Deborah’s Place has always been committed to continuous improvement. We do this through the collection and analysis of data on our participants and programs. This helps us to set annual outcomes and measure the success of our programs and services over time. And we couldn’t do this without our Program Data Manager, Dana Kraus.
Dana started at Deborah’s Place as an intern while attending graduate school. Her role as an intern consisted of working with our residents on a program-based level. Wanting to do more macro-level work and to move on in her career, Dana moved on to academia. She focused on research specifically about homelessness in Chicago. Using her passion for collecting and analyzing data, Dana interviewed over 1500 people experiencing homelessness to gather data to make a difference on a larger scale. Her work allowed her to gain insight on the experience of homelessness different from what most of us see. This work has helped organizations, like Deborah’s Place, provide important and needed resources to people experiencing homelessness.
As a result of her research, Dana realized she wanted to make a bigger and more direct impact to those who need it most. She came across a job posting for a Program Data Manager at Deborah’s Place and remembered her time as an intern here, so she decided to apply. Shortly after, Dana became a full-time team member of Deborah’s Place.
Now in her current role as Program Data Manager, she provides comprehensive data management for Deborah’s Place. Whether she is engaging with participants, evaluating outcomes or reporting out to government agencies, her work is vital to our continuous improvement.
Dana says, “Entering data can help us see what we are doing well, but also more importantly, what we are not doing well so that we can improve that.”
Without Dana’s skills in managing our data, we couldn’t meet the needs of the women we serve as effectively or set goals for the future. The role of Program Data Manager is integral to our success as an organization. Dana is an important team member, and we are incredibly grateful to have her as part of Deborah’s Place for the past five years.
When Dana is off the clock, she enjoys gardening and road tripping.