In this report, the authors evaluate the implementation of three capacity-building efforts in Los Angeles County that received Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act funds. These efforts used this funding to build the capacity of other organizations working with at-risk and justice-involved youth. The authors detail their evaluation's context, methods, and findings, including shared barriers and facilitators to implementation.

Implementation Evaluation of Capacity-Building Programs Funded by the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act in Los Angeles County

Susan Turner, Laura Whitaker, Hansell Perez, Stephanie Brooks Holliday

ResearchPublished Dec 3, 2024

Los Angeles (L.A.) County has taken a novel approach to using crime-prevention funding to support at-risk and justice-involved youth: The county funds not only direct-service organizations but also capacity-building efforts for those organizations. The Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act (JJCPA) provides funding to counties to support programs that have proven their effectiveness in curbing crime among at-risk youth and youth involved in the juvenile justice system.

The L.A. County Probation Department (Probation) allocated JJCPA funds in 2019 for three local capacity-building efforts. The organizations that participated in these efforts were the California State University, Los Angeles; the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health's Office of Violence Prevention; and Ready to Rise, a public-private partnership among Probation, the California Community Foundation, and the Liberty Hill Foundation.

Probation hired RAND to evaluate the efforts' implementation. As part of that evaluation, the authors interviewed staff members from Probation, the three JJCPA-funded capacity-building efforts, and local organizations that received the efforts' services. In this report, the authors discuss their evaluation's context, methods, and findings, including shared barriers and facilitators to implementation.

Key Findings

Interviewees described several barriers, both external and internal to their organizations, to implementing the capacity-building efforts

  • The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic caused many disruptions to the interviewees' organizations, such as the move to virtual programming.
  • The organizations participating in the efforts faced many internal obstacles, such as limited time to devote to capacity-building or transitions in leadership.
  • There was a mismatch between efforts and Probation in defining and measuring success.

However, interviewees also noted primary facilitators to the implementation of the capacity-building efforts

  • Adequate staffing, including hiring staff with sufficient organizational experience and subject-matter expertise, ensured that organizations could adopt recommendations for capacity-building.
  • Team collaboration was necessary for success, including collaboration within a community-based organization and between the participating organizations and their staff members.
  • Staff from the capacity-building efforts needed to meet programs "where they are" when providing services — that is, not take a top-down approach and letting an organization inform and co-design the capacity-building process.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: Los Angeles County Probation Department
  • Publisher: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2024
  • Pages: 36
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA3217-2
  • Document Number: RR-A3217-2

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Turner, Susan, Laura Whitaker, Hansell Perez, and Stephanie Brooks Holliday, Implementation Evaluation of Capacity-Building Programs Funded by the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act in Los Angeles County. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3217-2.html.
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This research was sponsored by the Los Angeles County Probation Department and conducted within the Justice Policy Program of RAND Social and Economic Well-Being.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

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