Our Impact

Happy Earth Day! As we celebrate our complex and beautiful planet and reflect on the importance of sustainability, our focus is on the production and consumption of single-use plastic. Humans purchase one million plastic bottles every minute and consume up to five trillion plastic bags every year. We use half of all plastic produced just […]

The Community Development Block Grant program is a vital resource for local governments, providing them with the ability to address critical needs and improve the overall quality of life for their residents. Enacted by Congress in 1974 under the Housing and Community Development Act and signed into law by President Gerald Ford on August 22, […]

While disasters magnify a community’s existing shortage of affordable housing and lead to higher rates of homelessness, many view disaster response and recovery as separate from the day-to-day work of housing and homeless organizations, advocates, and organizers. How can we shift this perception to ensure that the best practices used by these organizations and advocates […]

In recognition of Black History Month, Cloudburst lifts up the strides made towards racial equity and housing justice by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)! Key Achievements include: HUD continues to work with real estate agents, appraisers, states, and communities to root out bias in the appraisal process and end the practice […]

Equal access to fair housing is a core value of Cloudburst’s work in communities around the country. Disparities in fair and accessible housing continue to impact the daily lives of low-income households. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 created an obligation for HUD and recipients of federal funds to “affirmatively further fair housing” (AFFH), which […]

As the frequency, severity, and rising costs of natural and human-made disasters increase, families must prioritize preparedness on a whole new level. Released in December 2023, FEMA’s National Preparedness Report called out climate change as a challenge for all levels of government, along with a warning from the 2022 National Household Survey on Disaster Preparedness, […]

January 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of National Stalking Awareness Month. The 2022 reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act (VAWA) included important provisions to address digital abuse and cyberstalking. According to the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC): 40% of stalkers are current or former intimate partners. Nearly one in three women stalked […]

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) commissioned The Cloudburst Group to design and implement an impact evaluation of an innovative housing financing pilot program for low-income residents. LAHSA’s shallow subsidy pilot provides extended assistance to households exiting shorter term rapid re-housing (RRH) programs and prevention assistance who need time to build economic security but […]

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) commissioned The Cloudburst Group to design and implement an impact evaluation of an innovative housing financing pilot program for low-income residents. LAHSA’s shallow subsidy pilot provides extended assistance to households exiting shorter term rapid re-housing (RRH) programs and prevention assistance who need time to build economic security but […]

Cloudburst is honored to have conducted the impact and performance evaluation of the Burkina Faso Rural Land Governance Project commissioned by the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC). This report was a great application of our highly specialized land administration and property-rights expertise and research and evaluation capacities. Our evaluation identified positive impacts and lessons learned from […]

When the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development asked the Fall River Community Development Agency to do a presentation on the Emergency Solutions Grant program associated with COVID-19, Mike Dion, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer at Fall River Community Development Agency, decided to do something better than Powerpoint slides. To ensure HUD could […]

World Fisheries Day is November 21, and Cloudburst is reflecting on their work in Ghana, which is directly aligned with the World Fisheries Day goals of sustainability and the well-being of small-scale fishing communities. Under the USAID/Ghana Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Platform activity (LINC LLC, prime contractor), specialists from Cloudburst’s Global Development practice area have […]

Cloudburst Group’s president and lifelong small business advocate, Michelle Hayes, was a panelist at the 2023 USAID Asia Regional Overseas Small Business Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, November 14-15. Michelle discussed “How USAID Missions and Small Businesses Co-Create Innovative Solutions to Local Development Challenges through the Small Business Applied Research Program (SBAR)” The video below highlights […]

The unfolding catastrophe in Israel and Gaza imperils the safety of all people on both sides of the conflict throughout this crisis, and the need to address the safety of women and girls is urgent.  As the United Nations has documented, armed conflicts exacerbate pre-existing patterns of discrimination against women and girls, and result in […]

USAID has selected the Cloudburst Group as the small business holder of the Learning, Evaluation, and Research III (LER III) Task Order, building from our success under its predecessor, LER II. Through this activity, Cloudburst will support USAID’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Bureau, informing decision-making about DRG foreign assistance, building a timely, reliable […]

The Cloudburst Group has developed a checklist for housing organizations working with LGBTQIA+ homeless persons to help foster a low-barrier environment that welcomes this population. Many agencies and communities can reduce barriers to entry and improve overall program operations by revisiting organizational policies, practices, and protocols through the lens and experience of LGBTQIA+ populations seeking […]

This week the United States commemorated the ratification of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 — 247 years ago. While celebrating this historic day, The Cloudburst Group also recognizes that racial disparities continue to undermine equal access to fair housing, employment, quality education, and healthcare for people of color. At the state, local, […]

