Challenge & Selection 

 I work in the Budget Office of a local government agency where I meet frequently with the Health and   Human Services department ’s budget . One of their program ’s budgets is the Adult Drug Court .   The   Adult Drug Court allows people who have been arrested for non - violent drug offenses to avoid jail time   by enrolling in addiction treatment services , meeting with private counselors , attending group therapy   sessions , obtaining employment and stable housing , and most importantly meeting with the Drug Court   Judge on a weekly basis to discuss their progress in the program . Once the person graduates from the   program , has a stable job and housing , and passes all drug tests , then the criminal drug charges are   deleted from the court record . 

 In evaluating budgets , the Budget Office uses performance metrics , such as the average length of stay in   the program , relapse rate , and how long after graduating the participants relapse , and average cost per   participant to evaluate how effective the program is . Almost all the data I report does not show the   individual ’s journey . As a result , I found it difficult to defend the high program cost and its impact on the   community . 

 I realized this was a great opportunity to engage in storytelling . I would gain the logic , emotion , and   connection to the Adult Drug Court ’s purpose . I could hear their stories about how the Drug Court   positively impacted their lives . That way , I could share their experiences of getting a job , finding housing ,   and finding recovery in my program summary with the Budget Director to maintain program funding . 

 Application 

 I decided to spend the day with a couple of the program counselors to better understand their clients ’   challenges and attend a session of the Adult Drug Court where I could hear from the participants   themselves about the program impact . I noticed one participant who looked proud and confident as the   Judge reviewed his weekly progress . She commented on his breakthrough in therapy and that his new   job seemed to be working well for him . He responded that he had faced some challenges in battling his   addiction , but the tools the counselors gave him were very effective . He also noted that working made   him feel proud that he was contributing to society again and could support himself financially .   I shared   his story during our budget meetings to support the department ’s increased funding request for the   Drug Court . Based on this experience , combined with the performance metrics data , the Budget Director   approved the request . 

 Insight 

 The understanding I received from this site visit combined with a design thinking method of problem   solving has motivated me to increase the number of “ site visits ” that I attend during the year .    Experiencing the programs ’ operations will allow me to respond to questions and concerns that service   providers , the Department and the Budget Office have . I will also see the programs ’ community impact   and determine if some programs do not work well . During our annual budget discussion , I can   incorporate storytelling by drawing on specific examples from my site visits to clearly illustrate the   program ’s function and efficacy . 

 Approach 

 To improve the storytelling approach , I would increase my interaction with the program participants .    Speaking with their counselors and hearing their testimony was extremely effective in gathering   program information , but I did not have the opportunity to speak with the participants themselves . If I   spoke directly with them , I could ask questions about what they thought worked well , could be   improved , or hindered their progress in completing the program . I could then combine their personal   accounts with the other perspectives , such as the counselors and Health and Human Services staff , and   the performance metric data to make more robust funding recommendations . 

 I could also alter my approach by selecting multiple site visit dates for the same program and see how   program participation varies by the season . This would enable me to ensure that the program staff   did n’t pick the most successful participants on the day I attended and that the program is consistent   throughout the year . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge & Selection 

 I work in the Budget Office of a local government agency where I meet frequently with the Health and   Human Services department ’s budget . One of their program ’s budgets is the Adult Drug Court .   The   Adult Drug Court allows people who have been arrested for non - violent drug offenses to avoid jail time   by enrolling in addiction treatment services , meeting with private counselors , attending group therapy   sessions , obtaining employment and stable housing , and most importantly meeting with the Drug Court   Judge on a weekly basis to discuss their progress in the program . Once the person graduates from the   program , has a stable job and housing , and passes all drug tests , then the criminal drug charges are   deleted from the court record . 

 In evaluating budgets , the Budget Office uses performance metrics , such as the average length of stay in   the program , relapse rate , and how long after graduating the participants relapse , and average cost per   participant to evaluate how effective the program is . Almost all the data I report does not show the   individual ’s journey . As a result , I found it difficult to defend the high program cost and its impact on the   community . 

 I realized this was a great opportunity to engage in storytelling . I would gain the logic , emotion , and   connection to the Adult Drug Court ’s purpose . I could hear their stories about how the Drug Court   positively impacted their lives . That way , I could share their experiences of getting a job , finding housing ,   and finding recovery in my program summary with the Budget Director to maintain program funding . 

 Application 

 I decided to spend the day with a couple of the program counselors to better understand their clients ’   challenges and attend a session of the Adult Drug Court where I could hear from the participants   themselves about the program impact . I noticed one participant who looked proud and confident as the   Judge reviewed his weekly progress . She commented on his breakthrough in therapy and that his new   job seemed to be working well for him . He responded that he had faced some challenges in battling his   addiction , but the tools the counselors gave him were very effective . He also noted that working made   him feel proud that he was contributing to society again and could support himself financially .   I shared   his story during our budget meetings to support the department ’s increased funding request for the   Drug Court . Based on this experience , combined with the performance metrics data , the Budget Director   approved the request . 

 Insight 

 The understanding I received from this site visit combined with a design thinking method of problem   solving has motivated me to increase the number of “ site visits ” that I attend during the year .    Experiencing the programs ’ operations will allow me to respond to questions and concerns that service   providers , the Department and the Budget Office have . I will also see the programs ’ community impact   and determine if some programs do not work well . During our annual budget discussion , I can   incorporate storytelling by drawing on specific examples from my site visits to clearly illustrate the   program ’s function and efficacy . 

 Approach 

 To improve the storytelling approach , I would increase my interaction with the program participants .    Speaking with their counselors and hearing their testimony was extremely effective in gathering   program information , but I did not have the opportunity to speak with the participants themselves . If I   spoke directly with them , I could ask questions about what they thought worked well , could be   improved , or hindered their progress in completing the program . I could then combine their personal   accounts with the other perspectives , such as the counselors and Health and Human Services staff , and   the performance metric data to make more robust funding recommendations . 

 I could also alter my approach by selecting multiple site visit dates for the same program and see how   program participation varies by the season . This would enable me to ensure that the program staff   did n’t pick the most successful participants on the day I attended and that the program is consistent   throughout the year .
### Output: 