Your community needs your services.

We help nonprofits connect their ambitious mission and vision to their everyday work through meaningful use of data, careholder engagement, and capacity building.

Our values: Careholder Centered | Equity | Rigor | Pragmatism
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What We Do

  • Facilitation (committees, meetings, coalitions, workgroups)

  • Technical assistance, training and coaching (data, equity, evaluation readiness, monitoring & evaluation)

  • Program evaluation

  • Data collection (surveys, focus groups, stakeholder interviews, etc)

  • Community-based research & engagement

  • Grant writing and grant readiness

  • Data Strategy Audits

Why We Do It

  • Committees, meetings and coalitions can either be a drain on time and resources, or accomplish incredible feats. We help you define purpose & process, create belonging, while keeping the minute details on track and the big vision front & center.

  • Many organizations miss opportunities because they don't have the data to back-up their work. We help teams collect the data they need to improve their programs, wow funders, and grow their organizations.

  • Community is often only included as an afterthought or requirement, we help you meet stakeholders where they're at --we love finding creative ways to engage those most impacted by your work.

“Lily was an incredible asset to Colorado CASA creating a data driven evaluation program for all members to use. She moved us from concept to execution, continuously listening to feedback and educating the staff of member organizations along the way. Now, we have some real data to measure our work!”-Karen Silverman, Executive Director of CASA Child Advocates

We Can Help

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Program Evaluation

An evaluation provides information you need to level-up your program, show impact, and raise awareness and funds. We take a participatory approach, equity-informed approach.

Facilitation

Bringing in a facilitator allows your entire team to participate and reduces the stress. We specialize in facilitating in person and virtual processes and ongoing committees.

Careholder Engagement

Nonprofits, coalitions and local government want to meaningfully include the voices of their diverse communities, but struggle to find effective ways. We bridge the gap by co-designing strength-based, culturally sensitive opportunities for engagement and data-informed decision-making.

Workshops and Training

Want to up-level your staff's data skills? Learn how to write and administer an effective survey? Organize a strong and sustainable committee? As a former teacher, we love nothing more than supporting as your team grows their abilities. We can provide customized trainings, or build off our existing offerings.

LAS Visions LLC

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“We are here to take the pieces of the universe that we are given, burnish them with love, and return them in better shape than we received them.”
-Fran Djuna

We exist to help nonprofits connect their ambitious mission and vision to their everyday work, so change happens.We do it through providing coaching, support, and facilitation. We help organizations use data more effectively, engage their careholders, and build the skills, plans and structures to do more good.We believe that every size organization can collect and use data effectively and that organizations will do the most good when they meaningfully engage and include the communities they serve in their planning and evaluation.Too often, rigor is limited to academic settings and organizations doing critical change work don't have the support they need to effectively use data or evaluate their programs. LAS Visions was founded to change that.LAS Visions is a women owned small business (certification in progress) physically located in Missoula, Montana, which is the traditional land of the Salish, Kootenai, and Kalispel people.

We are proud members of American Evaluation Association, Montana Public Health Association, Montana Nonprofit Association, Consultants for Good, and North American Food Systems Network.

Our Team

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Lily is the owner/director of LAS Visions LLC.Hi, I'm Lily.I've spent my career moving between direct service work --as a teacher, legal aid advocate, and volunteer with numerous children's programs, and systems level work--as a public health professional, researcher, and program evaluator. Now it's my mission is to merge the two by facilitating processes and opportunities that bring the intended recipients of programs--often those most directly affected by inequities, systemic racism and discrimination--into the heart of program evaluation and planning.I use my interdisciplinary background in public health, evaluation and education to plan projects with rigorous methods that meet program needs, while emphasizing stakeholder leadership. A teacher at heart, I loves creating engaged, stakeholder-directed projects that build internal leadership, while not sacrificing rigor or quality.I approach new projects by listening, learning and building rapport with project stakeholders.I earned a Masters of Science in Public Health from the department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins University. I hold certificates in Maternal and Child Health and epidemiology for health professionals. I also hold a MA in Teaching from National Louis University. My titles have included Director of Evaluation & Learning, Epidemiologist on a Health Planning and Evaluation Team, Teacher and Research Assistant and Consultant.When not helping you optimize your program, you'll find me gardening or practicing yoga. I'm involved in my community as a board member for the nonprofit Earth Within Girls and as a volunteer Master Gardener through the University of Montana’s extension program.Other team members
Every project is unique. Lily partners with other consultants and larger firms based on the needs of each project. Project teams are assembled based on needed skills and lived experience.

Let's Talk

These free intro calls are an opportunity to share about your organization and project. They're a time to assess if we're a good fit to work together.You can also email inquiries to: lily@lasvisions.com

Our Work

Clients/Experience

  • Alliance for Youth Action

  • Montana CASA/GAL

  • Colorado CASA

  • Boulder County Public Health

  • CSTE/CDC

  • Center for a Livable Future

  • Green and Healthy Homes Initiative

  • Missoula City County Health Department

  • Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020

  • Center for Adolescent Health at JHU

Select reports, trainings & presentations

Note: most of our work is completed for private clients and cannot be publicly shared.

  • Sussman, L. Feeding Champlain Valley Data Strategy Audit. 2/24 Available here.

