NCJR’s Crossover Youth Project a Successful Community Partnership

Omaha – Dr. Ryan Spohn began attending Crossover meetings with representatives from Boys Town, the Juvenile Assessment Center, and the Douglas County Juvenile Court back in 2012, shortly after he started as the director of the Nebraska Center for Justice Research (NCJR). The meetings were an effort to start an initiative called the Crossover Youth Practice Model, which strives to better serve crossover youth (children with open cases in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems) in Douglas County by increasing collaboration and information-sharing between the two systems.

Eventually, the initiative--now called Youth Impact!--was fully implemented in Douglas County, and new initiatives are now beginning to crop up across the state. At first, Dr. Spohn consulted with the Douglas County Crossover team, and later, they approached him to conduct an evaluation of the initiative. Along with Dr. Emily Wright (associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and associate director of NCJR), the team worked diligently to secure funding for an external evaluation. For almost two years, Drs. Spohn and Wright have worked hand-in-hand with the Youth Impact! team to conduct a process evaluation, outcome evaluation, and cost-benefits analysis of the initiative. They conducted interviews with team members, attended multitude of meetings and conferences, and have had their graduate student, Joselyne Chenane (also a student in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice), engrossed in data collection at various agencies in Douglas County (e.g., the Department of Health and Human Services).

The work is paying off. Not only has the working relationship between NCJR and Boys Town become stronger, the ties with other community agencies such as the Juvenile Assessment Center, the Douglas County Attorney’s Office, the Nebraska Family Support Network, and Nebraska Families Collaborative, have grown as well. The work has been mutually beneficial, too. NCJR has attended several local conferences to share information about the work and successes of Youth Impact!, and through Joselyne’s data collection efforts, the team’s data tracking system has been filled out and cleaned up. When the project is finished in December 2016, the Youth Impact! team will know how effective and cost-effective their initiative is and will be able to use their up-to-date data tracking system; Joselyne will have received invaluable field experience; and NCJR will have built strong relationships with local community agencies that will be valuable assets for years to come.