The National Family Justice Center Alliance (NFJCA) has developed the FJC Snapshot Process, a comprehensive assessment to measure overall organizational effectiveness, service delivery efficiency, day-to-day operations success, and operational sustainability of an operating Family Justice Center. A modified version of the tool is also being used in communities to assess their readiness to open a Family Justice Center.  The Snapshot Process is based on four major focus areas:


• Organizational Leadership
• Funding and Sustainability
• Technical Capacity and Specialization, and
• Internal and External Communications.

The Snapshot Process also helps to identify strengths of a Center and areas for technical assistance and training.  The Snapshot Process is conducted by members of the Alliance team through a series of interviews with the leadership team of a Family Justice Center, interviews of on and off-site partners using on-line survey tools, on-site observation at the Center, organizing a focus group with current or former clients, and review of client exit surveys, Center protocols, and case files.

After the completion of this 2-3 day process, the overall FJC Snapshot Process is then scored. The overall score is designed to assist a Center in identifying strengths and addressing weaknesses. The final score, on a scale of 0-100, is categorized into five scoring ranges: (90-100), (80-90), (70-80), (60-70), and (59-below). The scoring ranges generally correlate to the overall effectiveness and efficiency of a developing or operational Family Justice Center. The Alliance prepares a confidential report for the Center’s leadership team which identifies the strengths of the Center and provides recommendations for addressing challenges and areas where improvement is needed.

The Alliance has identified ten centers to participate in the pilot-testing of the assessment tool:

• San Diego Family Justice Center, San Diego, CA
• New Orleans Family Justice Center, New Orleans, LA
• Family Justice Center of Hillsborough County, Tampa, FL
• Nampa Family Justice Center, Nampa, ID
• Albuquerque Family Advocacy Center, Albuquerque, NM
• Bexar County Family Justice Center, San Antonio, TX
• Alameda County Family Justice Center, Alameda, CA
• Anaheim Family Justice Center, Anaheim, CA
• Crystal Judson Family Justice Center, Tacoma, WA
• Ann Patterson Dooley Family Safety Center, Tulsa, OK

The development of the tool has included a series of interviews with existing FJC directors, the collective input of the Alliance National Boards, faculty, and staff as well as prior technical assistance and evaluations from developing and operational centers.

The FJC Snapshot Process provides a Center and its leadership team with a comprehensive assessment of their Center, a clear understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, an opportunity to evaluate the application of the FJC Guiding Principles, a better understanding of what funders are looking for in a healthy FJC, and a benchmark which evaluates the Center in light of promising and best practices in a healthy Center.

Within a matter of days, Centers have made good use of the Snapshot Process recommendations. Centers use the feedback from the FJC Snapshot Process to improve their services, request specialized training, share their outcomes with funders, supporters, and partner agencies, and move forward with additional strategic planning, training, and needed technical assistance.

The initial feedback of the “Snapshot” has been very promising:

• Mary Claire Landry, Director of Catholic Charities and the New Orleans FJC: “This is a great tool. I can’t wait to use it for all my programs at Catholic Charities. Every moving part of a Family Justice Center was considered.”
• Sgt. Judy Woods, Operations Manager at the San Diego FJC: “It reminded me of a test from Glamour Magazine. I worried about the questions I couldn’t answer. Since I’m new as a Director of Operations, it helped me focus on key areas and validated the areas I was already geared to tackle at our Center.”
• Rebecca Lovelace, Director of the Nampa FJC: “Loved it.  It was very comprehensive and easy to use. I invited a local researcher to participate in the process, and she was impressed – and researchers are not easy to please.”
• Kate Reeves, Executive Director of the Tulsa, OK FSC: “The Snapshot Process has already expanded our thinking about who we are and what we want. The process was remarkably helpful.”

For More Information:  Contact Melissa Mack, Director of Technical Assistance for the National Family Justice Center Alliance at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , visit the Alliance on the web at www.familyjusticecenter.org, or call the Alliance at (888) 511-3522.