Year: 2017

In September 2010, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the Regional Cluster Initiative, a pilot program to promote and support ten clusters — geographically concentrated groups of interconnected businesses, suppliers, academic institutions, service providers, and associated organizations — across a wide variety of industries and regions throughout the United States. The SBA’s Cluster Initiative provides funding to the organizing entities of the ten clusters in order to increase opportunities for small business participation within the clusters, promote innovation in the industries on which the ten clusters are focused, and enhance regional economic development and growth. This report describes the preliminary findings and outcomes from the first-year evaluation of the SBA’s Initiative. Read the Year One report. 

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Carol Boston- Faculty Research Assistant at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies (iSchool), will discuss work in progress on iSchool research related to volunteer motivation to participate in citizen science projects,  and the technology (including mobile apps and multi-user, touch-input-based tabletops)  to support and encourage their participation on April 17, 2013 at 12 noon at Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal’s) office in M Square Research Park, Maryland.   Insights gained from recent studies involving international volunteers and millennials (the so-called “digital natives”) will be shared. » Read more

Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) was contracted to work with  the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on its Regional Cluster Initiative in October of 2010. The SBA’s Cluster Initiative provides funding to the organizing entities of ten clusters in order to increase opportunities for small business participation within the clusters, promote innovation in the industries on which the ten clusters are focused, and enhance regional economic development and growth. » Read more

Scott Dempwolf, currently an Assistant Research Professor in the University of Maryland, Economic Development University Center will be presenting his dissertation on regional innovation clusters on Wednesday, July 31^st  at 12 noon at Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal’s) office in M Square Research Park, Maryland.  » Read more

Dr. Barbara Morgan, currently a senior lecturer and undergraduate advisor in the Department of Economics at Johns Hopkins University, will be giving a presentation on the key methodologies economists, sociologists and lawyers use to demonstrate whether or not discrimination exists in the labor market. » Read more

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) held its bi-annual Education Summit from August 6 – 8 in Washington, DC. » Read more

In an effort to sustainably reduce poverty and hunger through its Feed the Future (FtF) global initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) works with host governments, development partners, and other stakeholders to address the root causes of global hunger. The initiative seeks to: 1) facilitate efficient market systems to meet the growing demand for food; 2) increase agricultural productivity; and 3) increase incomes so the poor can purchase food. There are 20 countries selected for the initiative, which aims to improve the countries’ and their communities’ capacity to better cope with adverse conditions that lead to food crises.¹

One of the 20 selected countries was Liberia, whose principal sector of activity is agriculture yet is a country plagued with food insecurity, widespread poverty, high unemployment, low human capital, and a recent outbreak of Ebola. The FtF initiative in Liberia has two main objectives: support growth in Liberia’s agricultural sector and improve the nutritional status of Liberians. In order to know how to better implement programs that work toward these two end-goals, USAID contracted Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal), under the USAID Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP) contract, to conduct a population-based survey (PBS). Optimal worked alongside the University of Liberia-Pacific Institute for Research (UL-PIRE) to develop the survey and associated reports, and make ensure the use of sustainable methods so that UL-PIRE had the expertise to conduct future surveys.

The LEAP team sought to conduct near real-time data collection that would also prove to be sustainable for future surveys, so they used Asus Nexus 7 tablets for data collection, provided supervisors with laptops for quality review and daily data upload, and used Open Data Kit as the data collection software. The team made all these selections after conducting thorough field tests and after modifying the survey questions for the electronic and paper versions.

The team conducted the PBS in six Liberian counties— Montserrado, Nimba, Bong, Lofa, Grand Bassa, and Margibi—via a cluster approach and collected data on the following criteria:

• Consumption
• Prevalence of poverty
• Hunger
• Food insecurity
• Women’s empowerment

The LEAP team was scheduled to travel to Liberia to hand off the laptops during summer 2014, but the trip was canceled due to WHO and CDC travel warnings. Instead, the team arranged for laptops with software already installed to be sent to Liberia.

View the full report.

Poverty has afflicted Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. Since then, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has designed and implemented projects to promote private-enterprise development and employment generation. These previous USAID-funded projects had the same goals of 1) strengthening product, market development, and market linkages; 2) promoting economy-wide and sector-level reforms; and 3) increasing lending to target firms. Like these projects, the Poverty Reduction by Increasing the Competitiveness of Enterprises (PRICE) project is a 5-year project that aims to increase economic development in Bangladesh by alleviating limitations in the country’s lead value chains of horticulture, aquaculture, and leather.^[1]

Through the Learning Evaluation and Analysis Project (LEAP) contract, USAID contracted Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) to conduct the final performance evaluation of the PRICE project. The project, which was implemented between 2008 and 2013 with a total funding of $12.9 million, had the goals of increasing pro-poor economic opportunities; improving workforce skills and social-compliance practices; improving governance practices related to economic growth and poverty reduction; increasing small and medium enterprise development; increasing the growth of the non-textile private sector; and increasing capacity and use of knowledge-management systems.^[2]

Optimal’s LEAP team came upon mostly positive findings, such as the fact that PRICE succeeded in achieving its project goals across the three sectors; lead horticulture firms benefitting from the project in community mobilization, training, and adoption in bigger communities and geographic areas; and the project increasing women’s technical skills in horticulture and aquaculture.

To view the full report, please click here

This year marks the fourth year of the Small Business Administration (SBA)’s Regional Cluster Initiative pilot program. » Read more