Our Projects

The Cloudburst Group is working with the USAID Bureau for Europe and Eurasia (E&E) to fulfill requirements of US Government environmental regulations regarding environmental impacts of US-funded activities overseas.

Cloudburst worked with USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment to develop a site focused on USAID’s work with Indigenous Peoples. The objective of the website is to house resources for project design and information on indigenous peoples to support USAID Missions and implementing partners in successfully executing programming that impacts indigenous peoples.

In Liberia, The Cloudburst Group has designed and is implementing a Difference-in-Difference rigorous performance evaluation of NAMATI’s Community Land Protection Program (CLPP). The project is helping communities protect land rights through legal empowerment, by-law development, governance strengthening, resource valuation, boundary mapping, and conflict resolution in Lofa, River Gee, and Maryland counties.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has contracted Cloudburst to implement a performance evaluation of the Property Rights Project (PRP) in Mongolia. The PRP was implemented by the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Mongolia from 2008 to 2013.

The LER II award highlights Cloudburst’s strong capabilities that tie together rigorous Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) work with our innovative approach to communications. We are skilled at conducting mixed-methods evaluations from helping sharpen evaluation frameworks/theories of change to overseeing firms to data cleaning, analysis, reporting, and publication.

The Cloudburst Group was awarded a Task Order to provide Management Consultation and Technical Assistance to the Coordinated State Support Branch of CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). Under this Public Health Infrastructure, Capacity Building Analysis, and Communications Task Order, The Cloudburst Group provided expert analysis, writing, and communication support to the Coordinated State Support Branch to help them establish a knowledge base regarding states’ chronic disease prevention and health promotion capacities, organization, best practices, and other cross-cutting activities in state health departments.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been tasked with evaluating the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) administered PDO/naloxone grant. To assist CDC in these efforts, the Battelle/Cloudburst team has been commissioned to conduct a qualitative evaluation study of the 12 funded grantees.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Performance Accountability and Reporting System (SPARS) is a central data collection and reporting system for grantees to enter client-level baseline, reassessment, and discharge data; grantee-level performance measures; quarterly progress reports and other program outcome data.

The Program Evaluation for Prevention Contract (PEP-C) focused on evaluating the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)’s Partnerships for Success (PFS) program, which provides eligible states and jurisdictions with funds to increase prevention capacity at the state and community levels and achieve declines in state-wide substance abuse rates.

The Cloudburst Group provides program management and support for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Environmental Tracking Program (Tracking Program). The Tracking Program is the ongoing collection, integration, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data from environmental hazard monitoring, and from human exposure and health effects surveillance.

Under the U.S. International Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Global Environmental Management Support (GEMS II) program, The Cloudburst Group is continuing its support of the USAID Environmental Compliance Database (ECD), which we originally developed in 2009. Through a series of contracts, The Cloudburst Group has developed and refined this robust knowledge management system which houses USAID’s Environmental Compliance review documentation.

The goal of our communications efforts under Global Environmental Management Support (GEMS) it to aid U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Environmental Officers (EOs) as they engage with colleagues and wider international development audiences to help shift the perception of environmental compliance (EC) to a value-added process that can improve USAID projects and their outcomes.

The Cloudburst Group is working with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Europe and Eurasia (E&E) to fulfill requirements of US Government environmental regulations regarding environmental impacts of US-funded activities overseas. Our staff provide critical and demand driven support to the E&E Bureau leveraging their vast expert knowledge of environmental regulations and policies as they apply to USAID programs including the Agency’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing regulation 22CFR216 (Reg. 216), the Foreign Assistance Act Section 119 addressing Biodiversity, the Pelosi Amendment (Title XIII) relating to Multilateral Development Banks (MDB), and relevant Chapters of the USAID’s Automated Directive System (ADS).

