Happy Hands

Program Mission Statement:

(self-reported)

Happy Hands stated purpose is to maximize learning for children with a hearing loss by providing them with an early intervention program composed of a pre-school and kindergarten in an all day educational and linguistically stimulating environment.

Score Summary

Overall Score:	Excellent
Practice Principles:	Excellent
Faith Related Elements:	Excellent
Outcome Measures:	Excellent
Change Process:	Better

Program Facts

• Paid (FTE) Staff Working: 9
• Program Participants Last Year: 35
• Meets about 22 time(s) with each participant per month
• Participants remain in the program for 48 months

Board Activities

Funding Overview

(self-reported)

	This Program	This Organization
Organization Budget: $440,766 Program Budget: $360,000
Foundation Grants	55%	35%
Government Grants/Contracts	0%	0%
Individual Gifts	35%	35%
Business/Corporate Gifts	10%	10%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	0%	0%
Dues/Fees/Income	0%	0%
Other	0%	20%
	Average Program Funding From All Samaritan Programs	Average Organization Funding From All Samaritan Organizations
The next charts display the average funding sources for all programs currently in the Samaritan Guide for your comparison. Average Organization Budget: $3,820,907 Average Program Budget: $480,643
Foundation Grants	24%	18%
Government Grants/Contracts	3%	8%
Individual Gifts	36%	33%
Business/Corporate Gifts	9%	8%
Congregation/Denominational Gifts	9%	10%
Dues/Fees/Income	7%	9%
Other	10%	11%

It is important to maintain diverse income sources for your programs and for your oganization as a whole. Doing so provides long-term financial stability to your organizations and programs. It is also important to note that government funding often comes with stipulations and restrictions. More information is available in the Raising Resources Toolkit - pdf.

Score Details

Program Focus
Program Mission	Clarity and specificity of the program's mission statement.	Excellent
Target Population	Clarity and specificity of the programs target clientele.	Excellent
Eligibility Criteria	Clarity and specificity of the program's eligibility criteria.	Excellent
Program Requirements	Well defined requirements for client participation.	Better
Referrals From Other Organizations	Do other organizations recommend this program to their clientele.	Good
Referrals to Other Organizations	Does this program recommend other programs to their clients?	Better
Volunteer to Staff Ratio	Are volunteers effectively incorporated into the program?	Good
Past Participant Recruiting	Are past program participants recruited as volunteers?	Better
Evaluation and Practice Princples
Practice Principles	How supports and resources are provided to increase outcomes.	Excellent
Outcome Measurement	The ability to measure stated program outcomes.	Excellent
Change Process	Specific and measurable statement of the program's goals.	Better
Faith Related Elements	Integration of faith related elements.	Excellent
Measurement Frequency	Frequency of measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Program Evaluation	Level of the budget allocated to measuring client outcomes.	Excellent
Institutional Stability
Organization Age	A measure of the organization's durability.	Excellent
Board Oversight	How involved in the program are the members of its board?	Good
Program Duration	Average duration of a clients participation with a program.	Excellent
Finances
Budget Diffusion	Diversity of the programs funding sources.	Good
Government Funding	Does this program accept little or no government funding?	Excellent

Program Score Details

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Outcomes & Measures:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide at least three clear and specific outcomes with corresponding measures in which a relationship is shown between outcomes and measures.

Outcome 1: Hearing impaired and communication delayed children will increase their language skills through visual and auditory communication receptively and expressively.

Measure Used:
Hope Publications, SKI HI Language Development Scale, Brigance Inventory of Early Childhood Development, Preschool Language Scale IV

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Outcome 2: Hearing impaired and communication delayed children will increase their speech articulation proficiency.

Measure Used:
Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation, Informal Speech Samples, Teacher Observation

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Outcome 3: Parents of hearing impaired children will increase their sign language skills to communicate with the children.

Measure Used:
ASL and Total Communication post assessments, Parent/Teacher conferences.

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Change Process:

(self-reported)

Scoring for this section is based on the organizations ability to provide clear, measurable, client-focused stages of change based on participant participation.

Children with hearing loss and communication delays in the past have typically achieved at best a second or third grade reading level. This affects reading, writing, and academics - literacy for the remainder of their lives. When early intervention happens for these children, they can and do achieve normal language development which directly affects their literacy skills. We are now seeing these children in middle school and high school programs succeeding along with their hearing peers. We expect these young people to be successful, literate, contributors to their families and communities.

End Notes

Incomplete Applications

Significant decreases in certain scores may indicate failure to comprehensively complete certain sections of the Samaritan Award application. Please be sure to fill out every question in the Samaritan Award application.

Relative Scoring

Total program scores are partially computed against other programs from within the same pool of applications and so are not cumulative.

Additional Reference Material

More information on scoring and methodology may be found on the Samaritan Guide and Award website.

Acton Institute Relationship

The Samaritan Guide and Samaritan Award are projects run by the Acton Institute. Inclusion in the Guide does not signify endorsement by the Acton Institute. More information on why the Acton Institute runs this project is available online.