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Useful Links
By Topic:
- Juvenile Justice Reform
- Violence Prevention
- Disproportionality
- At-Risk Populations
- Research
- Health Policy/Health Care
- Child Welfare
- Youth Development
Juvenile Justice Reform
Act for Juvenile Justice! Coalition
ACT 4 Juvenile Justice (ACT4JJ) is a campaign of the National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition composed of juvenile justice, child welfare and youth development organizations exploring opportunities related to the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), scheduled for 2007.
American Bar Association, Juvenile Justice Committee
The American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Committee develops Continuing Legal Education programs for juvenile justice practitioners, develops policies to further national juvenile justice reform, and coordinates selection of the Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award. This website contains information on the ABA position on numerous issues related to juvenile justice as well as current juvenile justice news.
American Probation and Parole Association
The American Probation and Parole Association is an international association composed of members from the United States, Canada and other countries actively involved with probation, parole and community-based corrections, in both adult and juvenile sectors. All levels of government including local, state/provincial, legislative, executive, judicial, and federal agencies are counted among its constituents. Educators, volunteers and concerned citizens with an interest in criminal and juvenile justice are also among APPA's members.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) was designed to support the Casey Foundation vision that all youth involved in the juvenile justice system have opportunities to develop into healthy, productive adults. After more than a decade of innovation and replication, JDAI is one of the nation most effective, influential and widespread juvenile justice system reform initiatives. JDAI focuses on the juvenile detention component of the juvenile justice system because youth are often unnecessarily or inappropriately detained at great expense, with long-lasting negative consequences for both public safety and youth development. JDAI promotes changes to policies, practices, and programs to: reduce reliance on secure confinement; improve public safety; reduce racial disparities and bias; save taxpayers’ dollars; and stimulate overall juvenile justice reforms.
Building Blocks for Youth is a partnership between the Youth Law Center, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center, W. Haywood Burns Institute, Juvenile Law Center, Justice Policy Institute, Minorities in Law Enforcement, National Council on Crime and Delinquency, and Pretrial Services Resource Center. The goals of the initiative are to reduce overrepresentation and disparate treatment of youth of color in the justice system and promote fair, rational and effective juvenile justice policies. The site contains pertinent news and research on DMC.
The Campaign for Youth Justice is a national campaign dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating children under the age of 18 in the adult criminal justice system by empowering those moved to act for justice.
The Campaign for Youth Justice YouTube Channel shows several videos that represent the juvenile justice issue of transfer and youth in adult prisons and jail.
Center for Children's Law and Policy
The Center for Children's Law and Policy (CCLP) is a public interest law and policy organization focused on reform of juvenile justice and other systems that affect troubled and at-risk children, and protection of the rights of children in those systems. The Center work covers a range of activities including research, writing, public education, media advocacy, training, technical assistance, administrative and legislative advocacy, and litigation.
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice works on a variety of issues including prison policy, reentry and sentencing reform, juvenile justice, and drug policy. In addition to research, CJCJ provides Direct Services to youth and adults across the country that are facing or transitioning from incarceration. CJCJ has established model programs that demonstrate how alternatives to incarceration can be successful, not only in reducing overburdened jail populations, but also in reducing recidivism rates.
Coalition for Juvenile Justice
The Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) is a national nonprofit association representing governor-appointed advisory groups on juvenile justice from the U.S. states, territories and the District of Columbia. Beginning in 2005, CJJ is also the host and sponsor of the growing National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN). CJJ's principal mission is to build safe communities one child at a time by ensuring that all children and families are treated fairly and given the resources and support to be positive and productive contributors to society.
Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators
The Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA) is a national non-profit organization, formed in 1994 to improve local juvenile correctional services, programs and practices so the youths within the systems succeed when they return to the community and to provide national leadership and leadership development for the individuals responsible for the systems. CJCA represents the youth correctional CEOs in 50 states, Puerto Rico and major metropolitan counties. CJCA fulfills its mission through educational activities and programs as well as research and technical assistance projects.
