UNC Chapel Hill joining Buncombe County to evaluate START; preliminary results show reduced recidivism, staff said

Rebecca Smith said UNC Chapel Hill has been contracted by the state to support START's data collection and evaluation, moving the county beyond its prior, internally maintained spreadsheets. "UNC Chapel Hill has been contracted by the state to help support our data collection," she said.

Staff said the university is performing a comparison study and that the preliminary data provided last week showed that START involvement was associated with a meaningful reduction in recidivism and out-of-home placements compared with similar cases that did not receive START supports. "The preliminary data... showed that if involved with START, it greatly reduced, recidivism and out of home placement," Smith said.

Presenters noted the county historically did rudimentary in-house data work and welcomed the university's capacity to produce a formal evaluation report. The board was told staff would meet with UNC analysts to review questions and refine the analysis, and that a fuller presentation of evaluation findings is expected in a future meeting.