SARAH GOAN, M.A.
MANAGER
Sarah Goan, who joined Hornby Zeller Associates as a research associate in 2006, now
manages the firm’s Maine office. Her primary areas of focus include substance abuse
prevention, mental health and trauma-informed systems of care; she has presented widely
on these topics at both statewide and national conferences including the Mental Health
Research and Training Conferences sponsored by Georgetown University and the University
of South Florida.
Ms. Goan has served as Project Manager for the state, community and program-level
evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG)
through the Maine Office of Substance Abuse (OSA). In this capacity, she drafted Maine’s
Strategic Prevention Framework Guide to Evaluation and Planning for grantees, conducted a
number of statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews, developed a communitylevel infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models, and compiled state-level
epidemiological data into county-level profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations
and areas of need to be targeted by their prevention efforts. Throughout the project she has
also provided technical assistance to grantees, particularly in evaluation design and
implementation.
She has authored a series of reports for Maine’s Community Epidemiology Surveillance
Network (CESN); the reports monitor current trends in substance use and are often cited by
local and national media. Ms. Goan also leads the evaluation effort on behalf of Maine’s
Higher Education Alcohol Prevention Partnership (HEAPP), a statewide initiative to prevent
high-risk drinking on college campuses. Ms. Goan has analyzed data from the project’s
survey of college students and conducted focus groups with college students across the
state. In addition to her prevention work for the state of Maine, Ms. Goan consults with the
Northeast Regional Expert Team (NE RET, formerly NE CAPT) of Newton, MA to provide
technical assistance to state and local agencies working to prevent substance abuse
throughout the region.
Ms. Goan directs the evaluation of Maine’s Trauma-informed System of Care project,
intended to build a statewide infrastructure supporting the trauma-informed approach to
mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances. For this project, Ms.
Goan developed a statewide agency assessment tool administered to over a hundred
providers by Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Services and leads evaluation and
reporting efforts serving as liaison to the national cross-site evaluator. Ms. Goan is also
serving as research director for an evaluation of the state of Nebraska’s Behavioral Health
Help Line, Family Navigator and Post Adoption/Post Guardianship Services.
Prior to her arrival at HZA, Ms. Goan was a Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher
Education Policy in Washington, DC where she co-authored several publications examining
student persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and the benefits of
higher education. Ms. Goan holds an M.A. in Public Policy from The George Washington
University; she earned her B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University and graduated
Summa Cum Laude.
CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
From Iowa Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS) Program Software
Development Proposal – June 2015
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.P.P., joined the firm in 2006 and manages the research staff for
HZA’s South Portland, Maine office. She specializes in research related to mental health,
trauma-informed systems of care and substance abuse prevention and currently serves as
the Project Manager for Expand ME, a project with the Maine Department of Corrections
which consists of a multi-year longitudinal outcomes research protocol and the development
of a web-based participant tracking system. As part of Expand ME, Ms. Goan also provides
technical assistance the Department to help them develop an on-going Continuous Quality
Improvement (CQI) assessment infrastructure. Her work has included overseeing the
development of an on-line assessment tool used by 50 staff across the state. In Iowa, Ms.
Goan also co-led the recent work with the FaDSS program with Ms. Spach. She took the lead
for reviewing the FaDSS program materials, data collection and annual reports and
developing a logic model and comprehensive Evaluation Plan for the program. She is also
co-leading work with Prevention Child Abuse Iowa to evaluate the effectiveness of the
Community Based Prevention Response to the Adverse Childhood Experience study in six
counties around the state. Ms. Goan has conceptualized and contributed to the
development of multiple web-based systems for many of the firm’s clients and most recently
finalized a tracking system for a youth advocacy and peer support program in Maine. She
worked closely with the IT team to identify the information collected, map the system flow,
and develop and test reports, acting as the intermediary between the developers and the
program staff using the system. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Goan worked as a Research
Analyst at the Institute of Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC. She earned her
Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public
Administration at The George Washington University.
2
GRANT WRITING
From Healthy Maine Partnerships: Request for Information and Request for Proposals
Development Proposal – October 2014
Sarah Krichels Goan, MPP, Manager: Ms. Goan manages HZA’s South Portland office. She
was the Project Manager for the state and community-level evaluation of Maine’s Strategic
Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant. In this capacity, she drafted Maine’s Strategic
Prevention Framework Guide to Evaluation and Planning1for Healthy Maine Partnership
grantees, conducted a number of statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews,
developed a community-level infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models, and
compiled state-level epidemiological data into county-level profiles. Throughout the project
she has also provided technical assistance to grantees. She has provided similar evaluation
services and technical assistance to four Drug Free Communities grantees. Ms. Goan
earned her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy
and Public Administration at The George Washington University.
From Kanas Grant Writer, Reviewer, Evaluator Proposal – August 2013
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.A.
Sarah Goan, who joined Hornby Zeller Associates as a research associate in 2006, now
manages the firm’s Maine office. Her primary areas of focus include substance abuse
prevention, mental health and trauma-informed systems of care; she has presented
widely on these topics at both statewide and national conferences including the Mental
Health Research and Training Conferences sponsored by Georgetown University and the
University of South Florida.
