Commitment to Impact: Results First in North Carolina Drives Evidence-Based Policymaking

North Carolina partnered with The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Results First initiative  in Dec. 2017. Since then, Results First staff has helped the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) inventory the state’s public health, adult mental health, and juvenile justice programs; conduct cost-benefit analysis on a subset of these programs; and create research partnerships with universities. In Nov. 2021, the state expanded its evidence-based policymaking efforts by creating new data analyst and auditor positions, a $1 million fund for competitive evaluation and research grants, and requirements to assess specific programs.

This video provides a snapshot of the partnership between Results First and North Carolina. In it, North Carolina leaders talk about their initial experiences with the project. The video also highlights OSBM’s work with the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (DJJDP). Their rigorous analysis showed that three of DJJDP’s programs (AMIkids—Functional Family Therapy, Eckerd—cognitive behavioral therapy component, and Methodist Home for Children—Value-Based Therapeutic Environment Model) are likely to reduce repeat offenses among high-risk juveniles. The video concludes with North Carolina leaders’ thoughts on the future of evidence-based policymaking in their state.