In 1992, Congress established the Title V Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Program (more commonly known as the Community Prevention Grants Program) to encourage communities to design and implement programs that prevent juvenile delinquency. OJJDP awards these discretionary grants to States based on the size of the juvenile population (persons below the age of original jurisdiction of the juvenile court) in each State. The States, in turn, award the funds to qualified units of general local government (any city, county, town, borough, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State, and any Indian tribe that performs law enforcement functions as determined by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior) to implement local delinquency prevention plans. To receive funds, communities must base the programs identified in their plans on an assessment of community risk factors associated with the development of delinquent behavior. This risk-focused prevention strategy underscores the idea that to prevent a problem from occurring, the factors that contribute to the development of the problem must be identified and addressed.
The Community Prevention Grants Program is the only Federal funding source dedicated solely to delinquency prevention. To date, results are promising. Communities across the country have received Title V grants to create programs and services that strengthen families and help children develop into law-abiding, productive members of society.
Since 1995, Congress has appropriated $20 million annually for the Community Prevention Grants Program. (Funding for FY 1994, the initial year, was $13 million.) Each State, the District of Columbia, and five territories are currently eligible to apply for Community Prevention Grant funds. (Palau is not eligible for Community Prevention Grant funds.) For FY 1998, 52 of the 56 eligible jurisdictions participated in the program (3 nonparticipating States were ineligible and 1 territory declined); grants ranged from $100,000 to $2,354,000 (the allocation for the District of Columbia is on hold).
Since OJJDP implemented the program in 1994, 619 communities in 49 States, 5 U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia have received Community Prevention Grants. Of the 136 total Title V subgrants for FY 1998, 33 were awarded to communities receiving Title V subgrants for the first time. As of December 31, 1998, 29 States had not yet awarded their FY 1998 Title V funds, and another 13 States had awarded some but not all of their FY 1998 funds. Overall, 17 States had indicated that they are planning to award new subgrants to 116 communities, which would bring the number of communities nationwide that have received funding under the Community Prevention Grants Program to 735.
Communities vary in the extent to which their delinquency prevention efforts have progressed. Many are just beginning to initiate prevention strategies, whereas others have been implementing their programs for 2 or 3 years and have demonstrated early evidence of positive changes. These communities have initiated an array of prevention activities, ranging from early child development strategies (such as nurse home visitation, preschool, and parent training programs) to youth development initiatives (such as mentoring, afterschool activities, tutoring, truancy and dropout reduction programs, and substance abuse and gang prevention initiatives).
One of the strengths of the Community Prevention Grants Program is the requirement that each community receiving a grant appoint a prevention policy board that includes representatives from law enforcement, juvenile justice, education, recreation, social services, private industry, health and mental health agencies, churches, civic organizations, and other youth and family service organizations. As a result, police officers, family court judges, and probation officers are sitting down at the same table with teachers, social workers, clergy, recreation specialists, child advocates, other professionals, parents, and youth to discuss the needs of children and their families and to develop and implement prevention plans to address these needs. In some cases, the prevention policy board planning effort is the first time these various groups have worked together to find common ground and collaborative solutions to prevent delinquency.
Because a State or local government is required to provide a 50-percent cash or in-kind match for each grant, the level of community ownership and investment in these programs is impressive and contributes to the success of the Title V program. Many communities contribute more than 90 percent of the cost of the program.
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When I first met with the prevention team, I said, "Whether or not we get this grant, it's time for this community to start looking at how we can keep these kids from getting into trouble." In that regard, this was a great process.
Title V Program Director |
To help communities monitor their delinquency prevention efforts and track their progress, OJJDP published the Title V Community Self-Evaluation Workbook in 1996. The Workbook includes easy-to-complete forms and step-by-step instructions to guide communities in documenting their delinquency prevention activities, monitoring programs, and collecting statistics. The Workbook has been so well received that 13 States now require Community Prevention Grant recipients to use it. Several States have integrated the Workbook forms into their application and reporting processes, and some States have encouraged other delinquency prevention service providers to use the Workbook and related tools for their programs.
OJJDP also incorporated evaluation mechanisms into the Community Prevention Grants Program to ensure that communities track program outcomes and systems changes and determine whether prevention efforts are having the desired effects on risk factors and delinquency. Although this task is challenging, many communities have developed and implemented evaluation plans and are monitoring outcomes and risk factors. These communities are learning that change can, and does, occur when comprehensive prevention efforts are implemented.
In FY 1998, OJJDP's evaluation management contractor, Caliber, Inc., of Fairfax, VA, began to implement a long-term, nationwide evaluation of the effectiveness of the Community Prevention Grants Program. This evaluation will examine two broad areas: (1) program impacts on community planning, service delivery, risk factors, protective factors, and juvenile problem behaviors; and (2) factors and activities that help communities effectively implement the program model and lead to positive outcomes.
Evaluators will examine the Community Prevention Grants Program implementation in six States: Hawaii, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia. These States, which have a combined juvenile population of nearly 8 million, are geographically and demographically diverse and also vary in their methods of implementing the Community Prevention Grants Program. By focusing the evaluation on these States, OJJDP will be able to conduct the research cost effectively, produce statistically valid results, and fully investigate research questions by examining a variety of implementation methods and outcome factors. OJJDP expects the evaluation to be completed by 2002.
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We have used the funding from the Title V Program to act as a catalyst to initiate new responses to old problems. It is truly amazing what $25,000 (per year) can do in a small city or village when properly accounted for.
Prevention policy board member |
The success of the Community Prevention Grants Program is discussed in greater detail in OJJDP's 1998 Report to Congress: Title V Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs, available from the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (see "How To Access Information From JJC").
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| OJJDP Annual Report 1998 | October 1999 | |