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Community Solutions Toolkit: An Introduction

The Community Solutions Toolkit and Resource Guide was developed by the Michigan Council on Crime and Delinquency (MCCD), a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to improving the effectiveness of policies and systems aimed at preventing and reducing crime.

In recent years, Michigan counties have shifted to a community-based model of juvenile justice, increasingly using day treatment, electronic monitoring, and family therapy to treat a youth while they remain at home.

Community-based programs are proven to be equally, if not more, effective at holding young people accountable and reducing recidivism because of the rigor, intensity, and individualized treatment for justice-involved youth and their families. Because community-based programs cost far less than out-of-home placements, jurisdictions are saving millions of dollars and still seeing an unprecedented drop in reoffending rates.

First published in 2013, The Community Solutions Toolkit and Resource Guide provides an overview of proven, evidence-based practices and tools that can be applied when implementing risk assessments, community-based programs, and evaluations. The resource was developed to assist Michigan’s juvenile courts, service providers, and juvenile justice advocates and other stakeholders to enhance the array of in-home and community-based programs.

In its 2nd edition, The Community Solutions Toolkit provides a deeper dive into the key elements that support sustainability, such as investing in information management; leveraging federal funding to expand programming; increasing multi-system partnerships; a clear process for linking risk/needs assessment to case planning, and tracking success through evaluation.

While the focus of the Community Solutions Toolkit is primarily on programs for youth after they have made contact with the court, MCCD recognizes that the use of informal diversion programs is the best method of reducing court involvement and out-of-home placement and should be fully explored before developing new, court-based programming for adjudicated youth. References that highlight the best practices for implementing diversion programs are included in the updated Resource Guide.

Users are encouraged to reference and tailor the tools and resources found in the following pages in a manner that best meets their own diverse and specific needs.