The fight to fix our juvenile justice system just got a shot in the arm. Yesterday the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced a new partnership supporting innovative and effective reforms in treatment and services for youth involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
A total of $2 million, $1 million from each partner, over the next two years will help fund the reform efforts of the following four organizations:
- The National Youth Screening and Assessment Project at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
- The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice at Policy Research, Inc.
- The Center for Children’s Law and Policy
- The Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corps
These four organizations were selected by OJJDP and MacArthur because they helped develop, field test and evaluate effective best practice models included in the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change initiative. The intent is to build upon the foundation Models for Change has laid down, developing successful and replicable models of juvenile justice systems reform.
‘We need to do what’s right for America’s children,’ said Melodee Hanes, Acting Administrator of OJJDP. ‘This partnership supports state and community efforts to protect youth from harm, hold them accountable for their actions, provide for rehabilitation and improve public safety. In this tight economy, creatively partnering with a private organization such as MacArthur maximizes reform, while stretching limited public dollars.’
Models for Change is a national initiative supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to accelerate reform of juvenile justice systems across the country. Focused on efforts in select states, the initiative aims to create replicable reform models that effectively hold young people accountable for their actions, provide for their rehabilitation, protect them from harm, increase their life chances and manage the risk they pose to themselves and to public safety. More information is available at www.modelsforchange.net.
