1. Allocation of Title V Resources: Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation Support, and Funding

In 1997, the Title V Community Prevention Grants Program continued providing the framework, tools, and funding for communities nationwide to assess their needs, mobilize their resources, and tackle their juvenile crime problems with effective delinquency prevention strategies. Program training, technical assistance, and evaluation support guided communities in planning, implementing, and monitoring their own risk- and protection-focused prevention efforts. Title V grants helped communities get their programs off the ground and provided the incentives communities needed to leverage additional funding from other State and local sources. While some communities receivedtheir first grants in fiscal year 1997 and are now in the preliminary stages of program implementation, others have been operating their programs for 2 or more years and already are recording early and encouraging results from their efforts.

1.1 Training, Technical Assistance, and Evaluation Support

Prior to obtaining a Title V subgrant, most communities have introduced risk-focused prevention to key community leaders and completed detailed risk and resource assessments. To help communities with planning and program development, OJJDP provides Key Leader Orientation (KLO) training, which is designed to introduce risk- and protection-focused delinquency prevention to key community leaders, and Risk and Resource Assessment (RRA) training, which is designed to teach program stakeholders how to assess their communities' risk and protective factors and available resources. To date, 2,280 individuals, representing approximately 511 communities, have obtained Key Leader Orientation training, and 2,480 individuals, representing approximately 483 communities, have completed Risk and Resource Assessment training. In addition, 22 States have used other resources to obtain additional community prevention training sessions to meet the demand from interested communities.

To help communities monitor their delinquency prevention efforts and track their progress, OJJDP has widely distributed the Title V Community Self-Evaluation Workbook, which was described in the first chapter of this report. More than 170 communities are currently using the data collection forms contained in the Workbook to track their delinquency prevention efforts, and 9 States arerequiring its use by their subgrantees. In 1997, three States requested and received training workshops for their local subgrantees on how to use the Workbook. As a result of these workshops, these States now plan to schedule additional workshops for their grantees, who will be required to use the Workbook to monitor their delinquency prevention efforts. In addition, 14 States have hired State-level evaluators to track their progress in implementing the program model and achieving their delinquency prevention goals, and another 10 States are planning to do so.

1.2 State Grant and Local Subgrant Awards

Unallocated funds from fiscal year 1996 ($133,000) were combined with the $18.8 million in fiscal year 1997 Title V funds ($20 million appropriated less the $1.2 million to SafeFutures) for a total of $18,933,000 available for distribution to the States.⁴ Exhibit 4 displays the allocation of funds for which each State was eligible in fiscal year 1997, as well as in the first 3 years of the program, fiscal years 1994 through 1996. Up to 5 percent of a State's allocation can be used to cover the costs of administering and evaluating Title V subgrants and support SAG activities related to the program, with not less than 95 percent competitively awarded as subgrants to units of general local government. In fiscal year 1997, only one State (Wyoming) and one Territory (U.S. Virgin Islands) did not submit an application for Title V Community Prevention Grants Program funds.

State agencies award Title V subgrants to eligible units of general local government. The award process generally includes a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the State, a competitive review of local subgrant applications based on criteria established by the SAG, and subsequent award of subgrants by the State grantee agency to units ofgeneral local government. States award grants to units of general local government in annual increments covering not more than 12 months, with overall project periods of 12 to 36 months. Except in the first program year, when all awards were "new," subgrants to units of general local government are awarded either to "new" grantees (those who have not received a subgrant in previous years), or "continuing" grantees (those who previously had been awarded a subgrant and now are receiving second or third year funds).

In 1997, States continued to award both new and continuation subgrants, using both fiscal year 1997 and prior years' funds. Using fiscal year 1997 funds, a total of 98 subgrants were awarded, 41 percent of which went to new subgrantees receiving Title V subgrants for the first time. Throughout the country, approximately 120 communities have now received a full 3 years of Title V funding. Among these communities, the total amount of funding awarded for 3 years has ranged from $28,532 to $1,502,998; the median 3-year funding level was $150,000.

To date, 32 States have not yet awarded any fiscal year 1997 Title V funds, and another 10 States have awarded some but not all of their fiscal year 1997 funds. Overall, 15 States reported that they are planning to award subgrants to 72 new communities, which would bring the total number of communities nationwide that have received funding under the Community Prevention Grants Program to approximately 550.⁵

In addition to the 98 communities that received subgrants in 1997 and the more than 190 communities that are awaiting pending awards, another 124 communities that applied for funding were turned down due to a lack of Title V funds, indicating a high level of demand for Community Prevention Grants.

Exhibit 5 summarizes the subgrant activity for each participating State. The exhibit presents the number of new and continuation subgrants awarded with 1997 funds, the average amount of these awards, and the number of subgrant awards pending. It also presents the total number of subgrants awarded since 1994 for each State participating in the Title V Community Prevention Grants Program.

EXHIBIT 4: Allocation of Community Prevention Grants Program Funds

EXHIBIT 5: Local Subgrant Awards of Community Prevention Grants Program Funds

For subgrantees in the majority of States (57 percent), the required match of 50 percent of the Title V funds is being provided primarily through in-kind resources. Eight States reported that fully 100 percent of the local matches were in-kind. In approximately 30 percent of the States, the match is provided primarily with local resources, and in three States (6 percent), all or most of the match was provided with State funds. Finally, four States (8 percent) reported that the match requirement was met equally by local funds and in-kind resources.

1.3 Results

Communities vary in how far they have progressed in their delinquency prevention efforts. As previously indicated, 40 communities received new subgrants in 1997 and are just beginning to initiate their prevention programs. At the same time, many of the 58 communities that received continuation subgrants in 1997 have been implementing their programs for 2 or 3 years, and some have already demonstrated early positive changes at the local level. The remainder of this chapter describes how one State, several of its participating communities, and seven other communities across the country have changed the way they do business as a result of their ongoing participation in the Community Prevention Grants Program. Their experiences clearly demonstrate the potential for reducing juvenile crime and delinquency in diverse communities nationwide through a systematic, collaborative approach to delinquency prevention.