Today on Juneteenth, we celebrate the dismantling of the institution of slavery in America enacted through the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865. At The Cloudburst Group, we also recognize that systematically dismantling slavery’s oppressive legacy has historically required more than legislation. Since our founding in 2005, Cloudburst has been committed to working within and alongside communities […]

Did you know nearly one billion people worldwide lack secure rights to their land, their homes, and the resources they need to live?* Land tenure insecurity — a lack of adequate land and property documentation — is a critical reason for this, especially among women, youth, and Indigenous people.  In 2014 the Cloudburst Group developed […]

As Mental Health Awareness month draws to a close, the Cloudburst Group remains relentlessly committed to supporting the essential work of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Millions of Americans are affected by mental illness and Cloudburst is proud to do our part to support the organizations and communities that come to their aid.   […]

On May 1, Jordan Neely was killed by Daniel Penny, who placed him in a fatal chokehold on a New York City subway. Neely, a 30-year-old Black man who was experiencing homelessness, was reportedly shouting that he was hungry and thirsty on the subway train. In New York City on a single night in 2022, 74,178 people were experiencing homelessness. Jordan Neely is believed to be one of those people.

Did you know that on a single night in 2022, six in 10 people experiencing homelessness were staying in sheltered locations, and four in 10 were unsheltered — that is, staying in a place not meant for habitation*? Demographic data on people experiencing homelessness has been collected on a single night each year as part […]

Decades of research about sexual violence response and prevention show that sexual violence is experienced across a lifespan, occurs in all locations, and doesn’t discriminate based upon race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, or relationship status. The persistent dominant narrative impacts the ability of victim service providers, housing programs, and other human services to provide survivors with holistic, trauma-informed, equitable, and survivor-centered care, including effectively addressing survivors’ safe housing needs. The actual statistics paint a far more diverse picture of survivor’s experiences

With increasing focus on how local organizations contribute to USAID-funded activities, it’s important to look at new ways of applying known technologies. Web scraping — which refers simply to extracting data from a website, collecting it, and then exporting it into a spreadsheet, API, or other format useful for a particular purpose or application — […]

Cloudburst Consulting Group is deeply saddened and angered by the Club Q shootings in Colorado Springs, CO that left five members of the LGBTQIA+ community dead and many others injured on Saturday, the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance. As we mourn those killed at Club Q, we also remember and honor the lives of […]

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM). The history of DVAM cannot be told without first telling the story of Sarah Winnemucca and her desire to speak the truth about violence against indigenous communities. Gender-based violence in the United States is not a new issue. There are countless documented incidents of violence of indigenous and […]

In May and June of 2022, Cloudburst, in partnership with PartnersGlobal and Root Change, hosted a four-day Peer Learning Summit as part of USAID’s Local Organizations—Movement Towards Self-Reliance (LO-MTSR) activity. The hybrid event was held both online and in-person) and served as the concluding activity of the ResiliencyCambodia. For the first time, Cloudburst staff, Resiliency […]

Hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean began June 1 this year. The National and Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts an above-average season, with 14-22 named storms, of which 6-10 could be hurricanes, more than half of them with wind speeds in excess of 110mph.1 Although the intensity of the wind is what determines whether […]

Reflecting on the importance of Pride Month, Cloudburst continues to elevate issues of concern experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community, both in June and throughout the year. Over the last decade, the number of LGBTQIA+ homeowners has steadily increased. However, the LGBTQIA+ homeownership rate of 49.8% falls below the U.S. average of 70.1%, a Williams Institute […]

AANHPI month was the brainchild of Jeanie Jew, a former Capitol Hill staffer whose great-grandfather, M.Y. Lee, left China for the United States in the 1800s before he helped build the transcontinental railroad. Lee rose to prominence as a successful businessman in California, only to be killed in an act of anti-Asian hate during a period of unrest and anti-Asian sentiment.

