GoodSteps Program for Caddo Parish Juvenile Drug Court to reduce recidivism by providing job readiness and life skills training, GED preparation, and job placement.

The OJJDP FY 2014 Enhancements to Juvenile Drug Courts solicitation provides funding for currently operating juvenile drug courts to enhance capacity and services. A juvenile drug court provides comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, community-based services for youth who are younger than 18 years old and come in contact with the juvenile justice system due to alcohol or other drug use. The goal of this program is to enhance the capacity of juvenile drug courts and ultimately improve the outcome for the youth involved in the juvenile drug court program. Enhancements to juvenile drug courts will focus on one or more of the following key components of a juvenile drug court: (1) increase the use of scientifically based screening and assessment procedures for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system to identify youth in need of mental health and substance abuse services; (2) expand the range of developmentally appropriate and evidence-based programs and services to ensure a continuum of care is available for these youth; (3) enhance or develop family engagement; and/or (4) expand the outcome monitoring of the juvenile drug court.

The Parish of Caddo in the State of Louisiana (Caddo Parish), in collaboration with Goodwill Industries of North Louisiana, Inc. (GINLA) will enhance its existing services to the participants in the Caddo Parish Juvenile Drug Court by adding the critical components of training in job readiness, job retention, financial management, career exploration, and life skills for all its participants by aiding those participants who are not in school to obtain the equivalent of a high school diploma and providing job placement and job coaching services for those participants for whom entering the workforce is an appropriate option. This program not only will provide at-risk youth with employment, but also with life-long skills to be self-sufficient. The Caddo Parish Juvenile Drug Court is an intense and rigorous year-long post-adjudication program for youth on probation. The new GoodSteps Program will address the problem of rate of recidivism among juvenile offenders in the Caddo Parish Drug Court system by providing them with the skills, credentials and guidance to find steady employment, full-time or part-time. The program will serve 50 youth from the Drug Court each year. CA/NCF