The Community-based Standards (CbS) program provides agencies, providers and residential programs with national standards for operations and a continuous improvement process that measures and monitors the quality of life and services delivered to youths. CbS’ outcomes show the impact of investing in community programs – youths’ health and safety, education and skill development and reintegration with family and neighborhood. CbS was developed by the PbS Learning Institute (PbS Li) applying the successes and lessons learned from the national Performance-based Standards (PbS) model of continuous improvement in secure facilities. PbS won the prestigious 2004 Innovations in American Government Award from Harvard University for uniquely and effectively addressing conditions of confinement – CbS similarly ensures when a youth is placed in residential care, he or she is better for the experience and the investment results in reduced crime.
CbS provides:
A set of national goals and standards that individual programs, agencies and providers should strive to meet;
Training and technical assistance on-site and off-site led by an experienced CbS coach;
Tools that help programs achieve the standards through self-assessment and self-improvement;
Reports twice year on key indicators of performance that allow program to evaluate themselves over time and in comparison to other like programs; and
Participation in network of professionals sharing experiences and effective practices across the country through webinars, website resources and direct connections.
Benefits of CbS include:
- Timely reports reflecting program safety and behavior management practices; education, health, mental health and other programming services and youths’ preparation and connection to return to family and the community;
- Data, in easy-to-read charts that demonstrate positive youth outcomes within the program as a result of services, such as youths completing treatment plans, increasing academic performance and moving to higher behavior management levels;
- Access to resources and assistance to use the information to make strategic improvements; and
- Increased program and agency accountability and effectiveness.
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