Today, corruption poses one of the most significant threats to international development and democratization. The World Economic Forum estimates the global cost of corruption at 2.6 trillion dollars per year, or 5% of global gross domestic product. As much as this hampers economic development, the intangible costs of corruption are even more concerning. Corruption breeds […]

On March 24, Global Development practice co-lead Aleta Starosta and Research and Evaluation Specialist Miriam Counterman, along with Cloudburst consultant Robert Gerstein and a Social Impact colleague, presented the results of two research projects during a forum entitled “Amplifying Evidence in DRG Programming” at USAID’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Center’s annual Learning Forum. The […]

April is National Fair Housing Month, and this year it marks 54 years since the signing of the Fair Housing Act in 1968. Throughout the month we commemorate the Act’s expanded protections against discrimination in the sale, rent, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status (History […]

For the past decade, the Cloudburst Group, as a small business prime contractor, has leaned heavily on locally owned and non-governmental organizations to achieve development objectives across the globe. As a mission-driven business focused on improving social, economic, and environmental resiliency, especially for vulnerable, marginalized, or underserved populations, Cloudburst is keenly aware of the need […]

As a mission-driven small business focused on advancing racial, economic, and environmental equity, Cloudburst works alongside communities to meet this challenge in a variety of ways. A big part of how we do this is by addressing homelessness with clients at all levels of government.  Most marginalized groups make up a disproportionate share of the […]

Even though global gender equity is a core tenant of the United Nations (UN) charter drafted in 1945, no country in the world has yet established equal rights, liberties, and opportunity between men and women.  An estimated 2.5 billion women and girls live in countries with laws that discriminate against women, and women have less […]

“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love.” —President Joe Biden In the United States, the LGBTQ+ community and its allies celebrate Pride month in June and LGBTQ+ history month in October. Both months are a […]

As a mission-driven company, service is always at the forefront of the work that we do. This Veterans Day, Cloudburst recognizes the countless sacrifices and acts of service made by veterans, in the past and present. As we reflect on this, we asked our colleague Joel Warren to share some thoughts on what his service means […]

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights … it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.” – Harvey Milk, LGBTQ Activist, and Politician  In support of our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) colleagues, family, and friends, let […]

It has been a pretty exciting week to watch the house and senate expeditiously move ahead a new bill that will recognize Juneteenth National Independence Day as a federal holiday for the future.  As a government contractor that follows the federal calendar of holidays, we should expect to see this change starting in 2022. (Read more here). Juneteenth […]

This past year has provided one reminder after another not only of the connections between human individuals and The West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change (WA BiCC) supports conservation and climate-resilient, low-emission growth across West Africa. This work is featured as a case study in the “Cross Sectoral Guide: Sustainable Landscapes and Democracy, Human Rights, [...]

How do vulnerable youth from high-crime areas in El Salvador find jobs in the formal labor market?  Through innovative workforce and positive youth development programs that target the harsh realities of these youth. In El Salvador, at-risk youth from high-crime municipalities often face barriers to entering the formal economy. Some of these barriers include access […]

HUD’s environmental review process (24 CFR Part 58) is a major cross-cutting requirement for providing federal grants and future projects. It conforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to comply with federal and state environmental laws and consider in the planning process how their projects may impact social, cultural, economic, […]

Are governments and programs around the world making decisions based on incomplete data collection strategies that are not inclusive of disadvantaged and marginalized populations such as women, youth, and persons with disabilities? Failing to take into account the significant impact of government programs on these populations can skew the findings of assessments and limit the […]

By the end of March 2020, it was clear COVID-19 was spreading rapidly throughout the country.  People experiencing homelessness, who tend to have higher rates of chronic illness, were at higher risk of contracting serious illnesses due to COVID-19 as many live in high-capacity, large barrack-style shelters or outside without regular access to sanitation facilities […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt most face-to-face professional trainings, many organizations are now acknowledging that they must view remote learning as more than a temporary measure. For them, and for those organizations that had long considered transitioning to remote methods of delivering training content, this is a good time to assess current remote […]

The latest photo essay focuses on Lyman Terrace in the historic town of Holyoke, Massachusetts. Built in 1939, Lyman Terrace is one of the oldest public housing projects in the country, located in downtown Holyoke just one block from City Hall.

As a mission-driven organization, Cloudburst has always been and remains committed to addressing issues that advance social, economic, and environmental sustainability, and ensure that the needs of low-income and vulnerable populations are accounted for in our work. We seek to enhance the quality of life of others and renew our commitment to create spaces for […]

Last week, two members of the Cloudburst team traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, to interview fair housing practitioners and experts for a video we’re developing to celebrate the relaunch of HUD’s National Fair Housing Academy (NFHTA) in April. This video will highlight the history of fair housing and how it has changed over time; the importance […]

On Tuesday, October 1st, the USAID Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) congratulated Cloudburst as one of four small businesses that were awarded a Small Business Applied Research contract co-created with the Cambodia Mission. Cloudburst, along with PartnersGlobal and the DevLab at Duke University, will implement an innovative Randomized Control Trial (RCT) to test […]

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin’s office extended a congratulatory visit to celebrate Cloudburst’s continued partnership with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with the recent announcement of a $12 million Community Compass Technical Assistance Award. Managed by HUD’s Technical Assistance Division, Community Compass is HUD’s integrated technical assistance and capacity building initiative to help […]

USAID’s Center of Excellence on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance works globally to conduct research and develop initiatives and programming for local partners to demonstrate the value of democracy, advance policy changes in support of democratic governance systems, and strengthen democratic institutions and human rights. Cloudburst is working with USAID in several DRG center focus countries to support these goals.