  • Sussman, L. Doria-Huff, R. Restructuring The Alliance for Youth Action’s Capacity Building Services to Win in 2024 and Beyond. 9/23.

  • Doria-Huff, R. Sussman, L.West Riverside Infrastructure Community Engagement Project. 8/23. Available here

  • Sussman, L. Summary of Montana CASA/GAL 2022 Program Service Survey.

  • Sussman, L. MT Growth Plan; Preliminary Research on Silver Bow & Big Horn Counties.

  • Sussman, L. Better Questions, Better Answers; Survey Design for Nonprofits. Montana Nonprofit Association 9/22

  • Sussman, L. CASA in Colorado Evaluation Report. 8/21.

  • Sussman, L. An Impact Statement Approach for Nonprofits. Poster presented at American Evaluation Association, 10/20.

  • Sussman, L. Pragmatism Meets Precision. Challenges, Triumphs, Takeaways and Results from Year One of a Statewide Nonprofit Evaluation Project. Presented at Evaluating Better Together (University of Denver). 2/2020.

  • Sussman, L. Brown, T. Using ESSENCE to Meet Local Needs for Mental Health Data: Query and Results. 1/2019 ISDS.

  • Sussman, L. Brown, T. Harnessing the Power of Syndromic Surveillance; Mental Health Emergency Department Trends Across 6 Counties. Presented at Public Health in the Rockies, 9/2018. Available here

  • Sussman, L. Feld, J., Daly, K., Brown, T. Helwig, C., Gujral, I. Partners in Data: Shared Indicators to Measure Opioid Burden and Response in Boulder County. Presented at Public Health in the Rockies, 9/2018.

  • Sussman, L. Brown, T. Trials and Tribulations of Small Area Life Expectancy Estimations, Boulder County (presenting author). Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. West Palm Beach, 6/2018

  • Sussman, L., Scott, K., Brown, T. Evaluating Colorado Health Outcomes Regional Data Service at the Sub-County Level for Use in Boulder County. Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. West Palm Beach, 6/2018

  • Shekiro, E., **Sussman, L., ** Brown T. Tracking drug-related overdoses at the local level: Using Syndromic Surveillance in the CO-NCR. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics. 2018.

  • Sussman, L. Bassarab K. 2016 Food Policy Council Report. Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. 2017.

  • Klika, J.B., Sussman L. Missoula Foster Child Health Program Evaluation (Contract No. 2016PROS0002). Missoula, Montana. 2017.

  • Sussman, L; Marshall, B; Connor, Ryan. How to Create a Trauma-Sensitive School: Essential Components. ASHA Poster Presentation. 2016.

Get Clarity on Data Strategy

The Data Strategy Audit

Common Challenges

  • Your data strategy is piecemeal, and does not support your overall organizational strategy.

  • You collect data, but don't use it.

  • Data is frustrating and time-consuming for your staff.

  • You're 'bean counting' you can only say how many people you served or how many trainings you provided, but now the outcomes or impacts.

A Data Strategy Audit Provides...

  • Insight on creating an overall data strategy aligned with your mission & goals.

  • Help identifying what data to collect & how to use it.

  • A plan for staff to save time and effort, or acquire the skills they need.

  • Recommendations on measuring outcomes and impact.

"Lily is a brilliant and effective data strategist who is great to work with because she really takes the time to learn about you and your organization first before providing feedback and solutions. And she has a knack for bringing people together in order to cohesively synthesize information coming from a million different angles. Not only is she high performing but she is also a lovely person with whom to collaborate!"-Mara Wilde Buchmann, CASA of Adams and Broomfield County

The DSA was useful to our organization because we are a big organization with lots of moving parts. It was great to have someone from outside (Lily) help us clarify the data management issues we were (are) having as well as recommend some ways to improve. The process gave us the momentum and structure to move forward and make some necessary changes. And the process was quick! This is important because often these kinds of systemic changes can take years!-Stephanie Davison, Director of Quality Improvement at Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO)

Use this PDF to request funds for DSA from your board, invest your team or other partners.

Deliverables

  • Clarity on how to align your data strategy with your mission and organizational goals.

  • A report and/or key findings PPT

  • Example report: Feeding Champlain Valley Data Strategy Audit Available here.

Get Started

Time Commitment: 2-3 monthsGet started: schedule a 30 minute call to see if we're a good fit.

Our Values

Careholder centered: we specialize in projects that center those most impacted by them. We emphasize a strength-based approach that recognizes that sustainable, just results come from shared-leadership. Wondering why I use the term 'careholder? Read this.Equity: we collaborate with organizations whose work advances equity. When planning projects, we seek to build equitable processes on an individual, interpersonal and structural level. This includes considering biases, attending to issues of power, and carefully thinking through our process so it prioritizes community stewardship and actionable, meaningful results for those most impacted. We consider equity when facilitating, evaluating, collecting data and designing projects. We are always curious to think through how equity comes into play for your particular organization and project.Rigor We welcome nuance and prize quality. We are proud to merge our extensive experience and academic credentials with our practical-community minded approach. For each project, we consider the needs and build a customized project-team able to deliver high quality results.Pragmatism: We value inclusive, clear processes that lead to tangible results for your organization and community. We aim to simplify, clarify and work efficiently with the resources available. We take the nerdy and academic and make it feasible for real-world impact.