The City of Miami Gardens Second Chance Juvenile Reentry Program will develop and implement a comprehensive & collaborative strategies to reduce recidivism, increase public safety and address re-entry

The Second Chance Act of 2007 (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and are returning to their communities. The FY 2014 Second Chance Act Two-Phase Juvenile Reentry Demonstration Program will help ensure that the assessments and services youth receive in secure confinement, reentry planning process, and services and supervision youth receive upon reentry promote reduced recidivism rates and improvements in positive youth outcomes.

The goal of the City of Miami Gardens Juvenile Reentry Program is to develop and implement comprehensive and collaborative strategies to reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and address the challenges that reentry poses. This will be accomplished through the creation of a task force of at least ten members including governmental agencies, community non-profits, and residents and other stakeholders. The task force will conduct planning activities, update the five-year strategic plan, and review rules and policies making suggestions for changes.

The program will be implemented through a combination of comprehensive services consisting of typically stand-alone evidence-based services that will be combined for this demonstration. More specifically, fifty participant families will be enrolled in these services. Functional family therapy will be used as the model for family therapy. The staff will also be trained on Motivation Interviewing techniques and Trauma Informed Care. In addition, Family Associates will provide Case Management, Care Coordination, and Mentoring support. Expected clinical outcomes include increased family cohesiveness, decreased substance use, an 85% completion of all program services, lack of court involvement while in the program and post services, and, ultimately, the reduction of juvenile arrests in the reentry program of at least 50% over five years and 25% increase in number of offenders using services (based on funding availability through grants and tax dollars diverted from corrections). CA/NCF