Truancy Assessment & Service Centers (TASC)
The TASC program is an innovative approach to truancy abatement incorporating key elements of "Best Practices" for program design. These elements include research-based principles to drive the program, empowerment-based evaluations to monitor the program, local interagency collaborations to ensure an integrated approach, and data-driven decision making for continuous feedback and learning procedures. The purpose of TASC is to provide children in Kindergarten through fifth grade early identification, assessment and prompt delivery of coordinated interventions to prevent continued unexcused absences from school. Preliminary evaluation findings indicate that the program is positively impacting school attendance throughout the state.
Life History Research
Dr. Guin has conducted extensive research into the life histories of individuals who have committed capital crimes to examine the pathways that led them to their criminal behavior. This research has provided volumes of information that has been used to influence program development aimed at preventing delinquency in juveniles. This research is a valuable tool in the development of public policy that will improve the delivery of social services to families and children at-risk of failure in our state.
Restorative Justice
OSSRD has been instrumental in brining the concept of restorative justice to both individuals and organizations to begin a process of articulating and internalizing restorative justice philosophy and principles. Projects include:
- Convening the Community Based Restorative Justice Task Force;
- Establishing a lending library of books, articles, video tapes and other presentation materials;
- Sponsoring the visits of experts from around the country to educate organizations presenting on restorative justice issues at conferences;
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Survey Projects
OSSRD has contracted with several state agencies to provide technical assistance in the development of survey instruments relating to client satisfaction and performance indicators for measuring program outcomes. The data is compiled and analyzed at OSSRD then reported to the respective agencies for use in budgeting, planning, and meeting other goals. Agencies for whom this service has been provided include:
- The Office of Womens Services
- The Office of Community Services
- The Office of Addictive Disorders
- Statewide Independent Living Council
Program Evaluations
Grant writing and program evaluation were initial focus of the office when it was founded in 1996. OSSRD has extensive experience in working with agencies to develop a program that meets a targeted need for the population that it serves and writing a grant to obtain funding for that program. Once funding is received for a program, OSSRD has been instrumental in the implementation and evaluation of the projects. Listed below are a few programs that have been evaluated by OSSRD.
- Youth Offender Project - Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPSC)
- Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Project - DPSC
- Program Development and Evaluation
- Family Resource Center Project - Department of Social Services - Office of Community Services
- Steps to Success
- Public Education, Information and Referrals
- Drug Court Evaluation - Department of Health and Hospitals - Office of Addictive Disorders and local Drug Courts.
- High Risk Demonstration Grant - Louisiana Department of Labor
Community Outreach Projects
OSSRD has been an active participant in the community outreach efforts of the university. Dr. Guin and Leah Courville were the principal authors of the successful application to HUD for the funding of a Community Outreach Partnership Center grant. They continue to serve in a leadership capacity for the Community University Partnership (CUP) that was developed through the grant by providing fiscal management duties and guidance with the community organization tasks. Also, Dr. Guin wrote an application for a mentoring grant through the U.S. Department of Education for the Old South Baton Rouge Community Revitalization Corporation to supplement the funding from HUD, which was awarded and is currently being implemented in the Old South Baton Rouge community.
Staff members from OSSRD serve on numerous advisory boards and maintain memberships in organizations that further the mission of the office in hopes of positively affecting the systems that reach at-risk children and families in our state.
