By February of 1998, the Deloitte Consulting firm was under contract with the State of Arizona and had embarked upon what would become an extensive ten-month evaluation of the primary components of Arizona’s Juvenile Justice System. The main focus of the audit from the beginning was the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Juvenile Justice Services Division, the juvenile courts and their probation departments, and the Department of Juvenile Corrections. As part of the audit, both financial and program audits were conducted related to prevention, diversion (early intervention), probation and treatment. In December of 1998, Deloitte Consulting issued its final report to the Committee. The report, which consisted of hundreds of pages of detailed findings, concluded that “It is our assessment that the Arizona Juvenile Justice System is one of the best in the nation.”

The Renewing Arizona Family Traditions program responds to the needs of Arizona's youth and families by providing intensive, family-oriented services to court referred youth. This report reviews the successes as well as the opportunities for growth within the RAFT program and examines the program through a presentation of the data collected by the Administrative Office of the Courts through its contract providers and other sources. The data is recorded by provider agencies and their respective regions and includes intake and discharge/outcome information.

The data for this report are extracted each year from fourteen juvenile courts’ Juvenile On-Line Tracking Systems. JOLTS is the automated juvenile court information management system. After using JOLTS for more than 25 years, July 1, 2008, Maricopa County upgraded to their new Integrated Court Information System. Each juvenile court actively participates in collecting and maintaining the data to ensure quality and accuracy. This report provides an overview of the juveniles processed at various stages of the juvenile justice system statewide.

This report follows The Coming of Age report produced in 2002 by some of the principals involved in this project, and published by St. Luke’s Health Initiatives. That research showed that Arizona had much to do to get ready for the baby boomer age wave. The results of Unlocking Resilience from new survey data, interviews, and secondary research indicates Arizona still has much to do to prepare for aging and must make concrete policy decisions about aging.

Economic development leaders and public officials throughout the country are tending to the effects of a sour economy and huge state budget deficits when they would rather be creating quality jobs and new economy assets. According to the most prominent thinking on today’s knowledge economy, locally developed and exported technology will be the primary economic differentiator between future winners and losers. Thus, with long-term fiscal and economic health at stake, the 50-state race is on for advantages and leadership in science and technology. This report sheds light on these issues through an overview of Arizona’s standing in science and technology today, short case studies of four competitors in the west, as well as Arizona, and ideas for Arizona’s leaders to consider as they strive to give our state an edge.

In preparation for new federal legislation that promotes unprecedented levels of comprehensive planning and service integration at state and local levels, an analysis of state issues relevant to comprehensive service delivery is necessary. This paper examines such state issues, with a focus on Arizona's at-risk population, and presents a framework for comprehensive service delivery. It provides the rationale for such service delivery, summarizes the literature on research-based practices, illustrates district approaches to comprehensive service delivery, and sets forth guidelines for developing a comprehensive plan. System components of an effective plan are discussed in detail--student education, parent/family involvement, social/economic services, health services, and professional development. Five general principles underlie success: philosophy, people, processes, promising practices, and partners. Recommendations for developing comprehensive service delivery programs include the following: (1) build on existing information; (2) consolidate knowledge; and (3) think long-term. Contains 11 figures and over 250 references. Appendices contain information on Arizona practitioners' views and an illustration of a side-by-side program analysis.

The report includes original articles by Arizona policy practitioners and observers, reprints of pertinent articles by experts beyond Arizona, and a list for further reading. Articles of varying lengths and complexities are purposefully included so as to offer something to readers with different levels of interest in and knowledge of the subject matter.

Maricopa County has experienced remarkable population growth for decades, and will continue to do so. But while expanding metro areas tend to pay close attention to physical infrastructure—diligently budgeting for roads, sewers, schools and the like—there is often a relative lack of attention to meeting the future demands for human services. Relying on the expertise from throughout the College of Public Programs, this report analyzes 12 critically important topics, including children and families, poverty, substance abuse, and Latinos.