MUNICIPAL EXCELLENCE network
Practice Collection Form
General Information
Date / June 25, 2010Name of Practice / Chestermere Crime Reduction Partnership/ Turn Around Program
Name of Municipality / Chestermere
Your Name and Title / Patti Brown, Community Development Manager
Phone Number / 403-207-7064
Fax Number / 403-569-0512
E-mail for Practice Contact(s) /
Mailing Address / 105 Marina Rd., Chestermere, AB T1X 1V7
INTRODUCTION
When completing this form, use your own words and share your practice in a story format. Please do not include any derogatory comments. Use paragraphs and bullet points to organize your practice. This is not a business case but instead is intended to be informative for your peers, showing them the processes and outcomes of your practice. Be sure to focus on what you learned so that it is helpful to the reader. Click on the grey boxes to type in your answers. The boxes will expand as you type.
THE ISSUE
Question / AnswerAbstract:
What is the practice you developed or are developing (brief abstract)?
Please briefly describe the final practice developed. (e.g. if you developed a new Council agenda, list the agenda items, or if a new communications plan was created, provide a summary of the plan’s goals, objectives and highlights.) / The Turn Around Program is addressing the emerging issues involving at-risk youth and gang related crime in our local community.
Youth are referred that have been identified as being at risk of gang involvement or of serious criminal involvement. The focus of this intervention is on those small numbers of youth in the community who are committimg most of the crime and who pose the greatest risk to the community. The RCMP monitor these youth's activities, to hold them accountable to release and probations conditions, and offer the support of the Turn Around Worker when appropriate. The Turn Around Worker's goal is to work with those serious habitual youth offenders who are interested in making some life changes. The Worker helps youth and their families identify goals that reduce risk factors such as drug use, truancy, and anti-social peer relationships and increase protective factors such as connectedness with family, school achievement, and decision making skills. Through this intervention, the goal is to support the youth to make changes that will reduce or eliminate the number and seriousness of their offences to the betterment of the youth, the family and the Chestermere community.
Need:
Please describe (just a couple of sentences or bullet points) why you needed to create this practice (policy or process).
What issue made it necessary? (e.g. “We needed a comprehensive plan to deal with…”, or “We needed an annual forecasting tool because…”) / The RCMP were finding, for the first time, that strangers were attending local parties for the purpose of engaging youth in criminal acts. Our concerns regarding crime and disorder, also mirrored those of Calgary whose border is less than 5 kilometers away. Their gang related activity is an increasing issue and yet, we are not privy to many of the same resources that are available to residentsof Calgary.
Creating Your Practice
Research:How did you obtain information to help design your practice (including consultation with stakeholders, formal and informal research)?
Please include any research documentation you can share, or give us a source reference (e.g. Web site, literature, “We reviewed the bylaws from other municipalities in the area…”). / Consultation with stakeholders regarding the need for a Crime Reduction program and the best ways to deliver it, in our community was accomplished in a number of ways:
1)Community Services representation on the Town Policing Committee which is comprised of community residents and the Healthy Communities Initiative which is an Action group comprised of local professionals from various sectors.
2)A comprehensive Youth Survey in 2008 which asked question specific to risk factors and feelings of safety.
3)An extensive review of the Chestermere RCMP detachment crime statistics from May, 2007 to December, 2008.
4)Consultation with the RCMP, Probations Services and the Crown Prosecutors office.
5)Research regarding similar programs:The British Home Office – Prolific and Other Priority Offenders Program
The Calgary Y.A.R.D. (Youth At Risk Development) Initiative
The Edmonton Community Solutions to Gang Violence Program
The Banyan Community Services SNAP TM Under 12 Outreach Project
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Comprehensive Community-Wide Gang Model
The Philadelphia Youth Violence Reduction Partnership
The Milwaukee Wraparound Approach
The Boston Gun Project
The Canadian National Crime Prevention Centre
Although all of the above programs were reviewed for best practice information gathering purposes, the two main sources for research were as follows:
The Home Office, of Britain:
The National Crime Prevention Centre:
Process:
How did you go about designing your practice? For instance, did you create a team, hire a consultant, borrow something ready-made from another jurisdiction?
Describe briefly who did the design work and what process they followed. / The concept for the project was initiated by the Commander of the Chestermere RCMP detachment and the Director of the Community Services Department for the Town of Chestermere. Both of these individuals were actively involved with the Policing Committee who were repeatedly identifying the increase in violent crime as being a major concern for the community. As well, the Healthy Communities Initiative who had long been concerned about the increasing risk factors for our community’s youth were discussing intervention options.
Getting Approval For Your Practice
Authority:Whose/what approval did you need to create and implement the practice? / 1)Town Council and CAO
2)RCMP Headquarters
Reporting:
How did you inform the decision-maker(s) about the practice and your need for their approval?
