Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program Evaluation Project

Funding Source: Michigan Family Independence Agency; Juvenile Justice Grant Unit

Project Period: February 1, 1996 - September 30, 2004

Project Coordinator: Joan Moore

The Michigan Title V Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program Evaluation Project (JDPPE) was a statewide, multi-site demonstration project designed to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors associated with delinquency and youth violence following the Communities That Care model. The primary purpose of the project was to increase the evaluation capacity of Title V grantees by providing evaluation information, expertise and support. The grantees were engaged in a participatory process to evaluate their activities in a manner that included key principles from empowerment evaluation and utilization-focused evaluation. This approach put the grantees in control of the direction of their own evaluations and facilitated the teaching of skills surrounding evaluation in order to promote self-sustained evaluative activities. Technical assistance included the provision of evaluation assistance through development of program-specific goals and objectives, documentation of program-specific activities, and identification of outcomes measures.

During the first grant period, February 1, 1996 to January 31, 2000, technical assistance was provided to fourteen (14) First-Round Title V communities and sixteen (16) Second-Round Title V communities. The project expanded during the second grant period, February 1, 2000 to September 30, 2004, to include Comprehensive Strategy and Building Restorative Communities. Technical assistance was provided to twenty (20) First-Round Title V communities, two (2) Second-Round Title V communities, eight (8) Third-Round Title V communities, ten (10) Fourth-Round Title V communities, five (5) First- Round Comprehensive Strategy Communities and five (5) Second-Round Building Restorative Communities.

Project Type: Evaluation, Technical Assistance, Training