Founded in 1975 as a non-profit legal service, Juvenile Law Center (JLC) is one of the oldest public interest law firms for children in the United States. JLC works on behalf of children who have come within the purview of public agencies-for example, abused or neglected children placed in foster homes, delinquent youth sent to residential treatment facilities or adult prisons, or children in placement with specialized services needs. JLC has always maintained a core mission of protecting and advancing children's rights. JLC does this by ensuring that children are treated fairly by systems that are supposed to help them, and that children receive the treatment and services that these systems are supposed to provide.
The Models for Change initiative is an effort to create successful and replicable models of juvenile justice system reform through targeted investments in key states. With long-term funding and support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Models for Change seeks to accelerate progress toward a more rational, fair, effective, and developmentally appropriate juvenile justice system. The initiative partners with selected states to advance reforms 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.
National Center for Juvenile Justice
The National Center for Juvenile Justice is a private, non-profit organization. Since its inception in 1973, the Center has been a resource for independent and original research on topics related directly and indirectly to the field of juvenile justice. The Center concentrates its efforts on the improvement of the juvenile and family court system through applied, legal and systems research. Although the Center is the research division of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, it has its own budget and is responsible for generating its own operating funds.
The National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice
Established in 1999 through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), EDJJ was organized as a collaborative project of the University of Maryland, Arizona State University, University of Kentucky, American Institutes for Research and PACER parent advocacy center. EDJJ focuses on assisting practitioners, policymakers, researchers and advocates to identify and implement effective school-based delinquency prevention programs, education and special education services in juvenile correctional facilities, and transition supports for youth re-entering their schools and communities from secure care settings. EDJJ conducts research, provides technical assistance and disseminates resources based on the best available evidence. EDJJ provides consultation and professional development to education, court and corrections personnel at the state and local levels. EDJJ aims to improve educational and related outcomes for court-involved and at-risk youth, and to change perceptions about their capacity for achievement and success.
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) seeks to improve courts and systems practice and raise awareness of the core issues that touch the lives of many of our nation's children and families. The NCJFCJ provides training, wide-ranging technical assistance, and research to help the nation's courts, judges and staff in their important work. The NCJFCJ conducts and assists in conducting educational programs for more judges, court administrators, social and mental health workers, police, probation officers, and others working in the juvenile and family courts. Its membership includes more than 2,000 judges, referees, commissioners, masters and other juvenile and family law professionals.
The National Juvenile Defender Center
The National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) was created in 1999 to respond to the critical need to build the capacity of the juvenile defense bar and to improve access to counsel and quality of representation for children in the justice system. In 2005, the National Juvenile Defender Center separated from the American Bar Association to become an independent organization. NJDC gives juvenile defense attorneys a more permanent capacity to address practice issues, improve advocacy skills, build partnerships, exchange information, and participate in the national debate over juvenile crime. NJDC provides support to public defenders, appointed counsel, law school clinical programs and non-profit law centers to ensure quality representation in urban, suburban, rural and tribal areas. NJDC offers a wide range of integrated services to juvenile defenders, including training, technical assistance, advocacy, networking, collaboration, capacity building and coordination.
National Juvenile Justice Network
The vision of the National Juvenile Justice Network is that juvenile justice systems in all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia will have laws, policies and programs that ensure the healthy development and fair and equitable treatment of all children and youth, through the work of a movement of local, state and national advocates for children and youth, working collaboratively to advance a common juvenile justice agenda and through a state-based network that is an effective and respected force for state level juvenile justice reform. The National Juvenile Justice Network enhances the capacity of state-based, juvenile justice coalitions to advocate for fair, equitable and developmentally appropriate adjudication and treatment for all children, youth and families involved in the juvenile justice system.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization. OJJDP supports states and communities in their efforts to develop and implement effective and coordinated prevention and intervention programs and to improve the juvenile justice system so that it protects public safety, holds offenders accountable, and provides treatment and rehabilitative services tailored to the needs of juveniles and their families.
The Youth Law Center is a public interest law firm that works to protect children in the nation's foster care and juvenile justice systems from abuse and neglect, and to ensure that they receive the necessary support and services to become healthy and productive adults.
Violence Prevention
The Institute focuses its efforts an analyzing and developing the most effective ways to prevent and reduce violence in and around schools; testing promising prevention strategies in rural, suburban and urban schools grappling with violence; and disseminating its findings throughout the country to assist other policy makers, states, schools, police departments, teachers, parents and youths to adopt the successful strategies. The Institute performs rigorous evaluations of approaches and policies being implemented to reduce school violence.
