Measuring What Matters: Collecting the Right Data for Your Alternative Response Program

What data do I need to understand how my alternative response program is performing?  

Alternative response program leaders are frequently asked important questions about their program’s performance, yet many struggle to respond. Clear and reliable metrics depend on clear and reliable data. Building a strong data collection system is the first step on the path to understanding how alternative response programs operate. 

Join the GPL for “Measuring What Matters: Collecting the Right Data for Your Alternative Response Program” on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT. This event is the second of a two-part, virtual learning series to help managers of both new and established alternative response programs learn how to collect the right information to tell the story of their programs. 

During the call, we will review our Data Dictionary, which we designed to help you understand:  

• What data sources and data fields are needed to produce clear and reliable alternative response metrics 
• How jurisdictions have approached overcoming common challenges in collecting and defining data on alternative response programs

Presenter: Marianna Yamamoto is a Project Leader at the GPL, where she works on diversions and alternatives to the criminal justice system as part of the Alternative 911 Emergency Response Initiative. She leads the Alternative 911 Emergency Response Initiative’s research and evaluation strategy. As a Fellow at the GPL, she supported Allegheny County, Alameda County, Madison, Dane County, and the San Gabriel Valley in planning, launching, and scaling their own alternative response programs. 

Guest Speaker: Brett Zimmerman joined Portland Street Response in 2025 as an EMS Specialist, supporting the program’s medical responders and acting as one of the system administrators for the incident documentation software. Before joining PSR, Brett spent the prior 15 years as a firefighter/EMT with Portland Fire & Rescue, primarily as a frontline firefighter but also worked for two years in the department’s Community Health Division. In 2020, she pursued a public health degree at Simmons University with an emphasis on social justice and health equity, earning a healthy respect for the role of quality data and storytelling in social change.