The Lab @ DC partnered with DC Department of Human Services Youth Services Division on a descriptive analysis of the Alternatives to the Court Experience Diversion (ACE) Program. ACE offers the only diversion slots in the District for youths aged 17 and under who have committed low-level delinquency or status offenses. The immediate goals of ACE are to reduce recidivism and increase school attendance among youth. The long-term goals of the program are to help youth and their families address the underlying issues causing their negative behaviors while simultaneously minimizing the likelihood of re-offending and giving youth the opportunity to avoid acquiring a juvenile record. ACE works to reduce the number of court-involved youth by linking them with clinically-appropriate behavioral health services and community supports for six months, in place of prosecutions. All clients are assigned case management and can be assigned up to three additional services, within five broad categories: - Enrichment - Family Therapy - Individual Therapy - Mediation - Mentoring ACE is a collaboration between the Parent and Adolescent Support Services (PASS) program in the Department of Human Services (DHS) Youth Services Division (YSD); the Children Youth Investment Trust Corporation (“CYITC”); Court Social Services (“CSS”); the Department of Behavioral Health (“DBH”); the Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”); the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”); and community-based service providers. This analysis examines the following questions about the ACE program: 1. Who does ACE serve? 2. How does ACE measure performance? 3. How does ACE use the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scales (CAFAS) to attempt to understand and meet the needs of its clients? The key takeaways of this analysis are as follows: - From 2014 through June 2017, a population of 1,718 potential clients were referred to ACE. ACE’s clients are predominantly black (93 percent), majority male (58 percent), and are a median age of 15 years old. - During that period, about 11 percent of clients failed to complete the program. About 24 percent of clients had some additional legal contact either during or after program completion. The typical client had about 0.66 fewer school absences a month during the program than prior to ACE. Over the six month program, this corresponds to approximately 4 additional days in school. - ACE measures client needs through the Child And Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS), which measures client impairment along eight domains measured at the start of, during, and at completion of the program. Most clients’ exit evaluations reflect improvements over their initial evaluations and these changes are associated with improvements in program completion, attendance, and rates of additional legal contact - Initial CAFAS evaluations inform the type of additional services ACE’s clients receive. Some of the services provided by ACE appear to be more strongly correlated with positive outcomes than others. For example, clients who receive mentoring are less likely to be terminated from the program and more likely to show larger improvements in attendance. For additional information about the analysis, contact thelab@dc.gov