Jannie Harrison
HMSV8110-U7D1
Dr. Ferrer
November 25, 2021
This unit 7 discussion requires formulating a solution to the high school to prison pipeline developing in the Riverbend City community. The RCAC has been partnering with the Riverbend Second Chance Program trying to help those at risk of expulsion, dropping out, and or have involvement with the juvenile justice systems to find alternative educational opportunities to help foster their success.
There are several theoretical frameworks that can be applied to this issue the first being organizational because the organization has been working with the youth of the area for several years and have stakeholders that depend on the success of the program, because if it does not succeed the resources that keep the program running could stop and then the program will have to close its doors. The next social because the youth have seemingly lost hope due to the poverty in which they live, and do not understand how valuable education is. The last framework is economical, understanding that it costs between $107, 468 per youth (private placement) to $192,720 per youth in a state placement (Pickett, 2020).
From this researchers’ perspective what is not working is using unverified demographic information when analyzing data. As previously pointed out, the theory that the Hispanic population in the area has the largest amount of youth at risk for expulsion, and or juvenile justice does not correlate with the overall population’s numbers. So, collecting new data using a quantitative methodology will help with accurate collection and analysis.
The action plan to develop a solution for the issue is to form a team, consisting of culturally aware members in order to collect data by interviewing students, families, and community members, review census data to identify the population most at risk. Identify what roles the stakeholders will have in the process. Keep in mind that being aware of one’s own biases will allow for clear analysis. There should also be a quality control team to verify information collected and analyzed. The team members will act as a cohesive unit with the understanding of the purpose of solving a community issue that is not only prevalent in the Riverbend City community but many around the world. The plan will continue past the implementation stage because we will be in constant contact with stakeholders and participants. The entire team is responsible for the continuing success of the program, by showing empathy and understanding to the consumers, communicating with stakeholders and funding sources, while constantly monitoring how services are being delivered, and implementing necessary changes as needed.
The quality control process is ongoing, including six months to a year of tracking for those youth who have successfully completed whatever alternative programming they were participating in to avoid expulsion and or juvenile justice consequences.
Pickett, M. (2020). Updates on the PA Juvenile Justice Task Force Meeting. Blog
Retrieved from: https://jlc.org/news/updates-pa-juvenile-justice-task-force-meeting