The Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) brings together technical, subject-matter, and lived-experience expertise to support the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Continuum of Care framework for youth safety, accountability, and justice. IIR has joined OJJDP's training and technical assistance (TTA) team to serve and promote field innovations in planning for youth, family, and community success. TTA services will advance the capacities of states and local jurisdictions to plan for and ultimately achieve expanded, coordinated, and sustainable service networks centered on community safety and effective early intervention programing and services that are responsive to the needs of youth and families.
Primary activities during this project period include the continuation of identification and dissemination of strategies that support promising and evidence-based approaches that advance the long-term well-being of youth and their families; development of TTA plans based on capacity assessments of grantee project sites; needs and goals; delivery of culturally responsive TTA; facilitation of strategic opportunities to build ongoing relationships among grantees and model program sites; assistance in identifying cost savings that can be reinvested in effective delinquency prevention and intervention programs; promotion of best practice outcomes; and development of additional resources and tools, disseminated nationally.
IIR's TTA team includes a blend of expertise in juvenile justice reform practices, positive youth development, racial and ethnic disparities, quantitative and qualitative analysis, strategic planning, trauma-informed service delivery, youth and family engagement practices, implementation and sustainment science, nonprofit fund development, and change management. As part of the TTA team, IIR will employ Fellows from its Leadership Center for Youth Justice Innovations to engage with field-based stakeholders, gain a national perspective, develop resources for the field, and sharpen their skills and competencies, positioning them for future career possibilities. Together, the TTA team will establish collaborative relationships with program site representatives to ensure that support is tailored and innovations in planning for youth success are sustainable, data-informed, and cost-effective and, ultimately, reduce reliance on youth incarceration and detention.
