Kevin Zacks, B.S.
Manager
Kevin Zacks, who joined the firm in 2004, is the Manager of Hornby Zeller Associates’ Pennsylvania office. He is responsible for the development and production of individualized reports on outcome and performance measures for each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. These are distributed twice a year to help counties track progress and develop their Needs-Based Plans and Budgets. Concomitantly Mr. Zacks provides training to county, regional and state staff on interpreting the measures, whichare designed to mirror those used by the Children’s Bureau as part of the Children and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs).
Mr. Zacks and his staff also conduct data quality reviews, manage ad hoc data requests from the Commonwealth and county staff, and troubleshoot data problems that arise from the various sources used by the Commonwealth and its counties. When Mr. Zacks first joined HZA, he trained county Children and Youth Service agencies on the use of ChildNet-PA, a case management software system.
Mr. Zacks is developing the National Youth in Transition Databases for Iowa and Pennsylvania where HZA is contracted to carry out the federal requirement of tracking youth who reached age 17 in foster care for three years after discharge. Under his guidance HZA has developed web-based response system and incentives for the youth. Mr. Zacks is also responsible for developing a dashboard of key indicators for HZA’s Nebraska evaluation of various children’s behavioral health services for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. He is also supervising a Random Moment Survey for residential care programs in Colorado to capture Title IV E funding.
In 2007 Mr. Zacks led a service needs assessment of two metropolitan counties in Georgia. As part of that effort, he helped identify resource gaps for children in foster care, and designed a web-based matching tool used to closely matchchildren removed from the homewith providers in the child’s natural communities which can best meet their service needs.
Prior to joining HZA in 2004, Mr. Zacks was a Program Specialist at CSR, Incorporated, in Arlington, Virginia, where he worked on a Research and Evaluation Technical Assistance (RETA) contract with the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In that role, Mr. Zacks analyzed data and prepared reports in response to various ad hoc requests from federal agencies, concerning both the adult correctional system and juvenile justice, and provided assistance to other departments within the company with writing grant applications for government funding and coordinating peer review panels. Mr. Zacks earned Bachelor’s degrees in both Political Science and Economics from the University of Houston, Texas.
Mr. Zacks earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Houston.
Case Management System
From Mississippi Families As Allies Software Development Proposal – October 2015
Kevin Zacks, B.S., Pennsylvania Manager
Kevin Zacks is the Manager of Hornby Zeller Associates’ Pennsylvania office. Mr. Zacks has overseen and been a major contributor to the implementation of a number of web-based systems, including Time Study and RMS tools used for workload studies. Over the last several years such tools have been used for workload studies conducted for Minnesota’s Child, Safety and Permanency Division; Alaska’s Office of Children Services and Westchester County’s (New York) Child Welfare Division. He has also provided guidance in the development of case management systems, including ChildNet-PA, an application which has been used by a dozen counties in Pennsylvania.
Two years ago Mr. Zacks led the development of web-based National Youth in Transition Databases (NYTD) for both Iowa and Pennsylvania, where youth are required to complete an outcome survey, as federally required, when they reach age 17 while in foster care and again at 19 and 21. Beyond providing a web-based tool for caseworkers and youth to use in responding to the outcome survey, a real-time reporting feature has been added to help in monitoring rates of response. More recently, HZA was asked to collect data about the independent living services counties provide from Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Regardless of data type, outcome survey or services data, files are provided to the respective states using the federally prescribed format.
In Pennsylvania, Mr. Zacks oversees the production of outcome and performance measures which HZA generates semi-annually for each of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties as part of their annual Needs-Based Plans and Budgets. Using AFCARS data, Mr. Zacks’ project team has developed automated applications to generate the county packages, which are comprised of Excel workbooks, PowerPoint presentations and Word documents. Mr. Zacks and his staff conduct extensive data quality reviews and troubleshoot problems that arise from the various data sources used by the Commonwealth and its counties. He is overseeing a similar project for the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, the development of the web-based Longitudinal Data, Analysis and Reporting System. That system draws from New Jersey’s SACWIS, similar to TRAILS, to report performance measures for the state, regions and counties. The same team bid here designed, programmed and mounted New Jersey’s system. Mr. Zacks also provides trainings to state and local managers in the interpretation and use of the data in decision-making.
Prior to joining HZA, Mr. Zacks was a Program Specialist at CSR, Incorporated, in Arlington, Virginia, where he worked on a Research and Evaluation Technical Assistance contract with the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In that role, he analyzed data and prepared reports in response to various ad hoc requests from federal agencies, concerning both the adult correctional and juvenile justice systems, and provided assistance to other departments within the company in writing grant applications for government funding. He also managed peer reviews of NIJ grant reports.
