The ROI of Social Programs

When people are asked for solutions to make neighborhoods more safe, the typical fixes are more officers on patrol, stricter laws, maybe larger budgets for enforcement. Those efforts matter, but they’re not the whole story. What often gets overlooked are the quiet investments, such as programs that support mental health, provide opportunities, and give people a fair shot at stability. When those pieces are in place, crime rates decrease, families are more stable, and substance use declines.

That might sound like wishful thinking, but it isn’t. Cities across the country are showing how this works in practice, with measurable results and stories worth paying attention to.

Shift from Punishment to Prevention

For a long time, the standard response to a crisis was simple: call 911, and the police would arrive. The trouble is that many of those calls were less about crime and more about health. Denver decided to try something new in 2020 with the Support Team Assisted Response program, or STAR. Instead of police, the city sent a clinician and a paramedic to nonviolent behavioral health calls.

In its first six months, STAR handled more than 700 calls, and almost none ended in an arrest. Researchers studying the neighborhoods where STAR operated found low-level offenses dropped by about 34%. Carleigh Sailon, who has followed the program closely, summed it up this way: “Police have been tasked with too much. Having clinicians meet people where they are helps resolve problems more appropriately.”

Chicago and New York City proved something similar with Cure Violence, a program that hires community members, often people with lived experience of violence, to step in before conflicts spiral. In Chicago, shootings dropped as much as 70% in neighborhoods with the program. In New York, researchers estimate that more than 1,000 shootings were prevented over a decade. The takeaway is clear: prevention doesn’t just sound good on paper; it changes what happens on the ground.

Accountability Requires Support

Not every approach is about replacing enforcement. Sometimes the key is combining accountability with real opportunities to change course. Baltimore’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy is one example. Beginning in 2022, the city paired direct outreach to people at high risk of violence with life coaches, job programs, and school or housing support.

Two years later, Baltimore recorded its lowest homicide numbers in more than a decade. One participant, Malik Grant, said the program gave him the opportunity to transition from a life on the streets to running his own small business: “Somebody believed in me when I didn’t.”

Waterbury, Connecticut, has had similar success with Project Longevity. The program weaves together reentry support, mental health help, overdose prevention, and job training. The results speak for themselves: murders cut by more than half in one year, fatal overdoses nearly halved, and aggravated assaults down as well. Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo credits the progress to partnerships across agencies and practical supports, such as bus passes, work boots, and coaching, that help people get back on their feet.

The lesson from both cities is that tough talk alone doesn’t reduce crime. Accountability backed by support does.

Opportunity as a Tool for Prevention

Crime doesn’t only grow out of malice; it often grows out of a lack of opportunity (education, money, resources, employment, time). This is especially true for young people. Several studies of summer job programs have found dramatic drops in violent crime among teens who participated.

In one study, youth who were offered jobs experienced a decrease in violent crime arrests of more than 40% compared to their peers. A few months of work experience gave them something many lacked before: structure, income, and a sense of purpose. Sometimes the best crime prevention strategy isn’t more surveillance but a paycheck.

But opportunity starts well before the teenage years. Research on early childhood programs, such as Head Start and the Perry Preschool Project, shows that children who participate are more likely to complete school, hold steady jobs, and avoid incarceration as adults. Nobel Prize–winning economist James Heckman calculated the return on investment at up to 13% per year, an extraordinary payoff for any public policy.

Basic needs, such as food, matter just as much. Children who regularly face hunger are more likely to struggle in school and later in life. Programs that ensure reliable access to meals, from school lunch subsidies to WIC, improve graduation rates and long-term earnings. In other words, food security isn’t just about nutrition; it’s an early investment in stability and productivity.

And then there’s guidance. Mentorship programs provide young people with trusted adults to lean on during crucial moments. Big Brothers Big Sisters has found that kids with mentors are 46% less likely to use drugs and 27% less likely to start drinking. Community organizations, such as Boys & Girls Clubs, offer similar benefits, providing safe spaces and positive role models. These investments may seem small in comparison to police budgets, but the returns, including healthier children, stronger families, and fewer arrests, are enormous.

Simply put, when kids have access to food, education, work, and guidance, they’re far less likely to end up in cycles of crime or instability later. Prevention begins with opportunity.

Housing is an Anchor

Housing plays a central role in stability. Without a safe place to live, it’s nearly impossible to hold down a job or keep up with treatment. That’s why so many successful community programs tie housing support to other services.

Connecticut has piloted programs that combine rental assistance with counseling and job training. Two years in, families were more likely to be employed, less likely to relapse into crisis, and more connected to their neighborhoods.

The U.K.’s National Health Service conducted a trial that placed housing and job advisors directly within mental health wards. For every £1 invested, the program saved £14 by cutting repeat hospital visits and emergency use. Within nine months, it had already saved close to a quarter of a million pounds. That kind of return on investment doesn’t happen often in public policy, but it demonstrates how closely linked housing, health, and public safety truly are.

Treating Addiction as Health

Substance use is often treated as a criminal issue, but evidence shows that treating it as a health condition is far more effective. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that every $1 spent on addiction treatment saves $4–$7 in criminal justice costs, and up to $12 when healthcare costs are factored in.

Programs like medication-assisted treatment, needle exchanges, and safe consumption sites reduce overdoses, keep people alive long enough to recover, and save public money. Portugal famously shifted to a health-based approach to drug use more than 20 years ago, and today sees far lower overdose and HIV infection rates than countries that rely primarily on criminalization.

Reentry and Second Chances

People returning from incarceration face considerable barriers to housing and work. Without help, many fall back into the same cycles that sent them to prison in the first place. Programs that focus on reentry (job placement, housing support, mentorship) dramatically cut recidivism and reduce public costs.

The Fortune Society in New York, for example, has helped thousands of people returning from prison find housing and jobs. Participants are far less likely to reoffend compared to those without support. Even simple policies, such as “Ban the Box,” which delay the disclosure of criminal records on job applications, have been shown to improve hiring rates for individuals with criminal records. Every time someone rebuilds their life successfully, the community gains a taxpayer, a worker, and often a mentor for others.

The Question of Cost

From Denver to Chicago, Baltimore to Waterbury, the thread is the same: when people in crisis are met with help instead of just punishment, outcomes improve, crime rates fall, families reunite, kids perform better in school, adults find employment, and people stay healthier.

But it’s fair to ask whether programs like these are affordable. The reality is that doing nothing is what drains resources. Emergency rooms, jails, and repeat crises cost far more than early intervention.

The World Health Organization estimates that every $1 spent on mental health care produces $4 in benefits through improved health and productivity. A recent JAMA Network Open study found that employers saved nearly $2 in health claims for every $1 invested in expanded behavioral health benefits. James Heckman’s research on early childhood education found annual returns of 13%. When policymakers and business leaders see numbers like that, the question shifts from “Can we afford this?” to “Can we afford not to?”

Our Path Forward

We often frame crime, homelessness, or addiction as personal failings. More often, they’re failures of a system that lacks stability. Investing in social programs isn’t charity. It’s a strategy. It fosters stability, saves money, and provides people with the opportunity to succeed. None of these programs lowers the set standards; instead, they raise expectations in a way that people can actually meet, with the right tools in place.

When someone gets help at the right time, they often pay it forward by mentoring others, reinvesting in their community, or simply showing up differently at home or work. That ripple effect is what keeps communities alive. The headline may not be attention-grabbing, but the results are powerful. Stronger communities are not built alone. They require empathy, opportunity, stability, and ultimately, a conscious investment of resources.