OJJDP National Girls Institute (NGI)Training and Technical Assistance

The American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the National Crittenton Foundation (TNCF) propose to continue to serve as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) National Girls' Initiative (NGI) Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) provider, resource clearinghouse, and meeting convener and facilitator. AIR and TNCF will provide TTA to improve the job performance of individuals and service delivery systems of States, tribes, communities, and organizations working with girls at risk or in the juvenile justice system and their families. Activities will include developing comprehensive toolkits and standards for the field and collaborating with researchers and program developers to advance the understanding and application of promising and evidence-based prevention, intervention, treatment, and aftercare programs and services. Young women formerly involved in the juvenile justice system will help shape the work.
AIR, TNCF, and OJJDP will identify the emerging needs of girls within the juvenile justice system, including mothers, survivors of commercial sexual exploitation or domestic child sex trafficking, immigrant girls, tribal girls, and LGBTQ youth. Communication through Web sites, communities of practice, blogs, and other tools will expand the reach of the NGI, AIR and TNCF, through NGI, will implement a comprehensive data-informed approach to guide the continuous quality improvement of services provided under this agreement. Data collected will be shared with OJJDP to inform strategic decisions on the allocation of Federal resources, potential collaboration with other OJJDP TTA centers, and resource maximization for improved prevention programming.
Homeless, physical and sexual abuse, loss of biological parents, and teen pregnancy are serious issues for girls in or at risk of involvement in the juvenile justice system. NGI's TTA comprehensive treatment approaches will facilitate safety in both public and private systems. In Year 2, the network of Advocates and Experts will finalize the contents of the toolkit, products for the field, and webinar topics, and develop new or enhance existing resources for clear standards for programs and services. The toolkit will include, among other resources, gender-responsive assessment tools, staff training curricula, and talking points for raising public awareness. AIR, TNCF, and OJJDP, through NGI, will identify model programs with progressive, trauma-informed, gender-specific approaches. Year 2 will also include hosting educational roundtables to exchange ideas and information and to build intergenerational networks of advocates and practitioners committed to working on behalf of these girls.

NGI is committed to collecting performance measures data and entering this data into the DCTAT system as required.
NCA/NCF

This program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants and cooperative agreements for training and technical assistance to organizations that OJJDP designates.

The American Institutes for Research (AIR) and The National Crittenton Foundation (TNCF) propose to continue for a third year to serve as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) National Girls’ Initiative (NGI) Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) provider. Building on the lessons learned and accomplishments over the past two years, NGI will operate as a resource clearinghouse, meeting convener and facilitator and will distribute a new round of Innovations Awards to local alliances and coalitions during this year of continuation. Additionally, NGI will provide TTA to improve the job performance of justice system professionals, service providers and service delivery systems of States, tribes, communities, and organizations working with girls at-risk or in the juvenile delinquency system and their families. TTA by NGI will include the development and distribution of comprehensive toolkits, training curricula and standards for the field and strong collaboration with researchers and program developers for translation and application of promising and evidence-based prevention, intervention, treatment, and aftercare programs and services. Finally, NGI will continue to engage young women formerly involved in the juvenile justice system in an effort to bring authentic voice and guidance that will help shape the work.
In the first two years of the NGI, needs and research gaps were identified for specific groups of girls within the juvenile justice system, including young mothers, survivors of commercial sexual exploitation or domestic child sex trafficking, victims of domestic violence, immigrant girls, American Indian/Alaskan Native girls, and LGBTQ youth. In year three, NGI will convene a series of Roundtable Meetings; bringing together experts, researchers, practitioners, administrators and young women committed to working on behalf of these girls. NGI will work to expand its reach by developing a strategic communications plan that utilizes Web sites, communities of practice, blogs, listservs, and other tools as appropriate for disseminating resources, best practices and information on evidenced-based programs to the field. The NGI team will implement a comprehensive data-informed approach to guide the continuous quality improvement of services provided under this cooperative agreement, and to inform strategic decisions on the allocation of Federal resources, potential collaboration with other OJJDP TTA centers, and resource maximization for improved prevention programming. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) and its partner, The National Crittenton Foundation (TNCF) will not use any funds from this project to conduct research.
NCA/NCF