National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.            Vol. 31, No. 15 * August 9, 1999

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Ounce of prevention worth pound of cure, experts say

By Kevin Wilcox
senior staff writer

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Larry Mercer (center), executive director of the Healthy Families Program in Dallas, Texas, takes questions from the audience after the July 18 workshop, Kids Killing Kids. Moses Carey, Orange County, N.C. commissioner (left), and Rob Lubitz, deputy administrator at the U.S. Department of Justice, join the discussion.

In the aftermath of murderous rampages in schools around the country, though, there’s a fear that the nature of juvenile crime is taking a turn for the worse.

"The tragedy at Columbine (where 12 students and a teacher were murdered by two teens who later killed themselves) isn’t something that happened a few months ago," said Moses Carey, who chairs NACo’s Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. "It began happening years ago in the fabric of our society."

Carey was speaking to the 40 people gathered at a workshop to learn about prevention programs designed to reach out to teens at risk.

Rob Lubitz, deputy administrator for discretionary programs with the Department of Justice, told the group about the Blueprints program, which is the result of a 1996 study of crime prevention programs by the University of Colorado.

The study was designed to see which prevention programs work and which ones don’t. Further, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has teamed with the university to provide assistance to communities that want to implement one of the Blueprint programs.

Lubitz said that the successful programs have three things in common:

• They have a comprehensive and integrated approach;
• They involve the community and community groups; and
• They deliver results that can be measured scientifically.

"You administer budgets," Lubitz said. "You have had discussions about what programs to fund. We have to take a hard look at what works."

"Sometimes we see a successful program that doesn’t work other places," Lubitz said. "In those cases, the program is usually successful because of a strong leader and unique circumstances in the community."

Larry Mercer, director of Buckner Children and Family Services in Dallas County, Texas, discussed the Healthy Families Program. The program focuses on community collaborations and proven models.

The program begins working with families even before a child is born and will continue through age 5. Intensive home visitation is designed to help build parenting skills. There is also a strong emphasis on health care access.

"Many times resources are available, but families don’t know and they don’t utilize them," Mercer said. "This program educates them."

Both Mercer and Lubitz said that studies are showing that prevention programs are not only effective, but also wind up saving counties money in the long run.

Mercer likened the situation to being in your living room while a sink in a nearby utility room overflows and water approaches the carpet.

"There are many ways you can address this," Mercer said. "You can vacuum the water, put down towels, put down deodorizer… I think we can all agree, though, that the most effective think to do is turn off the faucet."

"The data is out," he added. "Healthy kids come from healthy families."