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Running Head: PROGRAM EVALUATION PAPER

Program Evaluation Paper

Naomi Griffin

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

Research Methods II
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PROGRAM EVALUATION PAPER

Shields For Families is described as an informed, all-inclusive community based

nonprofit organization that is aimed at serving families from all walks of life located in the South

Los Angeles area with a focus to 1) promote family cohesiveness and strengthen the family as a

unit, and providing support for families to remain together in the community 2) provide

collaborative services that reinforce families 3) implement comprehensive preventative care and

social services and health programs to boost the overall well-being of families in the community

4) enhance financial independence and self-sufficiency. Shields for families was established in

the South Los Angeles community to help build family support through offering a variety of

programs that use community and health, supportive, and behavioral health interventions (Back

on Track, 2021). 

The Back on Track program is aimed at stipulating educational, case management, pre-

release, and vocational, and other supportive services. the purpose of the back on track program

is to reduce recidivism by helping people reach their career and educational goals, as well as

provide a solid foundation (shelter, food etc.) to help individuals transitioning from incarceration

to reentry into society a fresh start. Attorney General Kamala Harris stated that Back on Track –

LA will hold offenders responsible and accountable to themselves, their families, and the

communities, making them pro social citizens consequently increasing public safety (Back on

Track, 2021). The Back on Track program begins during the last seven months with the

incarcerated individual still in custody and they need to have a minimum of four months still left

on their sentence. The program proceeds for one year after the individual is released, with or

without supervision.
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Questions that will be used to help guide and improve program development include:

How will the Shields Back on Track program formulate and maintain cultural competencies for

all the participants? How will program intervention and guidelines take into consideration

external factors that are out of the individual's control, such as living in a lower socioeconomic

status, a bad neighborhood, an area with drug addicts and dealers, gang members, etc.? Attorney

general Kamala Harris, who is involved with the Back on Track program in Los Angeles, made

the statement that in regard to the criminal justice system and policy, we tend to make people

believe that we are either being too soft or too hard on crime, and we now need to be asking if

we are being smart on crime.

The ethnic composition of the participants in the Back on Track program are 25%

Caucasian, 21% African American, 8% other, and 46% Hispanic. At least 80% of the men in the

back on track program are black or Hispanic. These findings indicate that the back on track

program is a program that is in high demand for men of color, and that the program needs to take

significant precautions to adhere to cultural compliance. The program and its staff members must

also always consider the context of the environment and social climate in which the participants

are growing up in. It would be crucial for the program staff to be stay up to date on and be

mindful of current events, especially regarding race relations and events in the country and

community (Back on Track, 2021). 

A 2011 report submitted by the California Department of Corrections stated that 61% of

inmates who were serving their sentences in state prison would return to state prison within a

span of three years of being released. By the end of June 2019, the mental health services

program served about 1628 clients during the fiscal year ending on June 30th, 2019. The
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substance abuse program served approximately 466 clients, and the Family Services program

served about 12,389 clients by the end of the fiscal year (Back on Track, 2021). Data collection

with the participants starts at the beginning of the incarcerated individuals’ entry into the back on

track program and data is also collected on a control group to compare the results acquired by

use of the assessment tools. program success is measured by decreases in recidivism for

participants in the program, as well as acquisition of employment and maintaining that job,

educational opportunities, a decrease in criminal thinking and criminogenic needs, as well as

improved safety in the jails. Out of the 1628 clients who received mental health services from the

program in 2019, 73% reported reduced symptoms in depression and anxiety, and felt that they

had an increased sense of control in their lives. Of the 466 clients who received substance abuse

services, 67% of participants had not had a relapse in the year following being released from

incarceration. For the 12,389 clients that received Family Services, 81% reported a better

relationship with their family members, 62% of parents stated that they felt they had more

parenting skills in regard to how to comfort their child, communicate with their child, etc. than

when they first started to receive help (Back on Track, 2021). 

Key findings of the program and elements of the logic model such as inputs, outputs, and

outcomes are crucial to understanding the foundation of the program and how it runs. Many

current staff members of Shields are actually previous clients who have successfully recovered

from past lifestyles of hardcore drug addiction, gang membership, and hardcore criminality.

However, these former clients, after successfully completing the program, moved on to create a

new pro social identity and lifestyle breaking their past cycle of addiction, abuse, incarceration,

poverty, and homelessness. They would then become reunited with their families, making

money, and furthering their education. The SHIELDS program was also found to save Los
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Angeles County millions of taxpayer dollars by implementing a Point of Engagement/Upfront

Assessments (POE/UFA) model that subsequently helped to decreased the number of foster care

placements in the city of Compton by 50% within its first year of use (Back on Track, 2021).

