Racial Equity Lens Logic Model & Theory of Change

A Step by Step Guide to Help Organizations Become More Confident In Their Ability to Demonstrate Outcomes

By: Quisha Brown

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This guidebook describes a framework called the Progressive Outcomes Scale Logic Model which helps organizations analyze and address racial inequities in their programs and initiatives by explicitly considering the perspectives and experiences of people of color, essentially allowing them to identify how their work might unintentionally perpetuate systemic racism and actively work to dismantle it, which is crucial in the fight against poverty as racial disparities often contribute significantly to poverty rates.

The guidebook encourages organizations to actively engage with communities of color to understand their needs and perspectives, ensuring that solutions are culturally relevant and responsive. It provides measurable problems and outcome examples that can be used to assess progress, communicate with stakeholders, or to identify areas of improvement. It could also be used to spark brainstorming discussions for other activities your organization may want to pursue.

Additionally, this guide describes how the POSLM is used to connect dollars to outcomes, thereby enabling federal governments to exercise greater fiscal responsibility by providing a more comprehensive approach to tracking the impact of federal spending on social programs. Unlike traditional methods that primarily focus on quantitative data—such as the number of people served—the POSLM emphasizes outcomes-based data, capturing the progressive improvements in social impact.