I am forwarding you information about a new report by the Washington State Public Policy Institute regarding prevention programs and cost savings. Although not all of the WestCAPT Best and Promising Practices are included, several were reviewed with cost benefit estimates. I would encourage you to review the report as the legislature will be reviewing the recommendations in the near future.

"Benefits and Costs of Prevention and Early Intervention Programs for Youth."

by Steve Aos, Roxanne Lieb, Jim Mayfield, Marna Miller, Annie Pennucci.

Washington State Institute for Public Policy, July 2004

Does prevention pay? Can an ounce of prevention avoid (at least) an ounce of cure? More specifically for public policy purposes, is there credible scientific evidence that for each dollar a legislature spends on "research-based" prevention or early intervention programs for youth, more than a dollar's worth of benefits will be generated? If so, what are the policy options that offer taxpayers the best return on their dollar? These are among the ambitious questions the 2003 Washington State Legislature assigned the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. This report describes our findings and provides an overview of how we conducted the analysis. The "full report" link contains a summary of findings. The first appendix contains a full description of our results and methods, and the second appendix lists the references used in the study. Link to full (summary) report:

http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/04-07-3901.pdf

Link to first appendix (methods and detailed results):

http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/04-07-3901a.pdf

Link to second appendix (references):

http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/04-07-3901b.pdf

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The Washington State Institute for Public Policy conducts practical, non-partisan research on policy issues of importance to Washington State. Visit the WSIPP web site: http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/