Ms. Goan has served as Project Manager for the state, community and program-level
evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG)
through the then-named Office of Substance Abuse (OSA). In this capacity, she drafted
Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework Guide to Evaluation and Planning for grantees,
conducted a number of statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews, developed
a community-level infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models, and
compiled state-level epidemiological data into county-level profiles to help grantees
identify at-risk populations and areas of need to be targeted by their prevention efforts.
Throughout the project she also provided technical assistance to grantees, particularly in
evaluation design and implementation.
She directs the evaluation of Maine’s Trauma-informed System of Care project, intended
to build a statewide infrastructure supporting the trauma-informed approach to mental
health services for children with serious emotional disturbances. Based on the success
of the program, funding has been expanded to support the expansion of the program,
1
Available at https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/samhs/osa/pubs/data/2011/GuidetoAssess.Plan.Eval.pdf
3
commonly referred to as THRIVE, throughout the state, and to include youth involved in
the juvenile justice system.
Based on her experience, as described above, Ms. Goan has been a primary contributor
in Maine’s current endeavors to gain funding to support systems of care initiatives. She
also provides oversight to staff involved with drug court programs funded by the U.S.
Bureau of Justice Assistance. Prior to her arrival at HZA, Ms. Goan was a Research
Analyst for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC, where she coauthored several publications examining student persistence and degree completion,
institutional characteristics and the benefits of higher education. Ms. Goan holds an
M.A. in Public Policy from George Washington University. She earned her B.A. in Political
Science from Tufts University and graduated Summa Cum Laude.
4
NEEDS ASSESSMENT
From Ohio Children’s Trust Fund: Statewide Child Maltreatment Needs Assessment &
Evaluation Proposal – July 2010
Logic Model Lead: As illustrated in the organizational chart, three staff will lead the major
components of the project. Sarah Goan, coming off of her experience as the project
manager for the SPF-SIG evaluation discussed above, will lead the development of the
statewide logic model as well as the local variations on that model. Ms. Goan will be
assisted by Danielle Maurice and, to the extent necessary, support will be provided by the
data collection team members in tailoring the logic models to the individual counties and
their local programs.
5
PERFORMANCE EVALUATION/OUTCOME MEASUREMENT
From Iowa ACEs Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Analysis and Reporting Proposal
– March 2013
Sarah Goan, MPA, Data Analyst. Sarah is the manager of HZA’s Maine office. She was lead
evaluator on the system of care project which focused on childhood trauma (adverse
childhood experiences) as well as several projects requiring analysis of BRFSS data and
other large datasets including Medicaid and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Ms. Goan has analyzed BRFSS data across multiple years, including frequencies, crosstabulations and tests of significance, for a series of reports produced for Maine’s
Community Epidemiology Surveillance Network. She has presented broadly at national
research conferences.
From Maine CDC Data Analysis Youth Tobacco Rates Proposal – November 2010
Sarah Goan, M.A., HZA Manager: Sarah Goan is HZA’s expert on MYDAUS, MIHYS and YRBS,
having worked on One ME and SPF SIG evaluations as well as other tobacco prevention
projects. She has authored reports for the Community Epidemiology Surveillance Network
which monitor trends in substance use and are often cited by national media. Ms. Goan
leads the evaluation of Maine’s Higher Education Alcohol Prevention Partnership, a
statewide initiative to prevent high-risk drinking on college campuses. In addition to her
prevention work in Maine, Ms. Goan works with the Northeast Regional Expert Team
(formerly NE CAPT), providing technical assistance to state agencies working to prevent
substance abuse throughout the region. She was involved in OSA efforts to restructure
MYDAUS and has a thorough understanding of the relationships of the tools to one another
as well as to YRBS, whose components are integrated into MIHYS. Ms. Goan holds an M.A.
from The George Washington University and a B.A. from Tufts.
From Nevada LCB Performance Audit Proposal – 2007
Sarah Krichels Goan, Research Associate
Education:
M.A., The George Washington University, 2004
B.A., Tufts University, 2001
Employment History:
Research Associate, Hornby Zeller Associates, Inc., 5/06 to Present
Research Analyst, Institute for Higher Education, 9/03 to 4/06
Outside Consultant, Mathematica Policy Research, 6/03 to 8/03
Research Assistant, George Washington Institute of Public Policy, 10/02 to 8/03
Role in Project and Evaluative Areas:
Policy Analyst; Policy, Plan & Report Reviews; Worker Shadowing
Relevant Experience:
6
Ms. Goan joined HZA’s Portland, ME office in May 2006, having returned to her native State
of Maine after working for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC.
During her tenure at the Institute, Ms. Goan analyzed data from various federal higher
education data sources to examine student persistence and degree completion, institutional
characteristics and the benefits of higher education. These projects involved managing
multiple large-scale data files in SPSS as well as obtaining information from the online Data
Analysis System. Ms. Goan also conducted research and utilized SPSS to perform statistical
analysis on confidential student data from the National Student Data Clearinghouse and the
Office of Postsecondary Education. She used statistical procedures to infer findings where
longitudinal persistence data were incomplete.
