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Financing and Systems Change

Principal Investigator

Dr. Alison Evans Cuellar, Ph.D.
Health Administration and Policy
George Mason University

Summary

Rationale

One goal of Models for Change is to create eralizable and exportable systems reform strategies that can inform efforts in other states. The MacArthur Foundation has supported this particular project to examine the role of financing in systems change.

Financing plays an important role in the delivery of services across a variety of social systems. In particular, financing plays two key roles:

  1. It allocates resources and makes delivery of services possible; and
  2. It provides incentives, intentional or not, which shape service delivery. 

Governments and providers may re-allocate how and to whom they provide services. These allocation decisions can be wide-ranging. Allocation decisions are embedded in many policies, for example, in funding of new community probation and health services, in incarcerating truant youth, in transferring youth to adult systems, and even in school expulsion policies. The consequences of these decisions can be viewed narrowly, such as the impact of a given policy on recidivism, or it can be viewed more broadly and include education, employment, and outcomes for non-offenders. 

Through this project it will be possible to identify key financing opportunities and changes and understand their impact on youth and their communities. This information could provide guidance to other states on promising opportunities or potential practices to avoid when thinking about policies that shift financing systems in juvenile justice.

Purpose for the Research

For states contemplating widespread system change, there is relatively little systematic information to help clarify justice system financing options or to provide insights on the advantages and disadvantages of different financing strategies. The purpose of this research is to clarify justice system financing strategies and to provide evidence on the impact of state and local resource allocation decisions. The research will target two areas, 1) to identify the impact of specific Models for Change changes and 2) to provide evidence to support the core principles that serve as the base of the Models for Change initiative. The research is tailored to the activities in each state, taking advantage of unique opportunities in each state, yet it also addresses cross-cutting themes. In this way it can speak to the policy changes and priorities in each state and also to broad national interests. 

Building on several key themes that have emerged in the Models for Change sites — mental health, alternatives to formal processing and secure confinement, and aftercare — we propose to address several questions.

  1. The first set of research questions address financing options available to states. 
  2. The second addresses changes in financing made by Models for Change sites and how this re-allocation played in terms of targeted and non-targeted groups. 
  3. The third set of questions addresses the impact of different financing policies.

Study Methodology

This study will use several techniques to understand financing and the impact of financing decisions. In partnership with the Models for Change model states, data will be collected through documents, stakeholder interviews, and administrative data.

  1. Documents will include key federal and state legislation and policy reports
  2. Stakeholder interviews will include representatives from each of the Lead Entities and select county representatives involved in implementation of programmatic changes.
  3. Administrative data will include juvenile justice case processing data, school data, and/or Medicaid data to ascertain services received and key outcomes.

What are the benefits to participating?

Models for Change state sites and their local partners will receive feedback about their efforts from the research team. This feedback can aid sites, and potential new sites, in thinking about expanding or improving existing strategies. 

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