From West Virginia Web-based Home Visitation Data Collection System Technical Proposal – July 2013
Kevin Zacks, Quality Assurance and Testing
Kevin Zacks is the Manager of Hornby Zeller Associates’ Pennsylvania office, where he oversees the production of outcome and performance measures HZA generates semi-annually for each of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties as part of their annual Needs-Based Plans and Budgets. Using AFCARS data, his project team developed automated applications to generate the county data packages, for which Mr. Zacks and his staff conduct extensive data quality reviews and troubleshoot problems that arise from the various data sources used by the Commonwealth and its counties. He leads a similar project for the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, the development of a web-based Longitudinal Data, Analysis and Reporting System, which draws from New Jersey’s SACWIS to report performance measures for the state, regions and counties. Mr. Zacks holds oversight responsibility for the quality assurance function for this work, and provides training to state and local managers in the interpretation and use of the data in their decision-making.
Mr. Zacks oversees and has been a major contributor to the implementation of a number of web-based systems during his tenure with HZA. These include Time Study and Random Moment Survey tools used for workload studies (such as those conducted for Minnesota’s Child, Safety and Permanency Division; Alaska’s Office of Children Services and Westchester County New York’s Child Welfare Division). Mr. Zacks has also provided guidance in the development and testing of case management systems, including ChildNet-PA, an application which has been used by a dozen counties in Pennsylvania. Mr. Zacks led the development of web-based National Youth in Transition Databases (NYTD) for both Iowa and Pennsylvania, where system-involved youth are required to complete a federally required outcome survey when they reach age 17 (while still in foster care) and again at 19 and 21. Beyond providing a web-based tool for caseworkers and youth to use in responding to the outcome survey, a real-time reporting feature has been added to help in monitoring rates of response. More recently, HZA was asked to collect data about the independent living services counties provide from Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in support of the Commonwealth’s federal reporting requirement, and Mr. Zacks heads that effort as well.
Prior to joining HZA, Mr. Zacks was a Program Specialist at CSR, Inc., in Arlington, Virginia, where he worked on a Research and Evaluation Technical Assistance contract with the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In that role, he analyzed data and prepared reports in response to various ad hoc requests from federal agencies concerning both the adult correctional and juvenile justice systems, and provided assistance to other departments within the company in writing grant applications for government funding. He also managed peer reviews of NIJ grant reports.
From Connecticut Data Collect System Consult – 2007
Kevin Zacks, B.S., Senior Data Analyst
Mr. Zacks is the lead data analyst in HZA’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania office and serves as the day-to-day manager for HZA’s current work with OCYF. Mr. Zacks has several years of management experience in both the human services and commercial fields. Four years of this involved working on National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grants, managing the review process for proposals as an employee of a private firm in Arlington, Virginia, working for NIJ.
Currently, Mr. Zacks is responsible for the analysis of data from 67 counties and production of summary data packages twice yearly for each county in Pennsylvania to assist in the development of annual Needs Based Plans and Budgets. He troubleshoots data quality questions and provides ad hoc data analysis for OCYF staff and county agencies. Mr. Zacks has also analyzed data collected from individual counties’ Quality Service Reviews case record data and drafted individualized reports containing the findings of the analysis. Mr. Zacks uses Access, Excel, Visual Basic.net and SPSS in the work he does for Pennsylvania.
Mr. Zacks has also been involved in the effort to help the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services continue to increase the number of adoptions of children in public custody. For the Adoption Services Quality Assurance project, Mr. Zacks developed and implemented programming to parse, analyze and summarize data from 88 counties. He also automated the creation of reports based on the data. Again, this involved using a combination of programming packages, including SAS.
Mr. Zacks has been assisting Ms. Hallenbeck in supporting ChildNet-PA (see above). As modifications are made to the system, Mr. Zacks conducts testing of the changes and often writes the code needed to correct identified problems. In addition, he is responsible for the successful installation of new versions and patches and also works, along with Ms. Hallenbeck, with the users group.
Prior to joining HZA, Mr. Zacks was a Program Specialist at CSR, Incorporated, in Arlington, Virginia, where he worked on a Research and Evaluation Technical Assistance (RETA) contract with the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In that role, Mr. Zacks analyzed data and prepared reports in response to various ad hoc requests from federal agencies, concerning both the adult correctional system and juvenile justice, and provided assistance to other departments within the company with writing grant applications for government funding. He also managed peer reviews of NIJ grant reports, peer review panels and meetings of 5-130 attendees.
