Community-Based Program Outcomes

The Pennsylvania Futures Commission on Justice in the 21st Century notes on their website that the juvenile justice system is working to teach juveniles to become "responsible and productive members" of their communities. Perseus House programs, such as the Collaborative Intensive Community Treatment Program (CICTP), are working towards this same goal. CICTP provides daily treatment, along with community service and restitution opportunities for at-risk youth while they stay in their own homes and attend their own schools at one-third the cost of most residential placements. How effective are such home-based services? The Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health noted that: Home-based services are highly effective as a treatment intervention.

• Home-based services are highly effective as a treatment intervention
• 75% to 90% of these children do not require placement outside the home.

How does the Perseus House CICTP stack up? Over one year, 85% of clients who successfully completed the program did not re-enter the juvenile justice system (as tracked for one full year after discharge). Although not all CICTP clients are required to complete community service, almost 150 of our clients completed service hours in 2005, at 11 or more weekend projects each month. In all, these kids completed 133 projects to better our community, logging more than 2,500 community service hours.

Most of the projects consist of unskilled labor activities, supportive care, facility maintenance and setting up and taking down equipment for special events. Some of these projects are a one-time event while others are ongoing projects. All of them help Erie's troubled youth learn to be more responsible and productive members of our community.