In 2019, the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General announced that it would pilot Justice Centres in four communities in Ontario. Justice Centres move justice into a community setting, bringing together different systems and services across the justice, health and social sector. The pilots will test how a Justice Centre model can help address the root causes of crime, identify best practices to break the cycle of offending and improve community safety.
The Ministry of the Attorney General engaged Blueprint to develop an evaluation strategy for the pilots in Toronto Northwest, Toronto Downtown East, and London that will test the effectiveness of the Justice Centre model.
We collaborated closely with the Ministry to develop an evaluation strategy that aligns with the pilot design and development process and accounts for the specific goals of the stakeholders and local leadership involved in each pilot community. The strategy is designed to generate evidence that will help the Ministry measure the short- and long-term impacts of the pilot, inform the further scaling of the pilots, and build capacity in the sector for evidence generation.