Introduction This article explores one mental health company's urgent response to the global COVID‐19 pandemic, and the multifaceted implications of quickly transitioning to telehealth services. Objectives The purpose of this article is to share information with interdisciplinary professionals about the planning, implementation, and results of transitioning to telehealth services during a pandemic. Procedures We compiled practice‐related data regarding company attendance rates and customer and employee satisfaction with telehealth. Data include feedback from more than 40 clinicians and 60 families. Results The data suggest there are both benefits and limitations to engaging in telehealth services within a mental health company. Attendance rates increased dramatically, engagement improved with adolescents but proved challenging with the younger children. Telehealth helped overcome many typical barriers to mental health treatment. Concerns remain regarding confidentiality, assessment of abuse and neglect, and ability to read nonverbal social cues. Conclusion Families and practitioners experienced the convenience and benefits of telehealth but also expressed concerns over certain limitations. Finding a responsible way to incorporate telehealth into practice postpandemic is a priority for mental health practitioners, both now and in the immediate future.

In this paper, we present empirical findings from a mixed‐methods study of an Evaluation Capacity Building (ECB) initiative called the Partnerships for Advancing Character program Evaluation (PACE) Project that applied the Relational Systems Evaluation (RSE) approach. We focused especially on how participation in this partnership‐based ECB program is associated with changes in attitudes and behaviors related to evaluation capacity and Evaluative Thinking. We used a repeated measures design with semi‐structured interviews and surveys to examine two research questions: (1) Do Program Professionals participating in PACE adopt Evaluative Thinking behaviors? And (2) Do Program Professionals participating in PACE demonstrate increased evaluation capacity, including improved attitudes about evaluation? We found that PACE successfully increased Program Professional's behaviors, attitudes, and capacity; in particular, participants overwhelmingly noted that the emphasis on Evaluative Thinking changed the way they think about and approach evaluation, such that evaluation is now more well‐integrated into their practice.

This paper presents the results of a study of program participants’ responses to an innovative project called the Partnerships for Advancing Character program Evaluation (PACE), which operationalized a Relational Systems Evaluation (RSE) approach to Evaluation Capacity Building (ECB). We examine which tools and concepts from PACE resonated with participants and were sustained, and why. Analysis of participant interviews yielded sixteen distinct value propositions that they associated with the PACE training. Importantly, a number of them extend beyond evaluation to include contributions to other aspects of program professionals’ work responsibilities and work life. We explore the relationships between the most widely valued PACE tools and concepts and the value propositions they were associated with. These discoveries about the potential value propositions for the RSE approach to ECB hold promise for efforts to increase investment in evaluation capacity, and to strengthen the transfer of learning that is needed for evaluation to be embedded and sustained in organizations.

This paper explores the nature and importance of the relationship between Evaluation Capacity Builders (ECBers) and their program partner(s) in the context of the Partnerships for Advancing Character program Evaluation (PACE) Project. PACE, a 3‐year initiative supported by the John Templeton Foundation, offered a unique opportunity to initiate, structure, support, and observe evaluation partnerships between an evaluation professional and a program team over 15 months. In this paper, after reviewing pertinent Evaluation Capacity Building (ECB) and adult education literature, we report on our qualitative inquiry into the PACE Evaluation Partnerships, in response to the following three research questions: (1) What did PACE participants consider to be positive characteristics of or contributing factors to the Evaluation Partnerships? (2) What did PACE participants identify as negative characteristics of or challenging factors to the partnerships? And (3) Are the patterns of positive/negative characteristics and contributing/challenging factors consistent with the hypothesis that relational qualities are important in Evaluation Capacity Building? The results of this analysis indicate that partnerships that were characterized by relational qualities (e.g., responsiveness, trust, mutual respect) tended to be more successful—in the eyes of the people in those relationships—than those that did not. Both the variety of the relationships described by the participants, as well as the emerging patterns, offer fertile ground for future questions about the relational nature of positive ECB relationships.

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