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RECO~IENDED APPROACH FOR ASSESSING LOCAL YOUTH NEEDS Since the summer of 1975 with the passage of House Bill 456, counties have been asked to examine the problems and opportunities that exist for adolescents in. their communities who are either in trouble with the law or are headed in that direction. House Bill 456 outlined a time schedule for reporting to the Department of Human Resources regarding these activities, This reporting scheduled was intended as a guide for action rather than another requirement placed upon local government by the State. The community-based alternatives effort in North Carolina is not a State govern- merit program. It is a policy direction initiated by the General Assembly in 1975 in response to the established fact that the solutions to the rising trend in juvenile crime have not been found by the State's institutional programs developed over the past thirty years, but rather can best be found through the mobilization of com- munity resources directed at the child in his own community, Therefore, the com- munity-based alternatives effort is a partnership between local government ~nd state government in the mobilization of resources at the community level with the pro~ vision of technical and financial assistance at the State level, The following is a suggested format for counties to follow in their needs assess- ment process for 1977; I. Identify what already exists in a given county for juvenile delinquents and children at risk. Such a resource inventory of the programs and methods of diversion that already exist is a logical beginning point. II. Outline the existing conditions in the county which are indicators of youth 'needs. Such indicators might include but are not limited to the following: a. The number of status offenders committed to training school from the county in 1976. b. The number of juyeniles committed to training school from the county in 1976 for a delinquent act, but whose original offense was a status offense, c, The number Of juvenile court petitions alleging a status offense by county i'n the year 1976. d, The absolute number of youths in the age range ten through seventeen in the county, e. The oumber of high school dropouts by county in 1976, f. The number of neglected or abused children reported in the county in 1976. g. A breakdown of the number of families receiving AFDC payments, families with female heads, and children in foster care in 1976. h. The number of families with children per county below the proverty level ..... in 1976. i. The suspension and expulsion rate in the county. j. The number Of children diverted from the juvenile justice system.and a determination at what point diversions are and are not being made in the county,