Each year, Ohio is awarded the Title II Formula Grant from the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Its purpose is to assist states and local communities in addressing juvenile crime and delinquency. As a condition of award, states are required to address the Core Requirements set forth in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act. The JJDP Act requires that each state address the following:    

The Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS) employs one full-time Compliance Specialist to ensure that the State of Ohio maintains compliance with the first three requirements. 

 

To meet the DMC requirement, DYS has facilitated an ongoing statewide DMC Initiative in partnership with the Governor’s Council on Juvenile Justice, its DMC Subcommittee, and juvenile justice professionals and community stakeholders in the following 14 counties: 

 

Allen	Franklin	Mahoning	Summit
Butler	Hamilton	Montgomery	Trumbull
Clark	Lorain	Richland
Cuyahoga	Lucas	Stark

 

These counties were solicited for participation in the DMC Initiative because their minority youth populations represent 86.9 percent of Ohio’s minority youth.

 

OJJDP uses the Relative Rate Index (RRI) to identify disparity at nine decision points in the juvenile justice system. This method involves comparing relative volume (rate) of activity for minority youth against the relative volume of activity for white youth to determine a single index number for each decision point. The index number (RRI) indicates the extent to which the volume differs for minority youth and white youth. Data is collected from juvenile courts and law enforcement agencies to generate a county’s RRI. This is referred to as the “Identification Phase.”  In the “Assessment Phase” data is examined and additional data is collected to determine the causes of any disparities at specific decisions points. Programs, services, or other initiatives are implemented in the community to address the causes of DMC in the “Intervention Phase,” and the impact of the interventions are assessed to determine whether there is a reduction in DMC in the “Monitoring and Evaluation Phase.” The following chart depicts the flow of the DMC process:

 

 

 

For additional information about DMC and the federal requirements, please go to http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/dmc/. For a copy of the DMC Technical Assistance Manual, please go to http://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/dmc_ta_manual/dmcfull.pdf.

 

Disproportionate minority contact is the only area targeted for funding in 2009.   Only continuation programs that were funded in the 2008 competitive application process are eligible for a second and third year of funding. These programs are serving minority youth, ages 10 to 17, at greatest risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system or who are already involved in the juvenile justice system in 12 of the 14 counties participating in Ohio’s DMC Initiative. Programs provide direct services to youth in an effort to reduce the disproportionate number of minority juveniles entering Ohio’s juvenile justice system.

 

 

 OJJDP requires that programs funded through the Title II Formula Grant collect and report data for predetermined outputs and outcomes. All measures are mandatory and must be applicable to the program. The following are the measures prescribed by OJJDP:

 In addition to the federally required performance measures, program specific outcomes and performance measures are required for each funded program based on:

In 2009, the Ohio State University, Center for Learning Excellence (CLEX) is meeting with DMC projects as a group, and individually, to help develop individualized program outcomes and measures which will be used to conduct an impact evaluation on each DMC project in 2010.