Since joining HZA, Ms. Goan has participated in numerous projects. Most recently, she has
been involved in the Trauma-informed System of Care project, an effort to build an
infrastructure and implement an integrated system of care for children with serious
emotional disturbances with a focus on young people who have experienced trauma, which
is being conducted for Maine Children’s Behavioral Health Services. In that role, Ms. Goan
has led evaluation intake coordination efforts and oversees 200 field interviews with
families in a tri-county area. She reports on these efforts monthly to the federal evaluation
team by submitting electronic reports and participating in monthly conference calls. Ms.
Goan also provided oversight for the training, scheduling, data collection and reporting for
part-time family evaluators. In addition, Ms. Goan has worked on the development of an
agency assessment interview tool for a statewide evaluation effort to build an infrastructure
and implement a trauma-informed system of care.
For the state, community and program-level evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention
Framework State Incentive Grant, Ms. Goan conducted stakeholder interviews, drafted a
Needs and Resource Assessment Guide for grantees, and compiled state-level
epidemiological data into county-level profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations to
be targeted by state grant dollars. She also conducted site visits with all grantees at which
she administered an infrastructure assessment tool and provides on-going technical
assistance as needed.
Ms. Goan also assists on the Evaluation of the Greater Waterville Prevention Coalition, for
which she conducts multiple data analyses on school-level survey results and routinely
provides performance measures for federal reporting purposes.
Ms. Goan was also involved in the Healthy Families Program Evaluation project. She visited
program sites to collect best practices for inclusion in a bi-annual report and to solicit
stakeholder feedback on a proposal to create a single statewide model for home visiting.
For the Quality Assurance to New Jersey’s State Central Registry project, Ms. Goan
conducted on-site reviews of abuse and neglect calls to determine whether the people
taking the calls and dispatching information to the field for child abuse investigations were
operating within legal and best practice guidelines. She listened to taped calls and
completed a review instrument, recording judgments and making recommendations about
the call screeners.
7
This spring Ms. Goan served as a trainer as part of a workload study for the Virginia
Department of Social Services. The study is designed to determine staffing need for all
programs, including child welfare, benefits, employment and social services and from point
of intake, such as reports of abuse and neglect for children services, to completion of
investigations and through to case openings for in-home and out-of-home services.
8
PROGRAM EVALUATION
From South Carolina Grant Writing and Evaluation Services Proposal – October 2015
Sarah Goan, M.P.P., Manager
Sarah Goan, who joined HZA as a research associate in 2006, now manages the firm’s Maine
office. Her primary areas of focus include substance abuse prevention, mental health and
trauma-informed systems of care; she has presented widely on these topics at both statewide
and national conferences including the Mental Health Research and Training Conferences
sponsored by Georgetown University and the University of South Florida.
Ms. Goan directs the evaluation of Maine’s Moving Forward as well as the Juvenile Justice
Expansion of the Trauma-informed System of Care. Ms. Goan developed a statewide agency
assessment tool administered to over a hundred providers by Maine’s Children’s Behavioral
Health Services and leads evaluation and reporting efforts as the liaison to the national crosssite evaluator. Since 2009, Ms. Goan has collaborated with a number of local schools through
her work with Drug Free Communities Coalitions in Maine. In this capacity, she has analyzed
school-level survey data, conducted focus groups with students and staff, and presented
results to key stakeholders. Her presentations often include a facilitated conversation with
participants about how to understand and use the data to drive decision-making.
Ms. Goan has served as Project Manager for the state, community and program-level
evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG); she
drafted Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework Guide to Evaluation and Planning for
grantees, conducted a number of statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews,
developed a community-level infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models and
provided technical assistance to grantees, particularly in evaluation design. Starting in 2008,
Ms. Goan has been compiling epidemiological data, including student survey data, into
comprehensive state and sub-state profiles through Maine’s Statewide Epidemiology
Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW) to help grantees monitor emerging trends, identify at-risk
populations and pinpoint areas of need to be targeted by their prevention efforts. Through the
SEOW, she developed fact sheets, webinars and in-person presentations to share data with
various community audiences around the state.
Prior to her arrival at HZA, she was a Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher Education
Policy in Washington, DC where she co-authored several publications examining student
persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and benefits of higher
education. Ms. Goan holds an M.A. in Public Policy from The George Washington University;
she earned her B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University and graduated Summa Cum
Laude.
From Iowa Project AWARE Evaluation Proposal – February 2015
Sarah Goan, MPP, Portland Manager and Principal Investigator: Sarah Goan, who joined HZA
as a research associate in 2006, now manages the firm’s Maine office. Her primary areas of
9
focus include substance abuse prevention, mental health and trauma-informed systems of
care; she has presented widely on these topics at both statewide and national conferences
including the Mental Health Research and Training Conferences sponsored by Georgetown
University and the University of South Florida.