The program design follows a structured format. The program participants are required to

have been sentenced by The California Penal Code section 1170(h) and have to meet certain

criteria such as having a nonviolent, non-sexual crime and not be a registered sex offender (Back

on Track, 2021). They must have at least four months of their sentence left and be categorized as

medium to high risk for recidivism. After participants are selected, they go through screening

and assessment procedures and complete risk and needs assessments, as well as a risk of

recidivating assessment, education assessment, drug treatment in substance abuse assessments,

as well as mental health status exams. after screening comes case management in which every

participant in the program is assigned a case manager that is contracted with Five Keys Charter

School, to work one on one with their assigned participant (Back on Track, 2021). The case

manager is responsible for helping the participant too develop their personal goals, ensure

engagement and participation in the program, and monitor their progress toward their goals.

After being assigned, participants are then placed into four different program tracks, which are

cognitive behavioral training, education, life skills/value added services, and employment

readiness. Upon release from prison, participants are then in the “transitional safety net” phase

for a year. During the out of custody reentry plan phase, participants are paired with a reentry

collaborative team (RCT) and the inmate meets with RCT right before being released to

reprioritize and review the individuals’ reentry needs (obtaining important documents,

reestablishing ties with family and friends, securing housing, food, clothing, employment, the

stress of trying to obtain employment with a gap in work history due to a criminal record, etc.).
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The participants use all of the tools that they learned from the Back on Track program while still

incarcerated in an integrated way on the day of release and receive assistance from the RCT for

12 months after release (Back on Track, 2021). 

The main goal of the Back on Track program is to provide for the South Los Angeles

community and surrounding areas a reentry program that offenders can take advantage of to

develop pro social and life changing skills on the inside. It will also prepare them for life again

on the outside by providing a plethora of services in several different domains. Inputs include

program and course planning for the education, staff training and development, partnership and

stakeholder engagement to support maybe 109 participants re-entry into society as, and funding

partnerships such as the Ford foundation, California Wellness Foundation, and The Anti-

Recidivism Coalition. Inputs for in the Correctional Facility include staff from the Los Angeles

Sheriff's Department (LASD), the LASD Pitchess Compound, The Five Keys

facility/organization, probation officers, correctional clerks and nurses, probation officers, staff

and teachers from the community colleges that are contracted with the Back on Track program,

and staff from the thinking for a change program, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy

resources. For a re-entry into society, they will need probation officers, more community college

staff, staff from the Department of Labor or other community resources that can help connect

participants to jobs, and other community service providers such as in Health Right 360.

Outputs for the program include diagnostic assessments, CBT for thinking for a change,

substance abuse treatment, career education, academic classes, services that provide support for

housing, health care, and employment, refresh your academic classes like the GD course, career

and academic guidance counseling, and tutoring. As far as the participants, participants who have
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earned a high school diploma, finished college credits while incarcerated, who will continue into

community college after release, become employed and maintain employment, earn certifications

for classes or jobs, have access to veteran or state services, those who are involved in custodial

parent outreach, have positive role models and families that can participate in the reentry

process, earn income tax credit, and regularly meet with their coach or mentor after release.

There are many impactful outcomes that can arise as a result of this program and its

design. Outcomes include: reduction in recidivism rates, increase in employment and the

participants compared to controls, a decrease in behavioral reports and inappropriate behavior,

changes in mood, attitude, and thinking, that will ultimately lead to a change in the person's

behavior, higher rates of degree and certificate acquisition (higher rate of college enrollment).

With more men going to work and school supporting their families, there will be stronger,

cohesive families living in the community that can in turn keep the economy running, safer

living environments, and healthier children for the future. Participants may also see a change in

their criminogenic risk status, possibly enabling them to exit from the program.

In the Pitchess Detention Center, and other correctional facilities may become safer jail

environments due to less men being in the jails and prisons, and also because of the participants

in the program being committed to change and working toward their goals in a peaceful,

collaborative manner. With more educational opportunities in the correctional facilities,

incarcerated individuals can become more educated on not only academic topics, but they can

engage in counseling to increase empathy and pro social thinking and behaviors to be able to

cope in a healthy manner when life gets hard. Society would see the effects by that there would

be less crime in the community making it safer for the public, less money would be spent on
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prisons and punishment and more money would be funneled toward restorative justice and

rehabilitative purposes. The success of this program would be measured by an increase in

workforce and taxpaying citizens in areas who previously had high incarceration rates and high

unemployment.

Regular, ongoing, team coaching as well as group consultations and meetings are

recommended to be held on a weekly basis to ensure that all of the shareholders and staff

members are adequately collaborating with one another. In the event of concerns or questions,

they can consult with one another about their clients and have a space to reach out for help and

support. Also, always ensuring that any program changes or modifications will be in compliance

with the programs projected outcomes, mission and goals.

References

Back on Track. SHIELDS for Families. (2021). https://www.shieldsforfamilies.org/back-on-

track/. 

Back on Track. (2021). Back on Track Los Angeles. Office of the Attorney General.

https://oag.ca.gov/sites/all/files/agweb/pdfs/recidivism/botla-report.pdf.