Contra Costa County 2021 Report on Juvenile Justice Programs and Services

Contra Costa County 2021 Report on Juvenile Justice Programs and Services

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Client

Contra Costa County Probation Department

Context

The Contra Costa County Probation Department and RDA have a long history of working together. In 2021, RDA worked closely with Contra Costa County Probation to develop the 2021 Report on Juvenile Justice Programs and Services, the first report of its kind in Contra Costa County. The impetus for this report, as designed by county staff and stakeholders, was to define, collect, and analyze data on 1) juvenile justice system involvement, 2) youth needs, and 3) the utilization and effectiveness of current programs and services available for youths and their families in order to identify strengths, gaps, and opportunities to ensure a continuum of equity-informed, healing-centered services is in place to prevent juvenile justice system involvement and support youths who are already system involved.

Approach

An overarching framing question was used to guide the development of the report: How can Contra Costa County develop a continuum of equity-informed services that prevent juvenile justice system involvement and place youths in the least restrictive environment possible consistent with the needs of the youth and public safety? From that framing question, three guiding questions further refined the direction of the report.

  • Guiding Question 1: What are the number and characteristics of youth who have contact with law enforcement in Contra Costa County, what was the outcome of their contact, and to what extent are those outcomes equitable by race?
  • Guiding Question 2: What are the top needs of youth with law enforcement contact and at risk of law enforcement contact, and to what extent are services available to meet these needs?
  • Guiding Question 3: To what extent are service providers delivering programs that are cost effective and achieve positive outcomes?

RDA used a mixed-methods approach—using both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis—to triangulate findings across data sources for each of the guiding questions and to provide multiple perspectives on the complex, multi-dimensional issues that are explored in this report. Quantitative data included publicly available data as well as aggregate data collected from county agencies (e.g., Probation, District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, County Behavioral Health Services, County Office of Education) and JJCPA- or YOBG-funded agencies. Qualitative data included interviews and focus groups with staff from juvenile justice system-serving agencies, service providers, and youths with and without juvenile justice system involvement. In total, 68 individuals participated in the interviews and focus groups.

Results

Released in 2022, the report provides findings for each of the three guiding questions and 16 recommendations for the Contra Costa County Probation Department and its stakeholders to consider for enhancing the juvenile justice system. In November of 2022, the Probation Department will be participating in an action planning workshop with RDA to prioritize the recommendations and develop an action plan for the Department. Review the executive summary and report here.

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Assessment and Program Design

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"The RDA team was such a help for us all these years.  They took care of every piece of our evaluation and produced reports that were very high-quality and thorough.  The RDA team was always very accommodating of our data challenges and always did their best to help us make use of what they discovered.  RDA was a partner with our program."

Courtney Welch

Program Director, Assisted Outpatient Program (AOT)
Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services

“RDA has provided exemplary support for the Contra Costa County Adult Education Consortium for the past three+ years. Their professional approaches and skills have facilitated challenging partnership and organizational discussions while assisting our consortium to successfully meet every programmatic and compliance milestone. We consider their organization an integral part of our own, as well as our success. Thank you RDA!”

Kim Schenk

Senior Dean of Curriculum and Instruction, Diablo Valley College
Contra Costa County Adult Education Consortium

"We have partnered with RDA on research, evaluation, technical assistance, and grant writing projects and have had overwhelming success. A strong working relationship drives our ability to develop effective planning and implementation strategies. They listen, adapt, guide and bring a tremendous amount of expertise and focus to our collaborative efforts."

David Mauroff

Chief Executive Officer - San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project

"The Santa Cruz County Probation Department has enjoyed working with RDA over the past 4 years and found their staff to be exceptionally professional and highly dedicated to helping my department use data to illustrate successes and identify areas for improvement.  They produce high quality and accurate reports, which help us use data to inform policy and practice change. I highly recommend them."

Fernando Giraldo

Chief Probation Officer - Santa Cruz County Probation Department

“RDA always produces high quality, thoughtful and valuable work products for CIBHS as a customer. A recent stakeholder input project for the Bay Area received high praise from our county partners. The team is approachable, responsive and flexible. RDA has the ability to interpret the needs you have for a project and design something impactful that reflects your intended vision. I would highly recommend RDA for your next evaluation project.”

Amy Faulstich, MSW

Senior Associate - California Institute for Behavioral Health Solutions

"We can't thank Gina Martinez and Stephanie Bimar enough for their compassionate support and guidance while NAMI-Santa Clara County navigates our faith leader grant in the midst of a pandemic. Gina and Stephanie are professional, highly skilled and dedicated to supporting mental health transformation; and they go the extra mile to serve their clients.   We highly recommend them to any company or agency in need of data gathering and reporting."

Dawn Brown

Team Lead, FaithNet Program - NAMI Santa Clara County

"Rubicon has reaped many benefits through partnering with RDA over the last several years. RDA delivers stellar project management, proposal writing, and facilitation services. The RDA team provides an optimal balance of organization, accountability, and personability that makes partnerships easy and effective. If a funding proposal or project convening is entrusted to RDA, you can be certain you are in good hands!"

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President and CEO - Rubicon Programs