Ms. Goan directs the evaluation of Maine’s Moving Forward as well as the Juvenile Justice
Expansion of the Trauma-informed System of Care. Ms. Goan developed a statewide agency
assessment tool administered to over a hundred providers by Maine’s Children’s Behavioral
Health Services and leads evaluation and reporting efforts as the liaison to the national
cross-site evaluator. Since 2009, Ms. Goan has collaborated with a number of local schools
through her work with Drug Free Communities Coalitions in Maine. In this capacity, she has
analyzed school-level survey data, conducted focus groups with students and staff, and
presented results to key stakeholders. Her presentations often include a facilitated
conversation with participants about how to understand and use the data to drive decisionmaking. Ms. Goan has served as Project Manager for the state, community and programlevel evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG);
she drafted Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework Guide to Evaluation and Planning for
grantees, conducted a number of statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews,
developed a community-level infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models and
provided technical assistance to grantees, particularly in evaluation design. Starting in
2008, Ms. Goan has been compiling epidemiological data, including student survey data,
into comprehensive state and sub-state profiles through Maine’s Statewide Epidemiology
Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW) to help grantees monitor emerging trends, identify at-risk
populations and pinpoint areas of need to be targeted by their prevention efforts. Through
the SEOW, she developed fact sheets, webinars and in-person presentations to share data
with various community audiences around the state.
Prior to her arrival at HZA, she was a Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher Education
Policy in Washington, DC where she co-authored several publications examining student
persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and benefits of higher
education. Ms. Goan holds an M.A. in Public Policy from The George Washington University;
she earned her B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University and graduated Summa Cum
Laude.
From Northern Maine RCHC Evaluation Proposal – November 2014
Sarah Goan, MPP: Ms. Goan manages HZA’s South Portland office. She has extensive
evaluation experience developing logic models, evaluating environmental strategies in
community prevention and focusing on health risk factors. She served as an expert
consultant on evaluating environmental strategies for the Northeast Regional Expert Team
and provided a series of webinars on that topic to states up and down and eastern
seaboard. She was the Project Manager for the state and community-level evaluation of
Maine’s SPF SIG. In this capacity, she drafted Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework
Guide to Evaluation and Planning2for Healthy Maine Partnership grantees, conducted a
2
Available at https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/samhs/osa/pubs/data/2011/GuidetoAssess.Plan.Eval.pdf
10
number of statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews, developed a communitylevel infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models, and compiled state-level
epidemiological data into county-level profiles. Throughout the project she has also provided
technical assistance to grantees. She has provided similar evaluation services and technical
assistance to four Drug Free Communities grantees. Ms. Goan has authored a series of
reports for the Community Epidemiology Surveillance Network /Statewide Epidemiological
Outcomes Workgroup (organized by SAMHS) to monitor current trends in substance use,
including the annual Substance Abuse Trends in Maine: State Epidemiological Profile.3 Ms.
Goan earned her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Trachtenberg School of Public
Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University.
From Iowa Family Development and Self-Sufficiency (FaDSS) Program Evaluation Proposal –
July 2014
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.P.P., joined the firm in 2006 and manages the research staff for HZA’s
South Portland, Maine office. She specializes in research related to mental health, traumainformed systems of care and substance abuse prevention and currently provides technical
assistance to the Maine Department of Corrections on providing trauma-informed services to
juveniles. Ms. Goan served as the Project Manager for the evaluation of THRIVE, Maine’s
Trauma-informed System of Care where she oversaw a multi-year longitudinal outcomes
research protocol that included 120 research participants. As part of THRIVE, Ms. Goan helped
develop and validate the Trauma-informed Agency Assessment a that is being used by mental
health providers across the state of the Maine. Ms. Goan also led the state and communitylevel evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant. In this
capacity, she conducted a number of statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews,
developed a community-level infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models, and
compiled state-level epidemiological data into county-level profiles. Prior to joining the firm,
Ms. Goan worked as a Research Analyst at the Institute of Higher Education Policy in
Washington, DC. She earned her Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Trachtenberg School
of Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University.
From Maine CDC Population Health Proposal – March 2014
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.P.P., manages HZA’s South Portland office. Although she has worked
on a broad range of projects, her primary areas of focus include substance abuse prevention,
mental health, and trauma-informed systems of care. She was the Project Manager for the state,
community and program-level evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State
Incentive Grant. In this capacity, she drafted Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework Guide to
Evaluation and Planning for Healthy Maine Partnership grantees, conducted a number of
statewide surveys, performed stakeholder interviews, developed a community-level
infrastructure assessment, drafted coalition logic models, and compiled state-level
epidemiological data into county-level profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations and
3
Available at http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/samhs/osa/pubs/data/2013/SEOWEpiProfile2013FINAL.pdf
11
areas of need to be targeted by their prevention efforts. She has worked with many of the datasets
used by DPH, such as MIHYS and BRFSS. Throughout the project she has also provided
technical assistance to grantees. She has provided similar evaluation services and technical
assistance to four Drug Free Communities grantees. She has authored a series of reports for the
Community Epidemiology Surveillance Network / Statewide Epidemiological Outcomes
Workgroup (a workgroup organized by SAMHS); these reports monitor current trends in
substance use and are often cited by local and national media.
From Maine CDC Population Health Proposal – February 2013
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.P. P.
