Press Room
06.08 OCSE Highlights Courtland's Work
The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) recently issued a letter to all United States IV-D Directors notifying them of the completion of a recent project led by Courtland Consulting to gather a demographic profile of its child support customers. The project, called OCSE9, sought a better understanding of what cultures it serves, and the social and economic characteristics of its customers.To gather this important information, Courtland Consulting forged a partnership with The Urban Institute to create a sophisticated, web-based survey application. Our team worked with child support directors in the nine largest states to capture state-level demographic, social, and economic characteristics of their child support population. The application, built by Courtland, provided a secure login for each state to enter and store their data as well as allow for faster data analysis and streamlined reports. Courtland and the Urban Institute converted this data into meaningful reports and presentations to provide OCSE information to make better decisions about their program's future.
With Courtland's help, OCSE now has critical information and a defined process that can be used in future surveys to benefit the child support community. Read more about the results of the survey in the letter, found here.
03.08 Arriva Cosmetic Center Website Launches
One of Courtland's newest clients, Arriva Cosmetic Center, recently launched a new website, designed by Courtland's Multimedia team. Located within Lansing Opthamology, Arriva has the challenge of marketing services found in an eye clinic that you might normally seek out at a medi-spa. The website will be key in comunicating the Center's offerings and also provides a before and after photo gallery and a scheduling calendar.
Arriva's marketing team is thrilled with the result and the process it took to complete the site. Manager Lisa Rentz says, "[Courtland's team] is always looking for ways to use the latest technology to make the site easier to use and more effective. I appreciate knowing that they will be on top of that."
02.08 Courtland Honored by Michigan Fatherhood Coalition
On February 1st, Courtland was presented a 2008 Special Recognition Award from the Michigan Fatherhood Coalition at the Sixth Annual Fatherhood Conference in Dearborn, Michigan. This nonprofit group’s mission is to promote responsible parenting, specifically of fathers, and is made up of professionals and volunteers from private and public agencies.
Courtland has worked with the Coalition on a variety of fatherhood and marriage initiatives. Our many contributions include the design of outreach brochures and posters, the redesign of the Coalition’s website and monthly participation in the organization’s planning meetings.
Courtland was selected by the Michgan Fatherhood Coalition because of our work on the Dad’s From Day One (DFD1) project, the Proud Fathers- Proud Parents Program and our charitable support of their organization. This recognition reinforces Courtland’s position as a leader, committed to providing solutions that improve the lives of children and families. Our team is a proud member of the community and this is just one way we do our part to make sure Michigan remains a great place to live and work. Congratulations are in order to the entire DFD1 team, led by Courtland Director, Sharon Pizzuti, for their work that led to this award.
01.08
Courtland Presents to the Office of Child Support
Courtland Director, Sharon Pizzuti concluded a project with the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) with a presentation to OCSE executive management. The project, OSCE9, was a study to provide a demographic profile of child support customers to ensure that guiding principles and action items were being met. Information was gathered by surveying the IV-D directors of the nine states with the largest child support populations. The survey sought to gather a better understanding of what cultures are served, how extensive jurisdictional barriers are and the social and economic characteristics of its customers.
In her presentation, Ms. Pizzuti described the process for collecting the data. This included an overview of the sophisticated online survey tool Courtland built and programmed to gather, store and report on the data and the database and training behind it. Elaine Sorensen, from our partner, The Urban Institute, described the findings of the study.
The OSCE management was very pleased with the entire process of the project and looks forward to working with Courtland and The Urban Institute to implement future studies.
10.07 Support for Fatherhood Coalition
Courtland sponsors fatherhood initiative program t-shirts to support the efforts of the Michigan Fatherhood Coalition and in celebration of the 15th Annual Parenting Awareness Michigan Conferences and 2008 Parenting Awareness Month Kickoff events for the months of October and November 2007. The Michigan Fatherhood Coalition is a non-profit organization committed to improving the well-being of children by increasing the number of children growing up with nurturing and committed fathers. MFC assists practitioners working in the human services field to more effectively work with fathers to help them become better parents with thriving children. Visit their website for more information: http://www.michiganfatherhood.org.
10.07 Courtland Funds Scholarships
Courtland sponsors child support training scholarships in honor of this year’s Michigan Family Support Council’s 25th Anniversary Annual Conference and for Child Support Month. Governor Jennifer Granholm has proclaimed October 2007 as Child Support Month in Michigan. Michigan is currently the sixth highest in the nation for child support collections with $1.4 billion distributed in 2006. To provide ongoing financial support for training to Michigan child support professionals, Courtland donated to the MFSC scholarship program for their Oct 10-12, 2007 Annual Fall Training Conference. The scholarship program provides an opportunity for child support professionals to apply for funding to help pay for a large portion of the conference costs due to budget constraints impacting the Michigan Child Support Program. Sneak a peek at our advertisement listed in the MFSC program.
08.07 Portfolio Debuts
Courtland is proud to unveil our portfolio at http://www.courtlandconsulting.com/portfolio.php. It includes a wide-ranging overview of our core competencies: Implementation, Training and Web and Graphic Design. The sampling represents our work with corporations, government and nonprofits through visual representations, project summaries and client testimonials. We are proud of the work we do and excited that we are able to share this in a convenient, web-based format. Remember to check back often for additional project features.
06.07 Courtland Golfs for the Y
Courtland team members Mark Bateman, Gary Farr, Steve Trudell and Chris Wurm golfed in a recent event for Lansing’s Oak Park YMCA. The June 18th event took place at the ElDorado Golf Course in Mason, Michigan and raised nearly $16,000. Proceeds fund scholarships to assist disadvantaged kids and families in the Lansing area, allowing them to participate in YMCA programs such as youth sports, swimming lessons, summer camps and Y memberships. As a company that began its work in the area of child support, we are always glad to partner with charitable causes that encourage healthy families.
06.07 Herman Miller Partners with Courtland
Office furniture manufacturer, Herman Miller, is making its research and knowledge more accessible by launching a Continuing Education Unit (CEU) Program on HermanMiller.com. The site will feature free self-studies and a wide-ranging compendium of CEU-accredited presentations with content aimed at architects, designers, facility managers, healthcare leaders, educators, and students. This new program will make it easier for industry professionals to meet their continuing education requirements in a way that is convenient and time-saving.
Program Manager, Mari Schultz, chose Courtland’s training team to assist her with the accreditation process for the self-studies the program offers. Our consultants reviewed content and wrote learning objectives and challenging quizzes to comply with the accreditation standards of the design associations offering the CEUs. To learn more, visit http://www.hermanmiller.com and select the Architects & Designers site.
03.07 Lansing Ad Club
Graphic designer Brandon Hahn was asked to join the Board of Directors for the Lansing Ad Club. Brandon was an important contributor to the club’s annual ADDY award ceremony, providing a web database to manage contest entries and winner information. Learn more about the Lansing Ad Club at their website: http://www.lansingadclub.com.