In 2016, Congress passed the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act and modernized the way that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) distributes funding for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program. As part of a national HUD technical assistance initiative, Cloudburst is currently working with thirteen HOPWA formula grantees as they adapt these HOPWA Modernization changes.

Strengthening land tenure and property rights (LTPR) is central to ending extreme poverty, reducing hunger, and promoting resilient societies. Cloudburst was recently awarded the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights II (STARR II) IDIQ, where we will continue to provide critical technical assistance to help USAID address LTPR challenges and secure the legitimate land rights for millions around the world.

When a viral outbreak occurs, an area’s homeless population is often considered a lesser priority in containment strategies and community responses, if considered at all. In 2017, San Diego had the largest outbreak of hepatitis A in modern history. Cloudburst helped to identify the extent of the epidemic among the homeless population, then worked with the whole community to deploy a range of prevention strategies and contain the outbreak.

Cloudburst has carried out consulting engagements across the United States in communities that are grappling with decision-making and leadership. These projects are related to homelessness, and the mandated public/private partnerships known as Continuums of Care which are required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Here are five important approaches we have used over the years to help communities chart their own productive course forward. 

Cloudburst excels at conducting rigorous evaluations of interventions to help clients make more evidence-based decisions, and targeted and sustainable programming investments. One example was our work with USAID’s E3/Land and Urban Office to design and implement an impact evaluation of the Tenure and Global Climate Change project in Zambia. This project supported agroforestry extension services including establishing farmer groups trained in agroforestry and distributing seedlings, as well as land tenure interventions including boundary demarcation and land administration support.

Unsheltered homelessness has been on the rise in the U.S. for the past few decades with recent dramatic increases in several large metropolitan areas. There are many causes that have sparked the growth of street dwelling, encampments, and people living in places not meant for human habitation. We have been at the forefront of identifying the crisis of unsheltered homelessness as well as helping to identify solutions.

Engaging and collaborating with public and private sector stakeholders is a cornerstone of public health. Current public health and prevention topics and issues are complex and multi-faceted, and one agency, industry, or sector cannot solve these problems alone. Public health collaborations and partnerships leverage combined resources, expertise, and experience to achieve mutually desired goals that reach beyond the public sector.

To know if shifting processes for system wide uniform assessment of client need is appropriately resulting in sustainable housing placements, it is essential for communities to evaluate their coordinated entry systems. Understanding effectiveness of practices will help refine the response to homelessness, provide opportunities to continuously enhance access to housing, and plan for future housing needs.

Cloudburst’s Public Health team has been engaged in a range of partnerships with both the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), assisting them with training and technical assistance; data collection; and monitoring and evaluation.

International development evaluations, especially rigorous impact evaluations, rely on local communities and thousands of respondents to generously contribute time and knowledge for the collection of several rounds of survey data. Each survey also involves significant support from community members who assist in bringing the research team into the community and facilitating connections with respondents.

Jamie Taylor, Cloudburst Subject Matter Expert in Public Policy, moderated a panel on Shared Housing at the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference last month. Shared housing is a critical housing strategy for all communities to explore in the effort to secure permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Maps are a universal tool that allow academics, scientists, researchers and policymakers to spatially analyze data, ask more meaningful questions and ultimately make well-informed decisions.

Public-Private partnerships play an increasingly vital role in the world of international development and will be one of the primary means through which the 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, ratified by the UN General Assembly, will be achieved by 2030. One such example is USAID’s Public Private Partnership for Responsible Land-Based Investment project, which is […]

Working on the Public Health team at The Cloudburst Group, I often see statistics on the insidious pervasiveness of addiction and the painful abuse of drugs. According to the CDC, overdose deaths from prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, claiming the lives of more than 183,000 people from 1999–2015. It can be hard to comprehend […]

The storms of the last few months have led to large numbers of households seeking disaster shelter. In response to the recent Hurricanes—including Harvey, Irma, and Maria—and the wildfires in California, the American Red Cross provided more than 1.3 million overnight stays in emergency shelters. This staggering number of emergency sheltering is more than what […]

A recently released paper, “Community Land Conflicts: How Local Land Disputes Affect Private Sector Investments and Development Projects,” co-authored by The Cloudburst Group’s Land Tenure and Natural Resource Management Practice Lead, Karol Boudreaux, Darryl Vhugen, and Nicole Walter, identifies conflicts that often exist between local people, communities, and outside actors in relation to land. The […]

What if local people had secure rights to manage and benefit from the use of forests, or pastures, or farmland? What kind of entrepreneurial activities would we see?

