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Whatcom County consultant urges dedicated staff, shared definitions and data links for Justice Project evaluation
Summary
A consultant who drafted the Justice Project performance measurement plan recommended that Whatcom County hire a dedicated staffer, agree on shared indicator definitions, run a combined SIM-mapping and data workshop, begin low-effort public reporting and pursue data‑sharing agreements and cross‑system integration over the next 1–3 years.
Julia Garrett, a consultant with VillageReach, presented the Justice Project performance measurement plan to the Whatcom County Justice Project Operations (JPop) Committee on June 26, laying out specific near‑term and longer‑term steps to turn the evaluation framework into operational reporting.
Garrett told the committee that the plan’s near‑term priorities (6–12 months) are: designate a dedicated staff role to coordinate measurement and data sharing; establish shared indicator definitions (for example, for recidivism, diversion eligibility and behavioral‑health status); convene a combined sequential intercept mapping and data‑systems workshop; and publish a set of “low effort” indicators already available in county data systems as an early public dashboard. "You can't track what you don't define or what you can't define, and then you can't measure what you don't track," Garrett said.
The nut graf: Committee members said the recommendations…
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