Program Progress & Lesson Learned Pilot Year, 2025-2026
Training
- Authorized by the Utah Supreme Court
- Acquired $250K for pilot year, including $170K in foundation funding
- Developed, delivered, and refined Debt Navigation curriculum with evaluation
- Pilot cohort: 7 certified, 13 provisionally certified; ends May 2026
- Second cohort: Launched in Feb. 2026; 14 participants in training
- Secured $200K annually from USU to add an attorney as a faculty member
- Secured funding with Utah Housing Coalition from Utah Legislature to develop housing stability certification
- For-credit Debt Navigation elective approved for Fall 2026; non-credit continues
- Condense certification requirements into a structured, time-bound format with clear progress milestones
- Deliver smaller, more digestible content segments more evenly across modules
- Emphasize competency development and demonstration over content/case volume
- Increase peer-to-peer engagement for skill building (e.g., role plays)
- Incorporate experiential learning (e.g., observations, mentored cases) within the course rather than post-training
- Embed real-world service delivery planning with agency contexts
- Diversify supervision and mentoring delivery options
Services
- Expanded service delivery to reach statewide; highest concentration in Salt Lake, Cache, and Weber counties
- Tested multiple service access models to identify effective approaches for engaging and serving clients across settings
- Established and strengthened key partnerships to support referrals, coordination, and implementation
- Primarily served early-stage cases, with the majority occurring pre-legal or at-risk of collections, helping prevent escalation
- Reached target populations: lower-income (avg. income ~$34K), renters (53%), with children (48%), and with housing instability (37% with prior homelessness)
- Build CJA confidence through repeated practice and consistent support
- Address participant anxiety by highlighting competency development and successes
- Orient agency leaders to roles, processes, and expectations
- Provide ongoing education and engagement with court staff, judges, and lawyers
- Streamline data collection to reduce provider burden and support implementation
- Diversify service access options across settings (e.g., agencies, standalone services, courts)