A practical guide for co-responder and alternative response programs to showcase effectiveness, measure outcomes, and build sustainable impact through rigorous, human-first evaluation.
Explore the Toolkit →This toolkit provides a range of resources to help co-responder and alternative response programs showcase their effectiveness, evaluate existing tools, and create implementation strategies to maximize positive outcomes.
Arm your program with the evidence and narrative tools to demonstrate real-world impact to funders, communities, and leadership—in language that resonates.
Review and refine your current data collection processes to better align with program goals, closing gaps and strengthening your measurement approach.
Build evaluation workflows that integrate seamlessly into your team's daily operations, minimizing burden while maximizing the quality of data collected.
Develop a long-term plan for program sustainability—securing funding, building community trust, and continuously improving based on what the data reveals.
Alternative and co-response programs adopt a collaborative approach to assist community residents experiencing mental or behavioral health crises—pairing law enforcement with trained mental health professionals.
This collaborative approach aims primarily to decrease unnecessary arrests, use of force incidents, hospitalizations, and incarcerations among individuals with mental and behavioral health issues, substance use disorders, and other vulnerabilities.
Despite the critical importance of these programs, there is currently no uniform evaluation process or data-tracking system across agencies. This variability stems from differences in funding, management, and program design—making consistent impact measurement a persistent challenge.
Funders, communities, stakeholders, and leadership often require program evaluations. Even without mandates, evaluations are crucial for measuring effectiveness and guiding future direction.
Even without external mandates, evaluation is a powerful tool for understanding what works, directing resources effectively, and building the credibility your program deserves.
No matter how important your work is, a flawed program design or incorrect implementation can prevent you from reaching your goals. Evaluations collect the information needed to verify your program is on track—and adjust when it isn't.
Showing the impact of co-responder and alternative response services is essential both for the program itself and for the wider field. It increases awareness, promotes growth, and reduces the stigma associated with mental health services.
Create structured opportunities for your team to assess what's working and what needs adjustment.
Engage community partners and people with lived experience in shaping your program's direction.
Translate data into compelling evidence that drives policy change at local and state levels.
Distinguish effective strategies from well-intentioned but less impactful approaches.
Establish baseline data that guides where your program should invest energy and resources next.
Demonstrate responsible stewardship of funding through transparent, evidence-based reporting.
Below are six guiding processes for conducting an impact-driven evaluation of co-responder and alternative response programs. Each program may start or progress through these differently based on its unique evaluation requirements.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but these six processes provide a roadmap for identifying the most effective evaluation strategy for your program or organization.
Some programs may have already defined their core values and aligned outcomes—in which case, the evaluation process can begin at a later stage. The goal is always a continuous cycle of learning and improvement.
Program values are the guiding principles that shape your program's objectives. If everything worked as intended, what experience would individuals in your program encounter?
Key ActionsClearly define the core values of your organization. Ensure those values align with your program's mission and goals. Engage community partners and those with lived experience in creating values and evaluation criteria.
Once you've clarified your program values, use them to identify and track the outcomes you want to achieve. It's essential to monitor what is necessary to determine if outcomes are being met—not everything that's interesting.
Relevance TestOutcomes are relevant when they reflect your identified values AND are clearly measurable. For example, if measuring "success," clarify what it means—diversions from the hospital, types of referrals made, or follow-up completion rates.
Once you determine the outcomes to measure, focus on how the data you collect aligns with your program's goals. For co-responder programs, demonstrating impact with data can be challenging due to the complexity of crisis response work.
Data Audit QuestionsFor each data point collected, ask: Why is this gathered? Is it still relevant? Is it "interesting" or "critical"? Is it realistic to track? Does it align with program goals?
A key aspect of program evaluation is considering how data collection integrates into your program's workflow. Logistics can differ greatly based on setting, staff capacity, and program structure.
Information SharingA data sharing agreement is a contract specifying the purpose of sharing, how data is handled, and which standards apply. Identifying these needs early is crucial—finalizing these documents can take considerable time.
This phase focuses on improving data collection, emphasizing practical analysis, and showcasing program impact. To obtain meaningful results, each step of data collection and analysis should be reviewed and refined continuously.
Core Analysis MethodsMost programs can use four foundational approaches—data cleaning, frequency counts, mean calculations, and percentages—to generate compelling, credible findings without specialized data staff.
Sustainability is a crucial element of impact-driven evaluation, guiding future actions. The main goal of evaluation is to showcase the program's impact and maintain the resources that enable it.
SWOT AnalysisA Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis is an effective way to review your program's implementation and identify various ways to improve it—using real evaluation data as your foundation.
While having dedicated data staff is ideal, most co-responder programs can generate meaningful insights using four foundational analytical techniques—no advanced expertise required.
Ensures entries are complete, accurate, and consistent with the measurements being recorded. Without clean data, calculations become distorted—leading to inflated or inaccurate results.
ExampleIf tracking days a co-responder is on duty and the data shows "10," this is likely an error—there are only 7 days in a week. Exclude or correct before reporting.
Refers to the number of times something occurs. Sum reported numbers or tally events to generate powerful, concrete data points that resonate with all audiences.
Examples150 individuals received crisis support. / 35 individuals were referred to behavioral health services. / 60 individuals were placed on an involuntary hold.
The average provides an overall picture of the dataset. Sum all numbers and divide by the count to understand typical program experience and capacity needs.
ExampleThe average number of crisis calls per month helps determine staffing and program capacity. The average service utilization rate reveals community need and resource gaps.
Represents a portion in relation to the whole. Percentages help compare data and communicate changes over time in ways that are intuitive and persuasive.
Examples85% of co-responder encounters resolved on scene. / Hospital diversions increased from 60% in Q1 to 75% in Q2. / 25% of participants are Black vs. 50% of area residents.
The impact-driven evaluation process generates the data necessary to demonstrate that a program is meeting its goals. How you share that data matters just as much as what it shows.
What does your program do well? Identify practices that are working, data points that show consistent positive outcomes, and team capabilities that set you apart.
Where are the gaps? Acknowledge data collection challenges, implementation inconsistencies, or resource constraints that limit your program's effectiveness.
What external factors could benefit your program? New funding streams, policy shifts, community partnerships, or emerging data tools all represent growth potential.
What could undermine your program's sustainability? Shifting political landscapes, funding cuts, staff turnover, and community perception are all worth monitoring.
Having completed the phases once, are you finished? Evaluation is a continuous process. Programs constantly improve, adapt, and encounter new challenges. Regular evaluation ensures your program remains aligned with community needs.
You can revisit any stage of this toolkit as your program grows and your evaluation needs evolve. The goal is always a continuous cycle of learning, adaptation, and impact—in service of the communities you serve.
Each worksheet supports a specific phase of the impact-driven evaluation process, providing structured templates and examples tailored for co-responder programs.
Record suggestions from different stakeholder groups to identify and articulate your program's core values. Includes examples to get the conversation started.
Depicts the connection between the issue you aim to solve, the strategies you'll implement, and the anticipated results. Aligns values with measurable outcomes.
Guides you through implementation planning steps with examples to support your program's specific context, workflow, and data collection needs.
A checklist of common considerations for auditing your data collection, with a notes column for documenting potential solutions and improvements.
An effective way to review your program's implementation and identify various ways to improve it—grounded in your real evaluation outcomes and data.