As the awareness of societal needs grows, so does the corresponding number of human services organizations developed to address those needs. Due to the time and costs involved in introducing new programs and the wide range of potential needs to be addressed, it is critical that human services professionals develop clear goals and plans to achieve them. The key to this is having an evaluation process in place to determine both the scale of the problem and the success of the program in ameliorating it. Human services professionals conduct evaluations to justify the existence of their programs, suggest areas for expansion or improvement, communicate results and outcomes, recommend similar programs in other communities, and generally ensure the target population’s needs are being met in the most effective manner. In this Discussion, you will consider a case study of the evaluation of an actual program designed to assist juvenile offenders. You will explore the purpose of the program evaluation featured in the case study and analyze the utility of that evaluation.
