In 6 years of operation, the outpatient drug free treatment program at a comprehensive youth serving agency in a mid-sized northeastern city had never performed to the funder's satisfaction, had received substantial cuts in grant awards each year, and was in danger of further budget cuts. An administrative intervention was designed to improve performance in the poorly functioning extant program. The goal of the intervention was to improve the quality and quantity of services delivered in the program, as measured by improved client retention and increased client census. Professional staff were hired, clinical training and regular clinical supervision were provided, after clear lines of authority and accountability were instituted. Recruitment of clients became a counseling staff responsibility. Length of time in program for each client was measured. Admissions, discharges, and total census were aggregated and monitored each month. Program census improved from 38% to 81% of program capacity during the life of the intervention, almost meeting the intervention objective of 85%. Client retention reached 42% during the 3 months of the project, somewhat short of the 50% goal but a significant increase over past performance. Another objective of the intervention, to develop a library of state-of-the-art materials was not achieved. Substantial planning to coordinate efforts between two agency units responsible for different aspects of implementing the intervention project was discarded after the end of the project, putting the treatment program under one unit. (Author/NB)