Women struggling with substance use disorders (SUDs) and co-occurring mental health challenges face enormous barriers to recovery—barriers that are compounded by pregnancy, parenthood, housing instability, and poverty. Magnolia Women’s Recovery Programs (MWRP), based in Oakland, California, is committed to breaking down these barriers by providing comprehensive residential treatment and wraparound services for pregnant, postpartum, and parenting women. Metis has become a trusted evaluation partner for Magnolia, supporting the assessment and continuous improvement of both federally- and locally-funded initiatives.
Evaluating a Continuum of Care Across Three Grants
Magnolia has secured a portfolio of grants that together form a continuum of care for women at highest risk for substance use disorder and overdose. Metis is currently providing evaluation services for these three grant-funded programs:
- Residential Treatment for Pregnant and Postpartum Women (PPW): Funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), this five-year grant supports residential treatment for pregnant and postpartum women with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. Metis designed and is implementing a mixed-methods evaluation that tracks progress across three goals: 1) reducing substance dependence, 2) improving mental health outcomes, and
3)promoting healthy families. Our evaluation data collection consists of a combination of participant surveys, implementation logs, intake and SUD assessments, and standardized tools administered through Magnolia’s Greenspace Health data platform. - Community-Based Mental Behavioral Health (CBMBH): Also funded by SAMHSA, this five-year grant focuses on expanding community-based mental and behavioral health services for women served by MWRP. Metis developed the evaluation framework for this initiative, including instruments to measure participant outcomes, training quality, and fidelity of implementation, and provides ongoing data analysis and reporting support.
- 3VCF Opioid Settlement Mini-Grant: Through this locally-funded initiative, Magnolia is implementing a community opioid prevention program featuring workshops, Naloxone training and distribution, and stigma-reducing Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) education. Metis is conducting a focused evaluation to document progress toward the initiative’s objectives and performance measures.
Documenting Meaningful Progress
Magnolia has helped me with everything. They’ve helped me with my parenting skills, my boundaries, my stability, my responsibility. They’ve helped me tremendously with my whole life, to be honest.
Interviewed Client
Evidence collected through Metis’s evaluation of the PPW grant has already revealed compelling results. By November 2025—just over a year into the grant—Magnolia had enrolled 47 participants, nearly three times their annual enrollment target of 16, with five participants graduating from the program. All five graduates achieved stable housing and were accessing federal or county assistance upon discharge, and 100% successfully reunified with their families. Four graduates even went on to work as SUD case managers at the organization, and two were promoted to client service coordinator roles, reflecting the program’s profound and lasting impact.
Metis’s evaluation has also captured the breadth of Magnolia’s service delivery in Year 2:
- over 585 SUD education sessions
- 620 smoking cessation sessions
- 294 peer coaching sessions
- 280 group therapy sessions
- more than 1,175 hours of case management
Participant voices collected through the evaluation speak powerfully to these efforts—women described Magnolia’s support as transformative, crediting the program with helping them build parenting skills, self-esteem, stability, and a sense of belonging.
Building Capacity for Data-Driven Decision-Making
Across all three engagements, Metis has worked closely with Magnolia’s leadership to ensure that evaluation data are not just collected but actively used. Through regular progress summaries, funder reports, and ongoing technical assistance Metis helps the Magnolia team interpret findings, identify areas for mid-course correction, and demonstrate impact to funders and the community.
Metis also supported Magnolia in designing and facilitating a Steering Committee composed of program staff, participants, and partner organization representatives. These convenings have created a meaningful feedback loop and a valuable engine for continuous improvement—ensuring that the voices of the women Magnolia serves shape program decisions and directly inform the addition of new supports and services.
This partnership reflects Metis’s broader commitment to supporting mission-driven organizations in doing their most important work—and ensuring that the women and families they serve receive the high-quality, evidence-informed care they deserve.
Metis is an invaluable partner to Magnolia’s maternal health program. They are responsive, knowledgeable, and consistently help us strengthen our reporting, data accuracy, and overall program quality. Metis works well as a partner and truly listens to our program needs, offering thoughtful suggestions that ensure our reports are clear, comprehensive, and aligned with requirements. Their support enhances our ability to deliver high quality, trauma informed care to the women and families we serve. We deeply appreciate their partnership.
Dr. Linda Stewart, Founder and CEO
Magnolia’s story reflects how Metis approaches every program evaluation partnership: rigorous, responsive, and grounded in the real needs of the people a program serves. If your organization needs an evaluation partner who can help you track outcomes and turn data into action, explore our program evaluation services.