A Comprehensive Strategy to Juvenile Justice Reform inGeorgia, Hawaii, and Kentucky

OJJDP's Juvenile Justice System Improvement Grants program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that provide programs and services critical to the mission of OJJDP, and organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program will be authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice.

Under this award, CRJ will deliver technical assistance and training to, and engage and prepare state and local leaders, in participating states to understand, actively participate in, and support the successful implementation of statewide juvenile justice reforms.

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 Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) at Community Resources for Justice proposes to continue providing critical Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) to the Comprehensive Strategy to Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative states in implementing their reforms and building in-state capacity to sustain new policies and improve the lives of youth. CJI has worked with the interbranch and bipartisan Task Forces in all six states to study their juvenile justice systems, providing assistance with system assessment, data analysis, evidence-based practices, policy development, consensus building, and building in-state capacity and buy-in, so that jurisdictions are able to continue to effectively tackle issues after the technical assistance period has ended. The TTA project aims to achieve four main implementation goals: (1) increasing capacity of the states to sustain reforms; (2) implementing objective decision making structures; (3) enhancing community based alternatives to out-of-home placement; and (4) supporting monitoring, measurement, and reinvestment. This will include targeted technical assistance through facilitation and education, training and train-the-trainer initiatives, the development of materials (such as implementation plans, policies and procedures, quality assurance plans, performance measures and data collection frameworks, and fiscal tracking systems), and the engagement of stakeholders crucial to successful implementation. With the combination of demonstrated in-state commitment and CJI’s technical assistance, the implementation of reforms in the Smart on Juvenile Justice States is expected to have a lasting and positive impact on the lives of youth and their families and in the field of juvenile justice.

NCA/NCF