WestEd’s Justice & Prevention Research Center has partnered with Montgomery County’s Office of Drug and Alcohol since 2018 to build an evaluation system that helps the county know what’s working and to keep improving.
The Challenge
Substance use prevention doesn’t happen in one place. It happens in schools, community organizations, and county-funded programs—delivered by different providers to many different populations.
The challenge isn’t just picking good programs. It’s building the infrastructure to implement them consistently, measure their impact, and learn from the results. Without strong evaluation, even well-designed prevention efforts can’t answer the most basic questions: Are services being delivered as intended? Are participants showing up? Are resources aligned with the most urgent local needs? And are attitudes and behaviors actually changing?
How We’re Taking Action
WestEd supports Montgomery County’s prevention system from end to end—evaluation planning, data collection, provider training, analysis, and reporting. Our support includes:
Designing data collection systems. For every evidence-based program delivered in schools and the broader community, we build the procedures that capture what matters.
Training the people doing the work. We don’t just collect data ourselves but equip local providers to collect consistent, high-quality data on their own, strengthening the county’s long-term capacity.
Turning data into usable insights. Analysis and dashboards give county staff and partners a clear picture of implementation quality, participant engagement, and shifts in risk and protective factors.
With evaluation as a cornerstone of effective prevention, we’re sustaining a coordinated, evidence-informed system that supports accountability, guides improvement, and helps ensure that investments translate into measurable benefits for youth, families, and communities.
Resources
- Justice & Prevention Research Center. (2025). Prevention programming and evaluation findings: 2024–25 [Infographic]. WestEd.
- Montgomery County Office of Drug and Alcohol
What Sets Our Work Apart
We Support the Full Evaluation Cycle
From planning to reporting, prevention partners get a coherent system, not a collection of disconnected requests.We Build Local Capacity
Training providers to collect strong data isn’t overhead—it’s an investment in the county’s ability to sustain and improve prevention efforts long after any single grant ends.We Make Findings Usable
Clear analyses and dashboards mean decision-makers can act on what they learn—not just file a report.