U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

◆ What impact does Title V have on community planning, service delivery, risk and protective factors, and juvenile problem

behaviors?

◆ What factors and activities lead to the effective implementation

of the Title V program model?

To address these research questions, evaluators are:

◆ Assessing conditions within each State through interviews

with State Advisory Group members, State juvenile justice

specialists, and other State-level stakeholders.

◆ Assessing community planning and implementation characteristics through ongoing collection and review of grant applications, program activity and evaluation plans, and interviews

with Prevention Policy Board (PPB) members, project coordinators and directors, and program staff. 

Training and technical assistance activities that develop local

evaluation capacity are part of the national evaluation design.

To date, the evaluation team has conducted training and technical

assistance on a variety of topics in participating communities. The

team has also developed data collection guides, forms, and other

tools to help the communities collect and submit local evaluation

data. Although these tools initially were developed for collecting

data in national evaluations, communities can also use the tools

to evaluate other local projects and programs. Future evaluation

activities are listed below:

◆ Ongoing collection of community-level process and outcome

data.

◆ Continued training and technical assistance to States and communities to build local evaluation capacity.

◆ Development and dissemination of an empirical Title V survey

to validate case study findings in a large national sample.

◆ Dissemination of evaluation findings through OJJDP Fact

Sheets, Bulletins, and the annual Title V Report to Congress.

In combination, these activities provide a framework for understanding the processes and outcomes of the Title V model. 

National Evaluation of the Title V

Community Prevention Grants Program

by Susan Chibnall

In the 1992 reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, Congress established Title V—

Incentive Grants for Local Delinquency Prevention Programs

(Pub. L. 93–415; 42 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.), known as the Community Prevention Grants Program.1 Title V grants support the

implementation of collaborative and community-based delinquency prevention plans. These plans focus on risk and protective factors to address those aspects of children’s lives that

research has shown are critical to the onset of delinquent behavior. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

(OJJDP) awards Title V discretionary grants to States based on

the relative size of their population subject to original juvenile

court jurisdiction. The States, in turn, award the funds to qualified units of local government (i.e., a city, county, town, borough,

parish, village, or Indian tribe that performs law enforcement

functions) to implement delinquency prevention plans that meet

their local needs.

Since 1998, OJJDP has conducted a national evaluation of the

program’s effectiveness, so as to improve the Community Prevention Grants Program model and encourage its implementation

in more communities. Caliber Associates is conducting the evaluation, which has evolved significantly during the past 3 years—

broad program descriptions of Title V communities nationwide

have led to increasingly detailed investigations of program implementation and outcomes in 11 participating study sites in 6

States. The information gathered from these sites helps OJJDP

understand how different types of communities can best create

conditions that are conducive to effective prevention planning

and programming. 

National Evaluation Design and Activities

To assess the efficacy of the Title V model, the evaluation

addresses the following research questions:

November 2001 #37

1 For more information about the Title V Community Prevention Grants

Program, visit http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/titleV.
PRESORTED STANDARD

POSTAGE & FEES PAID

DOJ/OJJDP

PERMIT NO. G–91

FS–200137 Fact Sheet

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

Preliminary Findings

Findings based on a preliminary analysis of the evaluation data

suggest that certain factors seem to make a difference to effective

risk-focused delinquency prevention. The findings also suggest

that States and communities with access to certain resources and

support systems may better understand the Title V model and,

therefore, implement it with greater success. The following factors seem to affect program success at the State level:

◆ A designated State Title V coordinator or specialist whose

primary responsibility is to organize and oversee Title V planning, implementation, and evaluation activities. 

◆ State commitment to and understanding of the Title V

model and conveyance of this information to local subgrantees. 

◆ State support for planning activities, including Statesponsored planning grants and training and technical assistance to support the implementation of a data-driven planning

process.

◆ State support for timely training activities, through which

potential Title V subgrantees can readily apply newly acquired

information and skills to planning activities and have sufficient

time to develop their 3-year plans that incorporate planning,

implementation, and evaluation. 

◆ State support for evaluation activities, including State

Title V and prevention staff who understand basic evaluation

concepts and can support local subgrantees in developing and

implementing evaluation plans. 

Factors that seem to affect program success at the community

level include the following:

◆ A local Title V coordinator whose primary responsibilities

are to organize and oversee Title V planning, implementation,

and evaluation activities.

◆ Local commitment to and understanding of the Title V

model by local government representatives, PPB members,

and Title V project directors and coordinators. 

◆ Local support for the planning process, including access to

information and support for completing a data-driven planning

process that links planning, implementation, and evaluation

activities in the 3-year plan.

◆ Local leadership, such as a strong lead agency or organization

with experience conducting data-driven risk assessments and

planning and implementing comprehensive, community-based

initiatives.

◆ Local support for the evaluation, including access to ongoing training and technical assistance and support to develop

and implement evaluation plans.

◆ Access to ongoing resources, including financial, material,

and in-kind resources.

In sum, conducting both a process and outcome evaluation is

enabling researchers and practitioners to learn not only what

works in delinquency prevention but also why it works. Ultimately, findings from the national evaluation will help OJJDP

refine the Title V model and supplement the growing body of

research on effective delinquency prevention strategies. 

For Further Information

For more information on the Title V Incentive Grants for Local

Delinquency Prevention Programs, contact Heidi Hsia, Program

Manager, State and Tribal Assistance Division, Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 810 Seventh Street NW.,

Washington, DC 20531, 202–616–3667, 202–307–2819 (fax),

hsiah@ojp.usdoj.gov. For more information on the national evaluation of Title V, contact Susan Chibnall, Project Manager, Caliber

Associates, 10530 Rosehaven Street, Suite 400, Fairfax, VA

22030, 703–385–3200, 703–385–3206 (fax), chibnall@calib.com.

Susan Chibnall, Ph.D., is a Senior Associate and Project Manager for the

Title V National Evaluation at Caliber Associates, OJJDP’s evaluation

management contract provider.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component 

of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

FS–200137