Chapin Hall

Evaluation of Cook County Redeploy Illinois: Participants Report Greater Safety, Stability; Legal System Involvement Low 

The Cook County Redeploy pilot is a community-based alternative to incarceration for youth adjudicated for serious, Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ)-eligible offenses. The program offers intensive, wraparound services intended to stabilize youth, address trauma and behavioral health needs, and support positive development in lieu of sending youth to a correctional facility. 

What We Did

Chapin Hall conducted a mixed-methods, developmental evaluation of the pilot, examining how the program was implemented and what early experiences and outcomes emerged. Because the pilot served a small number of youth under an evolving model and had no comparison group, the evaluation is descriptive and formative. This report documents implementation and early signals rather than establishing program impact. 

The evaluation drew on program and court records for the 122 youth referred during the data period, of whom 79 (65%) enrolled, alongside focus groups, interviews, and surveys with youth, caregivers, staff, and court actors.  

What We Found 

Safety surfaced as a prominent, cross-cutting theme. Stakeholders documented real external threats to youth, particularly during travel to and from the program location, which prompted new safety protocols. Yet youth and caregivers consistently described feeling physically safe inside the hubs and during program transportation, in contrast to feeling exposed outside the program. 

Other findings included:  

• Flexible funds to cover material and household needs were a distinctive feature that supported engagement. Participants said the funds removed barriers to participation, stabilized households, and strengthened family relationships.
   

• Legal system involvement during and after the program was low. Few youth were committed to IDJJ while participating and commitments among discharged youth with at least a year of follow-up were also infrequent. 

What it Means 

The interviews, focus groups, and survey responses signal that the Cook County Redeploy program provided emotional skill building to process trauma and regulate emotions, cultivated opportunities to build prosocial relationships with healthy adults and peers, and, at least for some youth, began to shift their mindset about what was possible for themselves and their futures. 

The pilot provided an opportunity to learn and adapt to the needs of youth and caregivers as well as court partners. The cross-system collaboration, strong relational investment, family engagement, and flexible funds served as key facilitators to implementing this pilot and provide a strong foundation to carry it forward. 

Sustaining this program will depend on preserving the relational and group-based core of the program as it transitions to an individualized model, retaining a workforce and partner network with the clinical and lived expertise the work requires, and committing to consistent data collection that can support a future impact evaluation. 

Download Cook County Redeploy report