Manager
Sarah Goan, who joined the firm as a research associate in 2006, manages the South
Portland office of Hornby Zeller Associates. Although she has worked on a broad range of
projects across a number of subjects, her primary areas of focus include substance abuse
prevention, mental health, and trauma-informed systems of care, and she has presented
widely on these topics at various local and national conferences.
Ms. Goan served as Project Manager for the state, community and program-level evaluation
of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant through the Maine Office
of Substance Abuse. In this capacity, she drafted Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework
Guide to Evaluation and Planning for grantees, conducted a number of statewide surveys,
performed stakeholder interviews, developed a community-level infrastructure assessment,
drafted coalition logic models, and compiled state-level epidemiological data into countylevel profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations and areas of need to be targeted
by their prevention efforts. Throughout the project she has also provided technical
assistance to grantees as needed.
She has authored a series of reports for the Community Epidemiology Surveillance Network/
Statewide Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, a workgroup organized by SAMHS; these
reports monitor current trends in substance use and are often cited by local and national
media. Ms. Goan also leads the evaluation effort on behalf of Maine’s Higher Education
Alcohol Prevention Partnership, a statewide initiative to prevent high-risk drinking on college
campuses. Ms. Goan has analyzed data from the project’s survey of college students and
conducted focus groups with college students across the state. In addition to her prevention
work for the state of Maine, Ms. Goan works with the Northeast Regional Expert Team to
provide technical assistance to state and local agencies working to prevent substance
abuse throughout the region.
Ms. Goan has played a central role in Maine’s Trauma-informed System of Care project,
intended to build a statewide infrastructure supporting the trauma-informed approach to
mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances. For this project, Ms.
Goan has developed a statewide agency assessment tool being implemented by Maine’s
Children’s Behavioral Health Services and leads evaluation and reporting efforts, regularly
reporting to the federal evaluation team. More recently, Ms. Goan has been developing the
evaluation protocols for a newly funded program in Maine aimed at bridging the service gap
12
between the children’s and adult mental health systems for transitioning youth. She is also
serving as project director for an evaluation of the state of Nebraska’s Behavioral Health
Help Line, Family Navigator and Post Adoption/Post Guardianship Services.
Prior to her arrival at HZA, Ms. Goan was a Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher
Education Policy in Washington, DC where she co-authored several publications examining
student persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and the benefits of
higher education.
From MeCDC Comprehensive Cancer Control Program Evaluation Proposal – April 2012
Sarah Goan, Manager, HZA Portland office, will serve as lead evaluator. She holds an MA in Public
Policy from The George Washington University. She has extensive experience developing and
implementing process and outcomes evaluations, and working with quantitative and qualitative data.
This includes experience administering assessments and online surveys, analyzing assessment
findings and preparing reports. She was the Project Manager for the state, community and programlevel evaluations of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant. She directed the
evaluation of Maine’s Trauma-informed System of Care project, intended to build a statewide
infrastructure supporting the trauma-informed approach to mental health services for children with
serious emotional disturbances, and the Statewide Epidemiological Outcomes Evaluation Workgroup.
For the former, she developed a statewide agency assessment tool administered to over a hundred
providers by Maine’s Children’s Behavioral Health Services. Ms. Goan has experience using many
databases, and created the revised Community Epidemiology Surveillance Network report, which
employs over a dozen public health databases such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health
and the death certificate statistical file of the Office of Data, Research and Vital Statistics.
From New Hampshire Home Visiting Capacity Building Services Proposal – January 2011
The Project Director, Sarah Krichels Goan, M.P.P., is the manager of the Maine office and an
expert in capacity-building resulting from her roles as an evaluator, project manager, and data
analyst. Ms. Goan serves as lead evaluator for Maine’s strategic prevention efforts and its
trauma-informed system of care, as well as three prevention programs involving youth in
Nebraska. In recognition of her expertise in this area she was retained by the Northeast
Regional Expert Team (NRET) of the Education Development Center in Newton, MA (SAMHSA’s
technical assistance provider) to address some of the training and technical assistance needs
of state and local agencies throughout the northeast region, which includes New Hampshire.
From Colorado Department of Human Services Data Collection & Program Evaluation
Proposal – August 2010
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.A., Director of Operations: Since joining HZA in 2006, Sarah Goan
has participated in a variety of projects involving mental health, substance abuse, and
health services programs from both the prevention and service integration perspective. On
behalf of the Maine Health Access Foundation (MeHAF), Ms. Goan designed the logic model
for implementation of a statewide initiative to integrate physical health, behavioral and
mental health services in an effort to provide universal access to the highest quality and
comprehensive health care, addressing physical diseases, mental diseases and addictions.
13
She later developed an evaluation plan for MeHAF to use in assessing its integration
initiative.
Most recently, Ms. Goan has served as project lead for Maine’s Trauma-informed System of
Care project, the state’s effort to build an infrastructure and implement an integrated
system of care for children with serious emotional disturbances with a focus on young
people who have experienced trauma. She has also headed up the state, community and
program-level evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant.