Please note the name of any documents provided to the decision-makers that you would be willing to share. / An Executive Summary of the proposal was presented to both parties - the RCMP and Town Council, along with supporting documentation and statistics.
Consultation:
Did you consult with stakeholders as part of your approval process?
If so, how? If possible, attach a copy of templates, surveys or other documents you used as part of your consultation. / Yes, representatives from schools, law enforcement, and the community were consulted.
Implementing Your Practice
Plan:Describe the process you went through to implement the practice. If you used an implementation plan, please note it here. / Project plan is attached.
Policy:
What changes to bylaws, regulations or procedures were needed to implement this practice and how did you deal with them?
Please attach a copy of the change in bylaw, policy or procedure. / Information sharing practices between partners required procedural changes. The referral and consent forms that were developed are attached.
When:
When did your municipality begin to use the practice? Was it implemented all at once or in stages? / The practise began in the summer of 2009 with the hiring of the Turn Around Worker. The next stage of the process was to create the supporting documentation (referral forms, consent forms, brochure) while undergoing the in-depth screening of the RCMP security clearance.
Who:
Who was responsible for implementing the practice?
If someone else is responsible for ongoing management, who is it? / The project partners - the RCMP, the Town of Chestermere and the Healthy Communities Initiative Committee provided the direction of the project. The implementation was conducted by a full time social worker - the Turn Around Worker, under the supervision of the Community Development Manager. and the Community Services Director.
Resources Required
Budget:How much did it cost you to design and implement your practice (i.e. We saved/spent $XX per year)?
What are your ongoing operational and capital costs, if any? / The project budget was obtained from provincial Safe Communities Innovation Funding for $115,000 for year 1, $118,000 for year 2 and $123,000 for year 3.
Staff:
What human resources did you need to design, implement and manage your practice? (e.g. “It took X staff member(s) X months on this” or “This is part of normal staff duties.”) / The full time efforts of a social worker (Turn Around Worker) and.3 FTE of a supervisory role were dedicated to this project's implementation and evaluation.
Infrastructure:
What “capital costs” (such as information technology,other equipment or building assets) did you need to design, implement, manage, and/or evaluate your practice? / A laptop equipped with a wireless aircard and Word Perfect software was required to facilitate communication between the RCMP detachment and the Municipal Office. In-kind office space, IT support, and administrative support was provided from the Community Services department as well as the RCMP detachment.
Evaluating Your Practice
Formal:If you did a formal evaluation (e.g. user satisfaction survey, analysis of annual expenditures or number of rate payers served) for your practice, please describe the evaluation tool and the process used.
Tell us who was involved. / Youth progress is evaluated using Resiliency Canada tools. The youth completes a pre, interim, and post test which scores their risk and protective factors in a graphing format. A Social Return on Investment evaluation is a requirement of the funder and the value of the program is assessed by reviewing the success of the youth's achievements as compared to the cost to society if the program was not available. Simpact Strategy Group is facilitating the collection of SROI data for the Safe Communities projects. Useful SROI resources are available at:
The specific goals identified by the youth will be recorded on their Service Plan. With the support of the Turn Around Worker, these goals will be addressed, modified and achieved as progress indicates. The Service Plan template is attached.
Informal:
If you did an informal evaluation, describe what you did (such as discussing the practice with people in the office or on the street, or letters/comments received). / Ongoing feedback is solicited through meetings of the Steering Committee, the Healthy Community Initiatives Committee, meetings with school administration, and Probation.
Performance measures:
Please list the performance measures for this practice (i.e. reduced number of complaints, money saved, or change in equipment life expectancy.)
Please list the process you used for measuring performance, (i.e. We do annual surveys on…) examples include:
- collecting data
- establishing a baseline
- applying the measures
- results
- follow up
1.At an individual, family, and community level: The Calgary-normed assessment tools (Resiliency Canada) are used to determine whether we are successful in increasing Protective Factors and decreasing Risk Factors of project participants. Resiliency Canada goes beyond a general description of Protective and Risk Factors, to further break these down into “intrinsic factors” (characteristics of the individual such as self-control, cultural sensitivity, social sensitivity, etc.) and “extrinsic factors” (factors outside the individual such as family relationships, influence of peers, connectedness to their school, etc.) This further helps us to know where to target our interventions. Although Resiliency Canada identifies 19 extrinsic factors and 12 intrinsic factors, for program planning and evaluation purposes, we focus on the factors most similar to the Risk factors identified by the National Crime Prevention Centre as being associated with becoming involved with gangs, Specifically, we use the following scales and sub-scales:
. Extrinsic Factors
Family: family communication, caring family, family support
Peers: peer influence, peer relationships
Community: adult relationships
Learning at school: school engagement, school work, achievement
B.Intrinsic Factors
Self-concept: self-esteem, self-efficacy, planning & decision-making
Self-control: resistance skills, restraint
2.At an individual and community level: the youth’s arrest and incarceration record will indicate if we are being successful in preventing/reducing crime.
