Principal Investigator:
Jemel Aguilar, Ph.D.

Project Director:
Forest Novy, Ph.D.

Duration: 2008-2009

Dr Aguilar and Dr. Novy, Director of the Inter-American Institute for Youth Justice (Justice4Youth) at the UT School of Social Work, are providing evaluation design and analysis to Southwest Key, Inc. to support their “Strengthening Youth Mentoring through Community Partnerships” project as follows:

1) UT will provide support and expertise in project evaluation, program assessment and accountability, the coordination of symposia and follow-up focus groups to validate recommendations, and the identification of evidenced-based approaches to youth with mental health needs within juvenile justice contexts.

2) Specifically, Justice4Youth staff and its resources both within and external to UT will be marshaled to assist SWK staff and collaboration partners to design effective formative and summative evaluations of project activities.

3) The Justice4Youth Institute will assist in data gathering efforts and facilitate the compiling and writing of project evaluation reports.

4) UT, through Justice4Youth, will assist with research reviews and analyses, identification of regional and national juvenile justice mental health and/or related field experts, and provide leadership with the coordination of the proposed Mental Health-Juvenile Justice Symposium.

Sponsor: 
Southwest Key, Inc. / Hogg Foundation for Mental Health