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Juvenile Reentry Programs: Conduct a Community Needs Assessment

What's Going On?

  • Overview

    StartBefore implementing reentry programs, you should understand the specific needs of your community, including the components of the system, services, and treatment options that may affect reentry programs.

    Your assessment should include data collection from publicly available databases, supplemented with interviews from stakeholders (such as probation officers/case managers, family members, or members of the community), to obtain a complete picture of the issues surrounding reentry and the various components of the systems that may be involved. Also, be aware of programs and treatment services already available in your community to avoid the duplication of efforts. Finally, once you collect the information, tailor your decision-making to your community’s specific needs.

    This section provides guidance on how to conduct a community needs assessment for reentry efforts and provides a brief overview of how to use that information.

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  • Steps to Take: Lessons Learned from the Research

    Steps to Take:  Lessons Learned from the Research

    Conduct a needs assessment to determine the need for juvenile reentry programming.

    • Use information gathered on your targeted juvenile population to make decisions about suitable programs to implement.
    • If possible, conduct focus groups and interviews with stakeholders to capture information that cannot be found in the existing data.
    • Create an inventory of the programs and treatment services currently available for youth in your community.

    Use the information from your needs assessment to inform reentry efforts.

    • Use the findings from your community needs assessment and inventory of programs and treatment services to make decisions about reentry programming.
    • Conduct a Needs Assessment to Determine the Need for Juvenile Reentry Programming

      A community needs assessment can tell you if specific types of treatment or services (such as mental health or substance abuse programs) will be essential for successful reentry by youth. It can also show if cross-agency collaboration is needed, as youth returning from residential facilities may also be involved in other systems, such as child welfare and education.

      • Use information gathered on your targeted juvenile population to make decisions about suitable programs to implement. As discussed in the Establishing Clear Program Goals chapter, you should gather information (i.e., demographic characteristics, crime statistics, income levels, neighborhood housing issues) to figure out what programs are best suited for the targeted population. For example, when a comprehensive reentry plan in Alameda County, California (see below) showed an increase in female detainees, the county considered the development of a reentry program with gender-responsive components and staff training in response to this issue.

      • If possible, conduct focus groups and interviews with stakeholders to capture information that cannot be found in the existing data. Speaking with stakeholders (e.g., probation officers/case managers, law enforcement, prosecutors and defense attorneys, family members, members of the community, representatives from the school systems, or even youth) may provide you with specific insight and information about designing reentry programming. For example, as part of the process to develop a comprehensive reentry plan for juveniles in Alameda County, California, the Youth Reentry Planning Process (YRPP) steering committee sent out surveys to family members of juveniles incarcerated at the juvenile justice centers (JJCs) to get a better understanding of what services or information parents/families wanted to receive during their youth’s discharge. They also sent out a survey to members of certain neighborhoods impacted by juvenile reentry, asking their views about the causes and types of violence that occur in their communities. Additionally, they conducted a focus group with youth who were reentering from JJC placements, asking questions such as “What’s stopping you from being successful?” and “What programs do you know of that can help reestablish yourself after release?” This information was ultimately helpful in developing the Comprehensive Blueprint for Youth Reentry in Alameda County and in reentry programs, such as Second Chance Act–Oakland. For information on which stakeholders you might interview, see Getting Stakeholder Buy-In.

      • Create an inventory of the programs and treatment services currently available for youth in your community. To determine gaps in service, first document which interventions are currently in place. For example, during the development of the Comprehensive Blueprint for Youth Reentry in Alameda County, the YRPP steering committee gathered information on the existing resources and reentry initiatives, such as the Alameda County Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI)—a county violence reduction and prevention effort already in operation. The YRPP planned to work closely with the VPI to ensure coordination of efforts. In using an existing community initiative to provide services to juveniles reentering the community, Alameda County coordinated efforts among various groups to ensure timely service delivery and reduce duplication of efforts.
      • Take a Look
        The University of Kansas Community Tool Box provides important information on assessing community needs and resources, such as collecting information about the problem, conducting focus groups and interviews, SWOT analysis, and determining service utilization.

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    • Use the Information from Your Needs Assessment to Inform Reentry Efforts

      Once you have collected the available information, you should tailor your decision-making to your community’s specific needs.

      • Use the findings from your community needs assessment and inventory of programs and treatment services to make decisions about reentry programming. Based on your findings, you should be ready to replace old practices that are not driven by evidence or research and that do not address important issues that may have emerged from the community needs assessments. For instance, are there particular treatments or services that should be included as part of juvenile reentry efforts? What agencies and stakeholders will be involved in implementing the program? Are there services or programs already in place, or will a new reentry program need to be developed? Will existing services need to be modified to address gaps?

        For example, the University of Chicago conducted a report on juvenile reentry experiences in the State of Illinois. They found that over half of the returning juveniles were enrolled in Medicaid within the first year of release, although only one quarter actually received any health, mental health, or substance abuse treatment. This finding suggested that reentry efforts for juveniles in Illinois should include information about enrolling in Medicaid following release, and how to make use of services once enrolled (see Procuring Funding for more specific information about Medicaid).

        Another example, the Gang Intervention Treatment Reentry Development for Youth (GitRedy) Program in Harris County, Texas, was developed in response to the increasing number of youth placed in long-term secure facilities due to serious, gang-related crimes, as noted in a report developed by the Texas Youth Commission. The report, which included the unique challenges and risk factors associated with violent offending and gang member reentry (which were not addressed by programming already available), led to the creation of the GitRedy Program that offered culturally competent, family-focused services to gang-involved youth and their families.

        These examples show how information gathered about targeted juvenile populations helps address identified gaps in services. For deciding on which specific reentry programs to implement, see the next section, Doing Supportive Research.

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