In this capacity, she has developed logic models and related materials, conducted
stakeholder interviews, drafted a Needs and Resource Assessment Guide for grantees, and
compiled state-level epidemiological data into county-level profiles to help grantees identify
at-risk populations to be targeted by state grant dollars to change environmental factors that
contribute to the high rates of substance abuse in Maine. Ms. Goan has also conducted site
visits with all grantees, administering an infrastructure assessment tool and providing
ongoing technical assistance as needed.
In addition to this work, she has been involved in an evaluation of three recently
implemented prevention programs in Nebraska, designed to respond to families with
behavioral health needs: Children's Behavioral Health Help Line, Family Navigator and PostAdoption/Post-Guardianship Services. In each case, Ms. Goan has headed the evaluation
team, having developed the data collection tools for statewide evaluation addressing fidelity
of program implementation and effectiveness of services.
Prior to joining the firm, where she currently serves as Manager of HZA’s Maine office, Ms.
Goan was a Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC.
While there, she analyzed data from various federal sources to examine student persistence
and degree completion, institutional characteristics and benefits of higher education; she
also authored or co-authored several publications, later presenting at national conferences.
Ms. Goan holds a M.A. in Public Policy from George Washington University.
From Maine Chronic Disease Program Support Proposal – May 2010
Sarah Goan, M.A.
Manager
Sarah Goan, who joined the firm as a research associate in 2006, manages the South
Portland, Maine, office of Hornby Zeller Associates. Although she has worked on a broad
range of projects across a number of subjects, her primary areas of focus include substance
abuse prevention, mental health and trauma-informed systems of care, and she has
presented widely on these topics at various local and national conferences.
Ms. Goan serves as Project Manager for the state, community and program-level evaluation
of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant through the Maine Office
of Substance Abuse. In this capacity, she drafted Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework
Guide to Evaluation and Planning for grantees, conducted a number of statewide surveys,
performed stakeholder interviews, developed a community-level infrastructure assessment,
drafted coalition logic models, and compiled state-level epidemiological data into countylevel profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations and areas of need to be targeted
by their prevention efforts. Throughout the project she has also provided technical
assistance to grantees as needed.
14
She has authored a series of reports for the Community Epidemiology Surveillance Network,
a workgroup organized by OSA; the reports monitor current trends in substance use and are
often cited by local and national media. Ms. Goan also leads the evaluation effort on behalf
of Maine’s Higher Education Alcohol Prevention Partnership (HEAPP), a statewide initiative
to prevent high-risk drinking on college campuses. Ms. Goan has analyzed data from the
project’s survey of college students and conducted focus groups with college students
across the state. In addition to her prevention work for the state of Maine, Ms. Goan works
with the Northeast Regional Expert Team (NE RET, formerly NE CAPT) to provide technical
assistance to state and local agencies working to prevent substance abuse throughout the
region.
Ms. Goan has played a central role in Maine’s Trauma-informed System of Care project,
intended to build a statewide infrastructure supporting the trauma-informed approach to
mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances. For this project, Ms.
Goan has developed a statewide agency assessment tool being implemented by Maine’s
Children’s Behavioral Health Services and leads evaluation and reporting efforts, regularly
reporting to the federal evaluation team. More recently, Ms. Goan has been developing the
evaluation protocols for a newly funded program in Maine aimed at bridging the service gap
between the children’s and adult mental health systems for transitioning youth. She is also
serving as project director for an evaluation of the state of Nebraska’s Behavioral Health
Help Line, Family Navigator and Post Adoption/Post Guardianship Services.
Prior to her arrival at HZA, Ms. Goan was a Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher
Education Policy in Washington, DC where she co-authored several publications examining
student persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and the benefits of
higher education. Ms. Goan holds a M.A. in Public Policy from The George Washington
University; she earned her B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University and graduated
Summa Cum Laude.
From Nebraska Behavioral Health Line Evaluation Proposal – 2009
Sarah Goan, M.A., Director of Research Team: As the leader of the Research Team, Ms.
Goan will be responsible for drafting the data collection instruments, designing the data
collection processes, carrying out the data collection activities and supervising the other
researchers. She will conduct focus groups, conduct site visits and review case records. She
will draft the final products and work with family and youth members in all aspects of the
design, development and interpretation of data.
From Alaska DOC Mental Health Trust Proposal – 2006
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.A., Research Associate and Qualitative Researcher
Ms. Goan recently joined HZA as a Research Associate. Previously, Ms. Goan was a
Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC. Utilizing
SPSS, she conducted the analysis of data from various federal sources to examine student
persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and the benefits of higher
15
education. Prior to her position as Research Analyst, Ms. Goan was a Research Intern for
the Institute. In that position, Ms. Goan conducted research and utilized SPSS to perform
statistical analysis on confidential student data.
As a Research Assistant at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, Ms. Goan
identified and analyzed variables from the School and Staffing Survey. She conducted
research using the Unified Agenda, Federal Register and on-line docket management
systems. She created a database summarizing each of the documents.
Ms. Goan has authored and co-authored several publications and has presented at two
national conferences. She has a master’s degree in Public Policy from George Washington
University and an undergraduate degree from Tufts University.
From MEHAF Evaluation Proposal – 2006
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.A.
