| January 12, 2011 1:39 PM |
Stephen W. Phillippi, Jr., PhD, LCSW
In 2006 The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health (LSUHSC SPH) was invited by the MacArthur Foundation to partner in the Louisiana Models for Change (MfC) in Juvenile Justice Reform initiative. In 2007 the MacArthur Foundation awarded the first two year grant to LSUHSC SPH to serve as a state leader in the targeted area of building capacity for and implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) in communities.
For the past four years, LSUHSC SPH has worked with Louisiana Models for Change partners and grantees throughout the state in order to build capacity and implement evidence-based prtices (EBPs) in two aspects of the community based continuum of care in Juvenile Justice. The first being scientifically sound screening and assessment practices at ealy points in juvenile justice processing. The second aspect being community level treatment/interventions for youth and their families based on scientifically proven approaches.With improvement in both of these aspects of the juvenile justice continuum of care and the targeted funding opportunities for such services, it is expected that youth will experience a wider range of evidence-based programming to meet their needs than what is currently available in Louisiana. To measure this expected progress, LSUHSC SPH and the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice (NCMHJJ) partnered to create a juvenile justice provider survey. That survey has been administered in the original seven Louisiana parishes participating in MFC and offers a baseline for the current use of EBPs by community providers.