To address the critical public health need for clean and safe private well water for over 40 million people in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the Private Well Initiative (PWI) in 2010. This initiative created a national workgroup and website for sharing research updates, surveillance data, and promising practices that promote effective strategies to address the risks found in unregulated drinking water systems.

The Cloudburst Group has designed several self-directed adult learning models and use of virtual technologies and tools to help grantees better implement the HUD Environmental Review Process.

The Cloudburst Group worked closely with the HUD Office of Environment and Energy (OEE) to develop a curriculum that equips Responsible Entities– HUD grantees (state and local government, and Tribes) along with local partners responsible for preparing environmental reviews, with the knowledge and skills necessary to conducting environmental reviews for HUD assisted activities.

In the City of San Antonio, The Cloudburst Group provided guidance and best practices regarding the development of a community revitalization strategy that supported the City’s goals of effectively targeting and coordinating resources (federal, state, local, and foundations). The San Antonio region had historically developed its HUD required Consolidated Plan in isolation from other local plans and was not using market-driven data in the formulation of its funding decisions.

In the State of Iowa, The Cloudburst Group worked with the Economic Development Authority to assess the State’s economic climate, implement appropriate programs, and enable the State to reach their economic goals and potential.

The State of Iowa was struggling to use Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to full capacity.

Cloudburst completed the final draft of a Consolidated Plan for the City of Seattle, Washington, a culmination of several months of efforts working with the City, its partners, and community stakeholders. Completing a full review of the Citizen Participation Plan, Cloudburst aided the city in updating the plan to streamline the Action Plan amendment process, ensuring compliance to all applicable federal rules and regulations.

The Cloudburst Group introduced market-based, place-based comprehensive community development plans to improve Sacramento’s strategic utilization of HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.

The City and County had historically implemented a pro-rata method of CDBG funds distribution across all Region Council Districts; the Cloudburst Group assisted the Sacramento Housing Redevelopment Authority (SHRA) in identifying priority investment neighborhoods using a strategic market- and data-based approach.

This firm-fixed price, performance-based contract provides direct customer support and services to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Planning and Development (CPD) programs – Special Needs Assistance Programs (SNAPS), Emergency Shelter Grants Program (ESG), Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), and Technical Assistance (TA) – with data collection, entry, verification, and analysis, and grant performance reporting.

Cloudburst conducted three Environmental Scans for cities identified to participate in Unsheltered & Encampment Technical Assistance (TA). Cloudburst served as lead for two communities: San Diego and San Jose; and served as co-lead for Honolulu.

Increasingly, providing quality care to vulnerable populations requires multiple systems to communicate and coordinate. People experiencing homelessness often touch several systems and as a subset continuously cycle through a variety of emergency interventions which comes at a great cost to the community and the households themselves.

Cloudburst staff developed tools for local evaluators to collect data on wide-ranging receipt of support services (for behavioral health, housing, and other services) by veterans diverted from the criminal justice system into trauma-informed care, as part of a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)-funded national cross-site evaluation.

Cloudburst was asked to assess and report on ways in which the City’s departments have responded to concerns about street homelessness. The consulting team reviewed existing data and held structured interviews with 10 senior staff in six City departments.

Cloudburst is providing evaluation support to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) in regards to their research program portfolios. The goals of the research portfolio reviews are to: 1) assess focus, quality, and practice relevance of NCIPC’s research program portfolios in selected topic areas; 2) assess the outcomes of research programs, 3) identify gaps, redundancies, and other areas for improvement in the portfolios, and 4) assess the allocation of resources and infrastructure to support the portfolio review topic.

Cloudburst was asked to assess and report on ways in which the City’s departments have responded to concerns about street homelessness. The consulting team reviewed existing data and held structured interviews with 10 senior staff in six City departments. The compiled information was related to two kinds of events: unpredictably timed emergency/nuisance calls, and encampment clearings.

In Zambia, The Cloudburst Group has designed and is implementing a Randomized Control Trial impact evaluation for a USAID climate smart agriculture pilot under the Tenure and Global Climate Change (TGCC) project that explores the relationship between achieving climate change adaptation and mitigation goals and strengthening resource tenure.

