For this customer spotlight, we’re featuring Congreso, whose use of ETO over the last five years has helped them transform their organization and more effectively serve their community.

Congreso is an organization striving to strengthen Latino communities through social, economic, education, and health services; leadership development; and advocacy. The organization serves the largely Latino neighborhoods of North Philadelphia. A culturally vibrant community, this particular population faces issues including poverty, limited access to health care, low educational attainment, and unemployment. Congreso has served these neighborhoods for more than 30 years as a multifaceted, comprehensive provider of human services.

Congreso implemented ETO in 2003 in an effort to maximize its impact on the communities it serves, measure its performance, and strengthen its programs.  Social Solutions worked collaboratively with Congreso to develop an integral tool for tracking and analyzing program, client, and agency-wide data. The new tool, Congreso’s Universal Intake and Descriptive Administration Database (UNIDAD), represented a crucial step in Congreso’s efforts to achieve its social objectives.

Powered by Social Solutions ETO Software®, UNIDAD allows users to define custom data fields at the agency or program level so that they can collect data important to their specific program as well as meet the general data collection requirements across the agency. UNIDAD users can also create assessments, outcomes and reports based on their unique needs. From a program perspective, UNIDAD allows client participation to be classified as confidential or non-confidential, which ensures data security for programs such as domestic violence or HIV case management, while also giving staff members access to useful client information across programs. The software is internet-based, giving staff secure access to the system from any computer with Internet access.

With UNIDAD, staff are now able to review individual or group reports and use this information to identify strengths and weaknesses of the program and make decisions regarding client service. In the long term, program staff have easy access to historical data and reports that allow them to better know and understand their clients and community and thereby address populations that may be underserved. 

Congreso has seen much change over their years of use of the application. Now, a day-to-day tool. Congreso is able to use the data in a more centralized way, increasing their effectiveness among the community. 

Here, Fernando Londono comments on the tranformation of Congreso during its five year use of ETO.