Changes:
(a) Based on the evaluation (formal or informal), describe any changes you have made, or would like to make, to your practice as a result. (e.g. “After implementing this practice, we decided that it would be better if…”)
-or-
(b) Has your practice met your expectations and if so, how? / After a slow start, we recognize the value of collaboration with similar programs, and stakeholders as soon as possible to build upon their experience. We underestimated the connections between youth in this small community and were surprised that most engaged youth know each other and are comparing experiences with the program. This has been an unexpected benefit to the program as youth recommend and promote the Turn Around Worker as a source of support for other youth.
Lessons Learned / Benefits Received
Benefits:What are the benefits of this practice to your municipality? (eg. Preparation of Council agenda packages now requires less time, etc.) / This program has provided a much needed resource to an often neglected and resource-poor community. The success of this program and the positive relationships that have been formed have been leveraged to negotiate funds for other initiatives such as a new mentorship program.
Key Lessons:
What key lessons have you/your municipality learned through the process of:
- designing;
- obtaining approval;
- implementing; and
- evaluating your practice?
The lengthy security clearance required in order to work in partnership with the RCMP delayed direct contact with youth for nearly 6 months. We came to realize that if the staff person did not meet the requirements of the clearance or chose not to continue with the position, beginning the lengthy process a second time would have jeopardized at least one year of a 3 year project.
Advice to Municipal Peers:
What advice would you give to another municipality that is considering adopting your practice? Is there anything you might have done differently? / If done again, there are several things we would have done differently that relate to organizing in advance of receiving funds and hiring staff:
1. It would have been beneficial to address the value of prevention work for the elected officials and public figures so that they were more aware of the reasons for putting effort into youth that have not yet been involved with the law. This education would have assisted in their ability to speak to the media and other interested parties on the design of the program. This came with time but promotional opportunities had come and gone before this awareness was established.
2. We would have involved schools at the district level in the planning stages of the program to problem solve the referral process and sharing of information at an earlier date. Delays in clarifying this process slowed down the receipt of referrals and the program start up.
3. We would have established output targets to align more closely to the start of client contact instead of the start of the program formation as the unexpected delays effected first year caseload targets.
PRACTICE UPDATES
New Information:There may be some new information to add since this practice was first posted. This is especially true if:
- a new process has been implemented in your municipality;
- there are new practice evaluation results; or
- there has been a change affecting organizational direction. For example, explain how new economic conditions or a new vision/strategy affect the practice.
Other Information
Suggestions:Please list relevant information sources that others might use or you would be willing to share (courses, Web sites, literature, experts). / Videos from Kinetic Video ( include:
Then Anger Workshop Series
The Last Rave: About Club Drugs
Marijuana: The Burning Truth
Efficacy: Your Secret Power for Decision Making
Preventing Relapse: Taking the Necessary Steps
Books include:
Peace in the Streets by Arturo Hernandez
Clinical Interventions with Gang Adolescents and their Families by Curtis W. Branch
Teenage Wasteland by Donna Gaines
The Youth Gang Problem by Irving A. Spergel
Stop the Chaos by Allen A. Tighe.
Documents:
An Overview of Risk and Protective Factors- The Alberta Youth Experience Survey 2008 (Alberta Health Services)
Websites include:
*The Community Solution to Gang Violence (great resource to other appropriate links and documents)
*The old AADAC youth website
The National Institute on Drug Abuse for teens website
Most of Us Website (Social Norms Marketing)
*Centre for Research on Youth at Risk
*What’s With Weed
The Search Institute
*denotes Canadian website
Documents & Attachments:
Please list any documents you would be willing to share with others interested in your practice (e.g. a bylaw, a policy, approval documents, templates).
* Note: Most documents can be electronically attached to your practice in the MEnet database. If only a paper version of your document is available, please send it with your completed Practice Collection Form. We will scan it and attach it. / attached please find:
- Project Plan
- brochure
-flyer
-referral form
-consent form
Nominations:
Do you have any suggestions of other individuals or municipalities with municipal practices that we should add to the Municipal Excellence network? Please list their practice, municipality, and contact information.
Or, e-mail and let us know about a municipal colleague that has a really good way of doing things.
Comments
Have we missed something; anything you’d like to add to the areas we have touched on, or an area we have not mentioned? / n/aThank you for your contribution to the Municipal Excellence network. Please return this form as soon as you are able.