Sarah Krichels Goan was previously an analyst for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in
Washington, DC. Skilled in the use of statistical software, she conducted analyses as a
contributing author for several of the Institute’s published reports and also authored or coauthored other publications. Prior to that Ms. Goan was a research assistant at the George
Washington Institute of Public Policy, with analytic and database design responsibilities.
From GEAR UP – Maine Proposal – Biennial program evaluation – 2007
Sarah Krichels Goan
Sarah Krichels Goan joined HZA’s Portland, ME office in May 2006, having returned to her
native State of Maine after working for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in
Washington, DC.
During her tenure at the Institute, Ms. Goan analyzed data from various federal higher
education data sources to examine student persistence and degree completion, institutional
characteristics and the benefits of higher education. These projects involved managing
multiple large-scale data files in SPSS as well as obtaining information from the online Data
Analysis System. Ms. Goan also conducted research and utilized SPSS to perform statistical
analysis on confidential student data from the National Student Data Clearinghouse and the
Office of Postsecondary Education. She used statistical procedures to infer findings where
longitudinal persistence data were incomplete.
Since joining HZA, Ms. Goan has participated in numerous projects. Most recently, she has
been involved in the Trauma-informed System of Care project, an effort to build an
infrastructure and implement an integrated system of care for children with serious
emotional disturbances with a focus on young people who have experienced trauma, which
is being conducted for Maine Children’s Behavioral Health Services. In that role, Ms. Goan
has led evaluation intake coordination efforts and oversees 200 field interviews with
families in a tri-county area. She reports on these efforts monthly to the federal evaluation
team by submitting electronic reports and participating in monthly conference calls. Ms.
Goan also provided oversight for the training, scheduling, data collection and reporting for
part-time family evaluators. In addition, Ms. Goan has worked on the development of an
16
agency assessment interview tool for a statewide evaluation effort to build an infrastructure
and implement a trauma-informed system of care.
For the state, community and program-level evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention
Framework State Incentive Grant, Ms. Goan conducted stakeholder interviews, drafted a
Needs and Resource Assessment Guide for grantees, and compiled state-level
epidemiological data into county-level profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations to
be targeted by state grant dollars. She also conducted site visits with all grantees at which
she administered an infrastructure assessment tool and provides on-going technical
assistance as needed.
Ms. Goan also assists on the Evaluation of the Greater Waterville Prevention Coalition, for
which she conducts multiple data analyses on school-level survey results and routinely
provides performance measures for federal reporting purposes.
Ms. Goan was also involved in the Healthy Families Program Evaluation project. She visited
program sites to collect best practices for inclusion in a bi-annual report and to solicit
stakeholder feedback on a proposal to create a single statewide model for home visiting.
For the Partnership for Youth in Transition project, Ms. Goan participated in data collection
activities and was responsible for the transcription of stakeholder focus group notes.
Ms. Goan obtained her M.P.P. in Social Policy from The George Washington University’s
Trachtenburg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, in 2004.
17
WORKLOAD STUDY
From Florida DCF Integration of Service Training Series Proposal – 2009
Sarah Goan, MA, Subject Matter Expert
Since joining HZA in the spring of 2006, Sarah Goan has concentrated on projects involving
substance abuse and mental health as well as health services programs from both the
prevention and service integration perspectives. On behalf of the Maine Health Access
Foundation (MeHAF), Ms. Goan designed the logic model for implementation of an initiative
to integrate physical health, behavioral and mental health services throughout the State of
Maine. She later developed an evaluation plan for MeHAF to use in assessing its integration
initiative.
Since 2007, Ms. Goan has been an integral member of the team to evaluate Maine’s
System of Care project, funded by SAMHSA. The focus is on integrating services for children
with serious emotional illness who are working with other systems, most notably child
welfare and juvenile justice. She has been responsible for reporting outcomes to the federal
evaluation team and analyzing the progress of interagency collaboration. For example, she
was instrumental in creating an agency-level assessment of trauma-informed services with a
major component on interagency collaboration. While developed initially for the tri-county
Systems of Care project, the children’s mental health agency at the state level has
mandated the tool’s use for all behavioral health agencies.
Ms. Goan has also worked in a number of projects involving child welfare agencies. She was
an evaluator on HZA’s study of quality assurance for the New Jersey hotline; she reviewed
cases for the Arkansas Administrative Review project, the Arkansas Overdue Investigation
project and the Arkansas Fatality Review project.
Ms. Goan has developed curricula for national workshops and has presented at conferences
and workshops in California, Washington, DC , Virginia, Colorado and Maine.
Given her extensive experience with substance abuse, mental health and health services
programs, Ms. Goan will conduct research and assist in the design of instructional materials
for the modules involving these three subject matter areas.
From Westchester NY Child Welfare Workload Study – 2006
Sarah Krichels Goan, M.A., Research Associate
Ms. Goan recently joined HZA as a Research Associate. Previously, Ms. Goan was a
Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, DC. Utilizing
SPSS, she conducted the analysis of data from various federal sources to examine student
persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and the benefits of higher
education. Prior to her position as Research Analyst, Ms. Goan was a Research Intern for
the Institute. In that position, Ms. Goan conducted research and utilized SPSS to perform
statistical analysis on confidential student data.