Originally appeared on USAID’s LandLinks. LandLinks caught up with Dr. Heather Huntington, Land Tenure and Natural Resource Management Impact Evaluation Specialist with The Cloudburst Group to discuss a key research paper on tenure security that she has been developing under USAID’s Evaluation, Research and Communication (ERC) Project. The research compares datasets across seven impact evaluations in customary systems across […]

What does it look like when international development works? Cloudburst Public Information Specialist, Sandra Coburn, provides a glimpse in her photograph, which received an honorable mention in USAID’s Feed the Future photo contest. Over 100 images were submitted on the theme “Photos of Progress: What It Looks Like When Development Works” and we are proud […]

In St. Louis, The Cloudburst Group worked with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Field Office staff to create data-driven tools and strategies that provided  improved funding and investment. The City of St. Louis, according to the HUD Field Office, had historically distributed HUD grant funds evenly across the wards of the […]

“FACT: Rates of homelessness in the U.S. remained essentially unchanged between 2008-2012. This is surprising indeed, especially against the backdrop of a recession that had its origins in the housing market, and in which tens of thousands of homeowners lost their homes. Evan Horowitz made an important contribution to the conversation, ‘Does poverty drive homeless […]

  How do vulnerable youth from high-crime areas in El Salvador find jobs in the formal labor market?  Through innovative workforce and positive youth development programs that target the harsh realities of these youth. In El Salvador, at-risk youth from high-crime municipalities often face barriers to entering the formal economy. Some of these barriers include […]

HUD’s environmental review process (24 CFR Part 58) is a major cross-cutting requirement for providing federal grants and future projects. It conforms to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to comply with federal and state environmental laws and consider in the planning process how their projects may impact social, cultural, economic, and natural resources.

At the 2016 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty last week—the most important event of the year for influencing policy and programming in the land sector—The Cloudburst Group presented our research and solutions for addressing one of the pressing global development challenges: strengthening land and resource rights. The theme of the 17th annual conference was Scaling […]

In June 2014, First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness by the end of 2015. In New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu assembled a broad public-private partnership in a committed and very public effort to achieve this ambitious goal. The Cloudburst Group, working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Mayor Mitch Landrieu and community leaders, has documented how the City of New Orleans met the Mayors Challenge – a full year early.

By J. Patrick Moynahan, President Managing international development programs – which often requires deep understanding of local contexts and cultures, and can involve working in remote areas or supporting institutions with limited capacity – can be a challenge for any firm, particularly a smaller one. Building the right mix of skills, expertise, and oversight within […]

The Cloudburst Group is committed to the mission of our federal, state, and local partners in developing, disseminating and supporting comprehensive, integrated, science-based public health policies and programs. Whether supporting programs for immunizations, chronic disease prevention, supportive housing, environmental health or behavioral health, we are proud to serve the dedicated professionals who work to improve public […]

The Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty is the most important event of the year to influence ideas and policies in the land tenure and property rights sector. For the 2015 conference, The Cloudburst Group embarked upon an ambitious mission …

At the 2015 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, The Cloudburst Group’s Land Tenure and Natural Resource Management Practice Lead, Karol Boudreaux examined the Coca-Cola Company’s recent efforts to make its sugar supply chain more responsible with respect to land rights. Coca-Cola, which is the world’s largest purchaser of sugar, has received criticism for illegal takings […]

By Karol Boudreaux, Practice Lead, Land Tenure and Natural Resource Management If you want to see why natural resources matter for local-level democracy, look no further than Namibia. Across this breathtakingly beautiful country, a remarkable social and economic experiment has been going on for nearly two decades: devolving rights to manage and benefit from the […]

By Gregory Myers, Ph.D., Director of Private Sector Engagement Over eight hundred million people in the world do not have enough to eat. In fact, hunger kills more people every year than malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis combined. But feeding the world’s growing population cannot be achieved through government action and public resources alone. Instead, governments […]

Originally appeared on Devex, written by Karol Boudreaux. Farming is an inherently risky business: bad weather, pests, credit constraints, and unexpected policy changes threaten farmers of all sizes. Helping farmers, particularly smallholder farmers, find better ways to manage risk is an important part of what food security programming is all about. But what if a […]