CFSR/PIP/QSR Support
From Pennsylvania Data Gathering, Analysis, and Reporting; Technical Assistance and Training Proposal – December 2015
Kevin Zacks, Project Manager
Kevin Zacks, who joined HZA in 2004, is the Manager of the firm’s Pennsylvania office. He also serves as the Project Manager for the current contract HZA has with DHS/OCYF. Mr. Zacks will continue to provide oversight and guidance to staff as they complete each of the deliverables, verify the accuracy and quality of the data, assist with day-to-day activities and lead the training efforts. He will serve as the primary contact with OCYF.
Mr. Zacks has a wide range of experience with child welfare and juvenile justice systems, ranging from in-depth knowledge of federal reporting requirements to outcome measures used to assess the impact of a program on children and their families to conducting random moment surveys for administrative cost claiming purposes. He is responsible for the production and utilization of the longitudinal AFCARS files which are used to develop and produce the individualized reports on outcome and performance measures for each of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties and to respond to ad hoc data requests. He developed the syntax HZA uses today, following federal guidance, to produce the outcome measures on safety and permanency; he consistently assesses the syntax and federal guidance to ensure it continues to mirror that of the Children’s Bureau and makes changes accordingly. Given his experience in understanding the various data sources used by OCYF to monitor its programs on both a statewide and county level and how to use the data to inform decision-making, Mr. Zacks trained state, regional and county staff to use the various reporting sources and interpret their results for budgeting, program planning and monitoring purposes.
A key element of Mr. Zacks’ success as a Project Manager relates to increasing productivity and efficiency by developing automated processes to carry out the firm’s work for OCYF, as well as its other clients. This has not only allowed OCYF to better support its efforts and those of its local counterparts, it has also provided Pennsylvania with the means to track clients for data collection purposes. For example, HZA’s Harrisburg office is able to generate and provide a PowerPoint displaying the results of a QSR almost instantaneously following completion of the week long review. Mr. Zacks guided the development of the web-based applications Pennsylvania and Iowa use for the National Youth in Transition Database. Each is designed to track youth who are eligible to participate in the outcome surveys, enabling county (Pennsylvania) and HZA (Iowa) staff to update contact information and record completed outcome surveys. The version of the application developed for Pennsylvania also enables caseworkers to record service level information while that developed for Iowa includes a component which enables HZA and Iowa to transmit updated files back and forth, on a nightly basis, via the client’s secure file transfer protocol system.
The county packages which Mr. Zacks is responsible for generating on a semi-annual basis are similar to the work he carries out for New Jersey. There, he is responsible for guiding the production of longitudinal data and generating statewide and county-level reports in support of a modified settlement decree the Department of Children and Families has as well as for monitoring outcomes as part of that state’s PIP.
Mr. Zacks is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a random moment time study which is being administered in Colorado. He provided conceptual guidance in adapting the firm’s Automated Random Moment and Reporting System to meet Colorado’s administrative cost claiming needs. Mr. Zacks worked closely with Colorado Department of Human Services’ staff to identify changes, in accord with revisions to the Cost Allocation Plan and with local coordinators to carry out their respective tasks so that samples are adequately drawn prior to the start of each quarter and response rates to auto-generated surveys satisfy federal reporting requirements.
Prior to joining HZA, Mr. Zacks was a Program Specialist at CSR, Incorporated, in Arlington, Virginia, where he worked on a Research and Evaluation Technical Assistance (RETA) contract with the U.S. National Institute of Justice (NIJ). In that role, Mr. Zacks analyzed data and prepared reports in response to various ad hoc requests from federal agencies, concerning both the adult correctional system and juvenile justice, and provided assistance to other departments within the company with writing grant applications for government funding and coordinating peer review panels. Mr. Zacks earned Bachelor’s degrees in both Political Science and Economics from the University of Houston in Texas.
From Pennsylvania Data Gathering, Analysis and Reporting; Technical Assistance and Training Proposal – October 2012
Kevin Zacks, B.S.
Project Manager
Kevin Zacks has been the Manager of HZA’s Pennsylvania office, and therefore the Project Manager for OCYF Technical Assistance, Training and Staff Support for Needs-based Planning and Budgeting for the past five years. He is responsible for the development and production of individualized reports on outcome and performance measures for each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, for assisting OCYF with production of the semi-annual AFCARS files, for the production and utilization of longitudinal AFCARS files, for National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) data collection, for production of the Quality Service Review (QSR) final reports and for all of the other functions related to OCYF’s data analysis needs.