KEY FEATURES: NARRATIVE OF WHERE YOU'RE GOING

This Form captures the overall vision and goals of your Title V Initiative. Clarifying the specific intentions of your grant project is critical to shaping the direction of your delinquency prevention activities. Moreover, setting measurable goals and objectives is essential to evaluating the achievements of your Initiative. Think of it this way: If you don't know where you're going, how will you know which way to go, and how will you know when you get there?

When completing Form 1-8, refer to the prevention strategies, goals, and objectives outlined in your Title V grant application.

1. Vision for Target Community

Describe the desired future state of your target community. Think about what you would like to see, feel, and experience in the target community. Complete the thought, "Ten years from now we would like to see this community...." This vision statement should frame the direction you are headed with the Title V Initiative. If necessary, continue your vision statement on an additional sheet of paper.

2. Overall Prevention Goals

Now review your vision statement and the priority risk factors you identified for the target community and write your overall prevention goals for achieving the vision and addressing the risk factors. Your goals should state in general terms what the Prevention Policy Board (PPB) hopes to accomplish for this community with the Title V grant. Goals will often be expressed as the reduction of juvenile problem behaviors (e.g., to prevent juvenile delinquency or to reduce juvenile crime significantly), the reduction of risk factors (e.g., to reduce family conflict or to restrict the availability of firearms), or the enhancement of protective factors (e.g., to create clear laws and norms which prohibit the use of alcohol and drugs by youth, or to promote strong bonds between children and pro-social community members).

In stating your goals, be careful to describe the desired end and not the means to the end. That is, goals should represent the intended results of your Title V Initiative and not the programs or activities you will implement to achieve those results. For example, an appropriate community goal might state "to promote academic success among third tofifth graders," rather than "to implement school enrichment curriculum and tutoring projects in the elementary school."

Identify the specific operational objectives associated with the goals of your Title V Initiative. These objectives should include measurable results related to the indicators of risk in your community. State your objectives in concrete terms. Specify who or what will change, by how much, and over what period of time. The more specific your objectives are, the easier it will be to tell if your Title V Initiative has achieved them. (Attach an additional sheet if necessary.)

Note that Form 1-8 refers to the overall goals and objectives for your Title V Initiative. The objectives and desired outcomes of the specific component service delivery programs and systems change projects you undertake will be addressed further in Unit 2.

Sample Goals and Objectives

Following are three examples of goals and objectives that might be associated with selected priority risk factors in a given community:

Example 1

Risk Factor:	Family Management Problems
Goal:	To reduce levels of family dysfunction and enhance the parenting skills of parents in our target community.
Objectives:	To reverse the increasing trend of reported child abuse to under 300 cases by 1999. To decrease the number of runaway children by 20% over the next 3 years. To increase the number of parents who set appropriate rules for their children's behavior (as measured by surveys of parents or youth).

Example 2

Risk Factor:	Early Initiation of Problem Behavior (Substance Use)
Goals:	To foster a community where use of drugs and alcohol by children is not considered acceptable behavior. To reduce substance use among minors.
Objectives:	To eliminate the use of alcohol and other drugs on school grounds by September 1997. To reduce juvenile arrests related to alcohol and other drugs to below the state-wide average by 1999. To reduce the number of junior high students who report having had a drink or having used drugs to less than 5% of the school population by 1999.

Example 3

Risk Factor:	Lack of Commitment to School
Goal:	To have a community where completing high school is valued and commitment to school is encouraged for all students.
Objectives:	To raise the average daily attendance rate to over 95% within the next three years. To increase high school completion rates to at or above national averages by 1998. To increase by 25% the attendance of parents at school parents/teachers association meetings by 1997. To significantly improve most students' attitudes about their school over the next three years (as measured by student surveys).

Things to Think About When Completing Form 1-8: Are your goals clear and succinct? Are your objectives quantifiable and measurable? Are your goals and objectives based on your community's risk assessment? Are your goals and objectives and the timetable established to reach them realistic? Are your Title V programs and projects "in sync" with your goals and objectives?

FORM 1-8 (Wordperfect Format)