As a Research Assistant at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, Ms. Goan
identified and analyzed variables from the School and Staffing Survey. She conducted
18
research using the Unified Agenda, Federal Register and on-line docket management
systems. She created a database summarizing each of the documents.
Ms. Goan has authored and co-authored several publications and has presented at two
national conferences.
For this project, Ms. Goan will assist in two areas: researching how case weighting has
appeared in the literature and in other jurisdictions; and working with WCDSS staff to
identify the inventories of activities and cases required for instrument development.
19
ORGANIZATIONAL/POLICY ANALYSIS
From Colorado Transition Age Youth Proposal – 2013
Sarah Goan, M.A., Project Manager
Ms. Goan will serve as the lead evaluator for this initiative. She holds a Master’s in
Public Policy from The George Washington University. Ms. Goan has extensive
experience assisting public agencies which focus on youth with mental health and cooccurring disorders to implement their programs. She directed the evaluation of Maine’s
Trauma-informed System of Care project, THRIVE, intended to build a statewide
infrastructure supporting the trauma-informed approach to mental health services for
children with serious emotional disturbances. She has also headed up the state,
community and program-level evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework
State Incentive Grant. In this capacity, Ms. Goan developed logic models and related
materials, conducted stakeholder interviews, drafted a Needs and Resource
Assessment Guide for grantees, and compiled state-level epidemiological data into
county-level profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations to be targeted by state
grant dollars to change environmental factors that contribute to the high rates of
substance abuse in Maine. Ms. Goan also conducted site visits with all grantees,
administering an infrastructure assessment tool and provided ongoing technical
assistance as needed.
As part of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Moving Forward
initiative, Ms. Goan led the advisory group charged with developing policy for public
agencies to adopt who provide services to transition-aged youth. The policy aims to
ensure youth and young adults, age 14 to 26, are able to effectively transition to a
healthy adulthood and access educational and employment opportunities through cost
effective services. She will be working with the advisory group and Departments to
implement and operationalize the policy. On behalf of the Maine Health Access
Foundation (MeHAF), Ms. Goan designed the logic model for implementation of a
statewide initiative to integrate physical health, behavioral and mental health services in
an effort to provide universal access to the highest quality and comprehensive health
care, addressing physical diseases, mental diseases and addictions. She later
developed an evaluation plan for MeHAF to use in assessing its integration initiative.
From Rhode Island Providence Plan Proposal - January 2013
Sarah Goan, M.P.P.
Manager
Sarah Goan, who joined Hornby Zeller Associates as a Research Associate in 2006, now
manages the firm’s Maine office. Her primary areas of focus include substance abuse
prevention, mental health and trauma-informed systems of care; she has presented widely on
these topics at both statewide and national conferences including the Mental Health Research
and Training Conferences sponsored by Georgetown University and the University of South
Florida.
20
Ms. Goan has served as Project Manager for the state, community and program-level
evaluation of Maine’s Strategic Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG) through
the Maine Office of Substance Abuse. In this capacity, she drafted Maine’s Strategic Prevention
Framework Guide to Evaluation and Planning for grantees, conducted a number of statewide
surveys, performed stakeholder interviews, developed a community-level infrastructure
assessment, drafted coalition logic models, and compiled state-level epidemiological data into
county-level profiles to help grantees identify at-risk populations and areas of need to be
targeted by their prevention efforts. Throughout the project she has also provided technical
assistance to grantees, particularly in evaluation design and implementation.
She has authored a series of reports for Maine’s Community Epidemiology Surveillance
Network; these reports monitor current trends in substance use and are often cited by local
and national media. Ms. Goan also leads the evaluation effort on behalf of Maine’s Higher
Education Alcohol Prevention Partnership, a statewide initiative to prevent high-risk drinking on
college campuses. Ms. Goan has analyzed data from the project’s survey of college students
and conducted focus groups with college students across the state. In addition to her
prevention work for the state of Maine, Ms. Goan consults with the Northeast Regional Expert
Team of Newton, MA to provide technical assistance to state and local agencies working to
prevent substance abuse throughout the region.
Ms. Goan directs the evaluation of Maine’s Trauma-informed System of Care project, intended
to build a statewide infrastructure supporting the trauma-informed approach to mental health
services for children with serious emotional disturbances. For this project, Ms. Goan developed
a statewide agency assessment tool administered to over a hundred providers by Maine’s
Children’s Behavioral Health Services and leads evaluation and reporting efforts serving as
liaison to the national cross-site evaluator. Ms. Goan is also serving as research director for an
evaluation of the state of Nebraska’s Behavioral Health Help Line, Family Navigator and Post
Adoption/Post Guardianship Services.
Prior to her arrival at HZA, Ms. Goan was a Research Analyst for the Institute for Higher
Education Policy in Washington, DC where she co-authored several publications examining
student persistence and degree completion, institutional characteristics and the benefits of
higher education.
Ms. Goan holds an Masters in Public Policy from The George Washington University; she earned
her B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University and graduated Summa Cum Laude.
21
22