Vera's Use of Advisory Boards
To ensure a national perspective for its work, Vera establishes an advisory board for every demonstration and for many other projects. Throughout this web site, you’ll find these boards under the heading "Advisors." The Institute invites 10 to 20 experts in the field—researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and advocates from all parts of the country—who can help define the problem, identify risks, explore solutions, and monitor whether the innovation remains relevant beyond its test site.

Throughout the life of a project, from implementation through spin-off, project directors rely on the knowledge and experience of their advisors. Directors work with advisors to solve operational problems, refine relationships with government, identify new partners, and deal with obstacles and challenges. When Vera's Adolescent Portable Therapy (APT) program was struggling with low intake, for example, its advisors helped to remedy the problem.

One of the main reasons for the low number of youth entering APT was that not enough adolescents were meeting the program's requirement of regular substance use. Both APT's staff and the program's advisors believed that many teens were under reporting their drug use during the initial screening process that took place soon after they were arrested and detained. Nurses working at the detention center had been conducting those interviews. The program's advisors suggested using a computerized screening instrument instead, believing that it would generate more honest responses—a theory that turned out to be correct. The computerized tool made the screening process more uniform and effective and continues to be a crucial part of getting young substance users and their families into a program that can help change their lives for the better.

Advisors also help project directors regularly assess the project’s performance in light of its goals. Board meetings twice a year give the director and other staff the opportunity to step back from the daily operational details and examine the bigger picture: Is the project having the desired impact on individual participants and government systems? Are staff implementing the project in such a way that the innovation will live on after Vera stops operating it?

Between meetings, these advisors often talk about Vera’s work with their colleagues. In this way, news of the innovation spreads, and project staff start to connect with officials in other jurisdictions who can learn from Vera’s work and share their insights with us.

[ last modified 10/8/2004 6:47:59 AM ]

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A Message to New Advisory Board Members
Serving on an advisory board should be a valuable and enjoyable experience. As a new board member, you can look forward to meeting respected colleagues and learning about promising work going on around the country. In many cases, your associations with other board members will last even after Vera’s demonstration ends and the board dissolves. It’s not uncommon for advisory board members to stay in touch and even collaborate on new projects. But most rewarding, we hope, is the chance you will have to shape an innovation that could make dramatic improvements in government and, ultimately, benefit countless individuals.

Our advisory board members usually serve for three years and are required to attend daylong meetings twice a year at Vera’s offices in New York City. Although Vera does not pay board members for their time, the Institute does cover travel expenses. Additionally, Vera can offer you certain types of assistance with your own work. For example, we freely share our library resources and the experiences of our diverse staff.

While you are not under any legal obligation to the Institute or the project and are not required to supervise the project’s day-to-day activities, your role does carry responsibilities. Vera expects board members to read the materials that project staff circulate prior to board meetings, to actively participate in these meetings, and to be available to consult occasionally with project directors and other staff over the telephone.

If you’re interested in learning about who serves on the advisory boards of other Vera projects, look for the heading “Advisors” as you explore this site or use the “Search” button above to locate the web pages that list, and in some cases describe, advisory board members.

[ last modified 10/8/2004 6:47:59 AM ]

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