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Evaluation of the Attorney General's Children Exposed to Violence Demonstration Program: Phase I

Award Information

Awardee
Fund For The City of New York
Award #
2010-IJ-CX-0015
Funding Category
Competitive
Location

New York, NY

Congressional District
10
Status
Closed
Funding First Awarded
2010
Total funding (to date)
$2,000,000
Original Solicitation
NIJ FY 10 ORE Evaluation of the Attorney General's Children Exposed to Violence Demonstration Program: Phase I

Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2010, $500,000)

The Attorney General has launched an ambitious program to test comprehensive, community-based efforts in eight sites nationwide. Each site will have to create a broad, multi-disciplinary partnership with the means to implement a wide range of responses across a given community or tribal setting. This project will provide for a Phase I evaluation of this demonstration program. Informed by a broad ecological framework, the goals are to: (1) implement a participatory research process at all eight sites; (2) conduct a formative evaluation of all eight demonstrations; (3) identify both universal outcomes and data and specific measures appropriate to individual sites; and (4) produce a comprehensive research design for a four-site Phase II process, impact, and cost evaluation.

To address the four goals, site visits to each of the eight sites will be conducted. During these visits, the evaluator will engage the sites with information on the children exposed to violence (CEV) literature; probe them through interactive sessions concerning initiative goals, strategies, and outcomes; conduct thorough semi-structured interviews with all coalition representatives; and administer a formal (quantitative) communications and priorities survey. In addition, in the second site visit outcomes of interest will be finalized; data systems assessed; interviews of technology/systems staff members conducted; relevant data obtained; and interest and willingness to develop new data systems assessed. Additional work will include developing a comprehensive logic model by site and a universal logic model spanning all eight sites; developing a major performance indicators chart for each site and a universal, multi-site chart; assessing each site's strategic planning process utilizing empirically based lessons from prior process evaluations; and devising feasible and appropriate quasi-experimental designs for a Phase II evaluation.

ca/ncf

In response to the problem of childhood exposure to violence, the Attorney General has launched an ambitious program to test comprehensive, community-based strategies in six sites nationwide. The sites are: Boston, MA; Cuyahoga County, OH; Grand Forks, ND; Shelby County, TN; and two tribal sites, the Chippewa Cree Tribe (MT) and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (SD). Each site will implement a wide range of strategies across their target communities. The goals of this Phase II evaluation are: (1) to conduct a thorough process evaluation of all six demonstration sites; (2) to conduct a rigorous impact evaluation of all six demonstrations; and (3) to disseminate findings to appropriate federal, state, and local policymakers and practitioners across the country who might benefit from understanding the results of the six pilot demonstrations.

Research Design and Methodology

Annual site visits will be conducted to all six sites, with additional visits to the tribal sites. During these visits, steps will be taken to ensure that systems are in place to collect required data; semi-structured interviews will be conducted with site representatives to understand and
assess the implementation of each strategy; and project obstacles and/or modifications to initial plans will be documented as lessons for future jurisdictions. Process evaluation activities will also include tracking quantitative implementation indicators, such as numbers of trainings or
other events held, numbers of schools or children served through prevention programs, or numbers of parents or children participating in other prevention or intervention efforts. In addition to collecting common core indicators of children exposed to violence (CEV) from all sites (e.g., police data, social
welfare data, and service usage), a two-wave, representative survey in each site's target community will be conducted to assess changes in awareness of CEV and local resources,violence-related attitudes and behaviors, and exposure to local awareness campaign messages and materials. The evaluators will also identify specific strategies in some sites on which to conduct additional impact evaluation activities. Finally, the design and methodology will vary for the tribal sites, given their extended planning period and additional technical assistance needs.

nca/ncf

Grant-Funded Publications

Date Created: September 22, 2010