In Zambia, The Cloudburst Group is designing and implementing a Difference-in-Difference impact evaluation of the USAID/Zambia-funded Community-based Forest Management Program (CFP). The CFP program is creating the largest REDD+ program in Zambia with goals of improving livelihoods, generating income, reducing poverty and increasing the number of hectares of forestland under improved management in Zambia’s Muchinga and Eastern Provinces.

In Ethiopia, The Cloudburst Group has designed and is implementing a Difference-in-Difference impact evaluation of USAID’s Ethiopia Land Tenure Administration Program (ELTAP) and the Ethiopia Land Administration Program (ELAP). The evaluation will measure the impact of second-level land certification activities that were conducted under ELTAP/ELAP and the impacts these activities had on rural households.

In Guinea, The Cloudburst Group has designed and is implementing a Difference-in-Difference impact evaluation for USAID’s Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development II (PRADD II) project. PRADD II was developed to strengthen the capacity of diamond-producing nations to comply with the Kimberley Process Certification Sc…

Cloudburst conducted the rigorous midterm mixed-method performance evaluation (PE) of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Colombia’s Land and Rural Development Program (LRDP), an innovative program focused on land administration and institutional change in post-conflict Colombia. LRDP was designed to improve lan…

Under the Learning, Evaluation, and Research II (LER II) project, the Cloudburst Group was tasked by USAID/Armenia and the USAID DRG Center to develop a set of infographics that highlight key findings from three nation-wide assessments that Cloudburst conducted on civil society and media (CSM) and integrity systems/rule of law (IS/ROL) following the 2018 Armenian Velvet Revolution.

The Evaluation, Research and Communication (ERC) project is a five-year program under USAID’s Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR) Indefinite Quantity Contract, managed by USAID’s Land Tenure and Resource Management Office. The purpose of ERC is to create, expand, and communicate evidence-based knowledge around land tenure best practices to enhance learning, guide program design and […]

In Liberia, The Cloudburst Group has designed and is implementing a Difference-in-Difference impact evaluation of NAMATI’s Community Land Protection Program (CLPP). The project is helping communities protect land rights through legal empowerment, by-law development, governance strengthening, resource valuation, boundary mapping, and conflict resolution in Lofa, River Gee, and Maryland counties. The program’s goal is to proactively […]

Period of Performance: March 2015 – October 2015 As a result of qualitative and quantitative data analysis, Cloudburst identified a series of impediments to fair housing and worked closely with the City of Oakland to develop actionable strategies to address these impediments. Using the Community of Opportunities model (basis for Assessment of Fair Housing rule), […]

Cloudburst developed the regional Consolidated Plan for three U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) jurisdictions in Kent County, MI. Cloudburst conducted more than ten focus groups with stakeholders, developed web- and paper-based community surveys, gathered and analyzed HUD-provided and local data sources to inform the Needs Assessment and Market Analysis and developed the Strategic Plan to guide the region’s housing and community development investments.

Under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) OneCPD Program, The Cloudburst Group conducted a cross-program Needs Assessment and provided direct assistance involving remote and onsite support to Flint’s Division of Community and Economic Development (DCED) between 2012 and 2015. As with many “rust belt” communities, Flint had undergone decades of economic disinvestment and population […]

In Guinea, The Cloudburst Group has designed and is implementing a Difference-in-Difference impact evaluation for USAID’s Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development II (PRADD II) project. PRADD II was developed to strengthen the capacity of diamond-producing nations to comply with the Kimberley Process Certification Sc…

In Guinea, The Cloudburst Group has designed and is implementing a Difference-in-Difference impact evaluation for USAID’s Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development II (PRADD II) project. PRADD II was developed to strengthen the capacity of diamond-producing nations to comply with the Kimberley Process Certification Sc…