidence-based interventions assessed as ‘Moderate’ or ‘Strong’. To do this, the grant attributed points within Program Design (worth 50% of total points) towards evidence-based criteria, including Evidence Tier (worth 12%) and Evidence Quality (worth 8%). Evidence Base was subsequently awarded up to 20 points and Evidence Tier was allotted 12 points.

Evidence was prioritized by stating that “all applicants must propose program designs that are either evidence-based or evidence-informed. Applicants assessed as lower than the Preliminary evidence tier (i.e., Pre-Preliminary) must provide adequate responses to the Evidence Quality review criteria in order to be considered for funding.” Applicants were encouraged to consider interventions through the AmeriCorps Mandatory Supplemental Guidance that further defined evidence. In improving the evidence design of Missouri’s current AmeriCorps programs and applicants, Missouri is more competitive on the national stage. To that end, in May 2022, it was announced that Missouri would be receiving two new competitive AmeriCorps grants, and this led to an increase of $912,290 in federal support to Missouri communities they would not have otherwise seen. The Missouri Community Service Commission expects this number to increase again next year.

The State of Missouri provides grant funding to the University of Missouri to implement the Age-Friendly Sustainable Smart and Equitable Technologies (ASSETS) to combine components of aging in place (AIP) and care coordination with low-cost smart home activity sensors. ASSETS for AIP allows rural Missouri older adults and those with disabilities remain in their homes by passive sensor-enhanced care coordinated by healthcare and social service professionals.  ASSETs for AIP combines components of two other evidence-based programs, Aging in Place and CAPABLE, both designed to improve health outcomes for older or disabled adults living in the community. Both interventions have been extensively tested in experimental and quasi-experimental studies supported by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Nursing Research, & National Institutes on Aging.

The FY23 State of Missouri budget includes new funding to ensure that each executive department has its own full time in-house Operational Excellence (OpEx) leader. Previously, some departments had brought on their own OpEx leaders, but now the State of Missouri is providing funding to ensure that all executive departments have such leaders. These leaders will seek to improve operations generally, but in specific will promote an on-going program cadence where program managers will establish performance measures for their programs, collect data, and then assess and adjust based on that data.