And some good analogy…..Posted at 06:54 a.m. Pacific; Wednesday, January 5, 2000
Guest columnist
Social-service strategies prevent crime

by Paul Shoemaker
Special to The Times
In recent years, violent crime in America has steadily declined – by over 20 percent the past six years. What an encouraging trend.
I’ve listened to many reports on the possible reasons to account for this decline: better police strategies, tougher penalties, the shrinking proportion of U.S. population in their teens, etc. No doubt, these are valid factors.

But I have yet to hear one journalist or expert attribute any credit to the performance of social-service agencies, who deal most closely with the people most likely to commit those crimes. The group I’m a part of, Social Venture Partners, is a 2-year-old charitable foundation that funds local nonprofit agencies that work with youth and families around King County (so yes, I’m “biased”). The lack of credit these organizations receive for the decline in crime is baffling; moreover, it must be deflating to the hard-working, underpaid staffs of these youth-focused organizations.

Let me explain through an analogy. We are well aware of the incredible boom in technology and electronic commerce in the ’90s. Much of the credit goes to the Yahoos, Netscapes, Ciscos, etc. of the world, and rightfully so. They are innovators and providers of technology that is creating unprecedented rises in business productivity and personal assets. Not giving significant credit for the decline in violent crime (much of which is committed by youth and teens) to organizations such as Medina Children’s Services and Youth Tutoring Program, which provide services to kids and families-in-need, is akin to saying Yahoo, Netscape, et al., had nothing to do with the technology revolution of the ’90s.

To continue the analogy – product innovation and customer service are two key drivers of this U.S. technology and business success worldwide. American companies have radically altered their products, management styles and strategies the past 20 years and are reaping the benefits. I am no expert in the field of youth services, but it has become clear in the past two years that some social-service organizations have radically altered their “product” and “service-delivery” strategies, just like American technology companies have. Let me provide a few examples of newer strategies that prevent violent crime.

Behavioral Sciences Institute (BSI) was founded in 1982 to develop cost-effective solutions to child abuse, juvenile delinquency and family violence. BSI provides intensive in-home and neighborhood-based intervention services to at-risk children and families, including ’round-the-clock support of families in need. BSI’s caseworkers wear beepers so they can respond to families in crisis, in their homes seven days a week, 24 hours a day. That is “customer service”! Read that again – a BSI person will respond and go to the family in need at any time, day or night. Will your computer repairperson do that when your PC crashes at 2 a.m.?

BSI has documented decreases in abuse and neglect, increases in family functioning, and improvements in school achievement as a direct result of their strategy.

Project LOOK, started in the early ’90s, is a learning-outreach program for kids at risk of academic failure and violence. It provides children in grades K-6 with tutoring, computer training and social-skills development. LOOK turned the traditional service-delivery channel upside down – services are delivered to kids and families in low-income apartment complexes where they live. That is a revolutionary change in the “distribution channel.” The results: 80 percent of the children showed significant improvement in academic performance and decreased disruptive school behavior.

We know how Dell’s direct-delivery model revolutionized the PC hardware business. It’s time to understand how programs like Project LOOK have revolutionized social-service delivery.

The impact of this kind of social work with children and youth will never be as clear as quarterly earnings per share. But there is an obvious connection between the preventative role that the social-service sector plays in supporting youth and families and the decline in violent crime. David Hawkins’ work at the University of Washington for the past 25 years has conclusively demonstrated, for example, that $1 spent on early childhood education with home visits to families in poverty returns $7 to society in crime and unemployment benefits avoided later in life. Hard research now drives real-world “products” in the social sector that conclusively prevent violent crimes later in life.

I wonder if the general public believes nonprofit social-service agencies are still stuck in the Great Society, government-will-solve-all-the-problems mentality of 30 years ago. I can tell you they’re not. The “production, distribution and delivery” of services for youth and families-in-need has been fundamentally altered the past few decades. We are each reaping the benefits of it every day we walk down our slightly safer streets. There is much work still to be done, but progress is being made.

A while back, a friend who works at one of these agencies told me the toughest thing for her is that “success” is often the circumstance her work with a child or family may have prevented. Who knows what crimes that young person did not commit or what life mistakes he or she didn’t make? How many lives have been touched? We don’t know about them because “crimes prevented” doesn’t show up in statistics.

What a powerful insight. Perhaps it’s time for all of us to tell people like my friend that we do know what impact they’ve had, we appreciate it and we’re ready to help them out.

Paul Shoemaker is executive director of Social Venture Partners (http://www.svpseattle.org), a Seattle-based foundation that funds agencies that work with youth and families. His e-mail address is [email protected]

Copyright ? 2000 The Seattle Times Company