Matching Grant:
Program Services
Overview
The Matching Grant Program (MG) is designed to assist refugees and other eligible populations in achieving economic self-sufficiency within their first six months of arrival in the United States. It provides funding to nonprofit organizations that offer services such as job placement, case management, and financial literacy training. ECDC oversees a network of affiliate offices that provide MG services to clients and need to be compliant with the program's requirements.
Role
As the training coordinator at ECDC, I oversee the design and development of training programs like this onboarding course. Working closely with program SMEs during the entire process from concept to launch.
Audience
This course is designed for new MG case managers, using scenarios of how MG services are delivered and outlining their responsibilities in supporting refugees and other immigrant populations.
Tools
Articulate Storyline 360
Canva
Microsoft Office Suite
The Problem
As ECDC has expanded, the need to onboard new staff has become increasingly important. Case managers must be familiarized with the Matching Grant program and gain a clear understanding of their responsibilities in delivering services to refugees and other immigrant populations.
The Solution
In partnership with the Matching Grant program staff, I identified that our existing training methods focused too much on conveying information and not enough on clearly demonstrating how policies and procedures should be applied when working with clients.
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To address this, I developed a scenario-based training that guides new staff through key procedures required by the MG program, using real-world situations. This approach enables new staff to take technical and abstract policy concepts and directly apply them to their roles and client interactions.
My Process
I started by consulting with the MG program officer team to understand the challenges they were facing. They shared that new case managers were struggling to apply basic program guidelines and often needed extended periods of mentoring after completing the onboarding process. In response, I developed an action map to explore how we could enhance our onboarding course, ensuring it provided more effective practice of the key tasks case managers would need to perform when interacting with clients. This would allow us to address the gaps in their training and help them gain the necessary skills more efficiently.
Action Map
Using the action map, I began outlining the course structure, incorporating scenarios and activities designed to emulate real-world interactions that case managers typically conduct in their roles. I created a text-based storyboard and developed prototype activities to illustrate my design, allowing the MG team to review and provide feedback on the direction I was taking. This helped ensure the course would effectively align with the team's goals and the practical needs of the case managers.
Text-Based Storyboard & Prototype
I created detailed visual mockups of the characters who would populate the course. Each character was thoughtfully designed to represent a wide range of client profiles, backgrounds, and challenges that case managers might work with. I incorporated ECDC's approved brand color scheme, ensuring that the course maintained a professional and cohesive aesthetic throughout. By integrating these visual elements with the carefully constructed activities, I aimed to create an engaging and visually appealing experience that would resonate with learners, fostering a deeper understanding of the real-world applications of case management skills.
Visual Mock Up
After receiving feedback on my initial designs, I moved into full development of the course. I used Storyline 360 to build the interactions and activities, ensuring a dynamic and engaging learning experience. The course covered three primary topic areas: Matching Grant Enrollment, Employment Services, and English Language Training (ELT), with relevant subtopics woven throughout to provide a comprehensive learning journey.
Favorite Features
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Voiced Characters: Incorporating AI-generated voices brought the characters to life, making the course more interactive and engaging for the users. This helped create a more immersive learning experience.
Interactive Scenarios: Instead of simply presenting the ORR guidelines, I designed interactive scenarios that required users to actively work through them. This allowed learners to practice applying the guidelines in realistic situations, deepening their understanding and reinforcing key concepts.
Course Review with Certificate: Upon completing the course, users are prompted to take a quiz. Once they score 80% or higher, a certificate is automatically generated, serving as documentation of their completion. This certificate is then saved to their staff file, providing a tangible record of their progress and achievement.
Takeaways
As of this writing, the rollout of the course has begun, and initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly regarding its accessibility and user-friendly design.
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The development of this course underscored the need for more performance-based training across ECDC. It emphasized a shift in focus from simply making staff aware of key information to ensuring they understand how to effectively apply that knowledge in their daily roles.