WYO HELP · Community Action Learning

ROMA Preview: From Need to Results

Learn the thinking behind Results Oriented Management and Accountability by making the decisions that build a sample ROMA logic model.

Preview training: This is an introductory WYO HELP learning tool. It is not ROMA certification and does not replace formal ROMA training, current CSBG reporting instructions, or guidance from a certified ROMA professional.

Part 1 · The Big Idea

ROMA Is a Way of Managing for Results

ROMA is more than a report or a form. It is a management and accountability process focused on the results produced by Community Action activities.

Assess
needs & resources

Plan
priorities & outcomes

Implement
strategies

Measure
results

Improve
use what you learn

The key shift: Don't begin with “What service can we provide?” Begin with “What condition needs to change, and what result are we trying to produce?”

Quick check: Which statement is an outcome?

An output describes what was delivered or produced. An outcome describes a benefit or change for people, an agency, or a community.

Based on NASCSP's Introduction to ROMA for Boards and ROMA Terms & Definitions: ROMA emphasizes results; outputs are products/units of service, while outcomes are benefits or changes.

Part 2 · Planning

Start With the Problem, Need, or Situation

For this practice model, imagine a rural Community Needs Assessment finds that workers with low incomes are losing or risking employment because dependable transportation is unavailable.

Which is the strongest statement of the identified need?

The need describes the condition to be changed. “Gas vouchers” is already a strategy. “Create a program” is an activity. ROMA planning asks us to understand needs, resources, mission and intended results before choosing services.

Build Your Practice Logic Model

1. Identified Problem / Need / SituationDescribe the condition—not the service you already have in mind.

The NASCSP logic-model template begins with the “Identified Problem, Need, Situation.” Board-oriented ROMA material places community assessment and intended results before strategy selection.

Part 3 · Scope

At What Level Should Change Occur?

ROMA recognizes results at different levels. For this preview, think in terms of Family, Agency, or Community.

Our transportation example primarily seeks a change in what?

If our intended result is that participating workers maintain employment, the primary result is at the Family level. A different strategy could target a Community-level result, such as increasing transportation availability countywide.

2. Level of Change

Part 4 · Benefit

Define the Result Before the Service

The outcome is the benefit or change you expect. This is where ROMA forces a useful question: What will be different if our work succeeds?

Which is the best outcome for this scenario?

Serving 60 households is an output. Maintaining employment is a change experienced by participants—the outcome.

3. Intended OutcomeState the benefit or change expected.

Part 5 · Intervention

Now Choose a Strategy and Its Output

Only after the need and intended result are clear do we choose the service or activity. There may be several defensible strategies.

Which could be a reasonable strategy?

ROMA does not require one predetermined service. The important question is whether the strategy logically connects the identified need to the intended result.

4. Service / Activity / Strategy

5. OutputInclude timeframe and number of people served or units offered where appropriate.

Common trap: “60 households received assistance” proves that activity happened. It does not yet tell us whether employment became more stable.

Part 6 · Evidence

How Will You Know the Outcome Happened?

An outcome indicator is observable, measurable information showing whether the intended change occurred. Targets add the projected number and percentage expected to achieve it.

Which indicator best matches “participants maintain employment”?

The indicator must track the outcome, not simply the activity. It should be observable and measurable.

6. Outcome Indicator

7. Projected TargetUse a realistic projected number and percentage—not an automatic 100%.

8. Measurement / Data Source / Collection

9. Frequency of Collection & Reporting

NASCSP's logic-model template calls for an outcome indicator, projected number and percentage, measurement/data source, collection procedure/personnel, and frequency of data collection/reporting.

Part 7 · Accountability

Compare Actual Results With What You Planned

Planning is not the end of ROMA. After implementation, actual results are compared with projected results. The information then informs the next cycle of assessment, planning and improvement.

Suppose 39 of 60 participants maintained employment for 90 days. Your target was 45 of 60. What is the most ROMA-like response?

ROMA connects management and accountability. Results are useful because they help an agency learn—not because every projection must be met.

10. Actual Results (normally completed after implementation)

Important: A logic model is not merely a grant-writing worksheet. The accountability side becomes meaningful when actual results are measured, compared with expectations, and used in future decisions.

Part 8 · Your Finished Practice Model

You Just Built a ROMA Logic Model

Your decisions are assembled below. Blank fields are a signal that the planning question still needs an answer.

Identified Need

Level

Outcome

Strategy / Activity

Output

Indicator & Target

--
Target: --

Measurement

--
Frequency: --

Actual Results

To be completed after implementation.

One Last Challenge: Community-Level Thinking

A CNA finds that affordable rental housing is insufficient for workers earning below the local living wage. Rental assistance may help individual households, but if the intended outcome is increased community housing availability, simply counting households receiving rental assistance would not demonstrate that community-level result.

Ask yourself: Did I select a strategy because it was available—or because there is a logical path from the assessed need, to the intended outcome, to the strategy, to evidence that change occurred?

This preview draws its structure and terminology from NASCSP ROMA materials supplied for this project, including Introduction to ROMA for Boards, ROMA Terms & Definitions, the ROMA Cycle, and the National ROMA Peer-to-Peer Logic Model. It also reflects the Center for Community Futures' emphasis on outcome-driven management and learning. It is an educational preview, not certification.