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS), U.S. Department of Education
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) administers, coordinates, and recommends policy for improving quality and excellence of programs and activities that are designed to: provide financial assistance for drug and violence prevention activities and activities that promote the health and well being of students in elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education; participate in the formulation and development of ED program policy and legislative proposals and in overall Administration policies related to violence and drug prevention; drafting program regulations; participate in interagency committees, groups, and partnerships related to drug and violence prevention, coordinating with other Federal agencies on issues related to comprehensive school health, and advising the Secretary on the formulation of comprehensive school health education policy; participate with other Federal agencies in the development of a national research agenda for drug and violence prevention; administer the Department's programs relating to character and civics education.
Disproportionality
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Disproportionate Minority Contact Information
One of the four core requirements of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act that established the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is for states to study and attempt to reduce disproportionate minority contact. This page contains data and reports on DMC, information about trainings, model programs, and contact information for state Juvenile Justice Specialists and state DMC coordinators.
The Sentencing Project is a national organization working for a fair and effective criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing law and practice, and alternatives to incarceration. The Sentencing Project main areas of focus include sentencing policy, incarceration, racial disparity, the disenfranchisement of former felons, drug policy, women in the justice system, and collateral consequences.
The W. Haywood Burns Institute
The Burns Institute works intensively with local jurisdictions to reduce the overrepresentation of youth of color in their juvenile justice systems by leading a group of traditional and non-traditional stakeholders through a data-driven, consensus-based process. The Burns Institute's Community Justice Network for Youth supports and strengthens community-based organizations that serve youth of color with advocacy, technical assistance and services. The Burns Institute also focuses on specific issues affecting youth of color in the juvenile justice system -- such as the juvenile death penalty, school discipline policies and mental health matters -- as well as on international juvenile justice concerns.
At-Risk Populations
The Campaign for Youth was established in 2002 by the leadership of national youth serving organizations who came together to build a united voice for disadvantaged youth in this nation. It is an alliance of organizations and young leaders who are concerned about the persistence, yet seeming invisibility, of the challenges confronting more than 5 million young people who are disconnected from education, employment and opportunity.
Center for the Study of Social Policy
The Center's work is concentrated in the areas of family and children's services; income supports, neighborhood-based services, education reform, family support, disability and health care policy, and long term care for the elderly. In all of its work, the Center emphasizes several common themes: (1) an approach based on outcomes accountability; (2) community service strategies that reach across categorical boundaries and are community owned; (3) new forms of state/local governance; (4) more flexible financing strategies, linked to results; and (5) attention to the human resources and other capacity-building needs required for human services systems to perform effectively. All of these efforts provide different "entry points" to a common purpose: to help states and localities implement creative and effective strategies that create opportunities to strengthen families and ensure that children grow up healthy, safe, successful in school, and ready for productive adulthood.
The Children's Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF encourages preventive investment before children get sick or into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. CDF has never taken government funds.
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is a national, bipartisan, nonprofit anti-crime organization of more than 3,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors. Headquartered in Washington, DC, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids has state offices in California, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington. The organization looks at crime prevention strategies, informs the public and policymakers about those findings, and urges investment in programs proven effective by research. It focuses on high quality early education programs, prevention of child abuse and neglect, after-school programs for children and teens, and interventions to get troubled kids back on track.
NCYL works to ensure that youth in trouble with the law are treated fairly and appropriately for their age and capacity to change. NCYL promotes reforms that keep youth from entering the juvenile justice system, and also strives to protect the safety and welfare of youth in custody. Much of NCYL's work is focused on poor children who are additionally challenged by abuse and neglect, disability, or other disadvantage.
Research
Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count
Kids Count is an initiative to track state by state and national statistics related to children, including, for example, pre-mature births, health insurance coverage, and poverty rates.
Chapin Hall Center for Children
Chapin Hall is an applied research center at the University of Chicago dedicated to conducting and actively disseminating rigorous research that serves children and youth, their families, and the communities in which they live. Our work is driven by the conviction that our society cannot afford to write off a single child, and that policy and programs designed to help children and adolescents - especially the most vulnerable - must be based on facts, not ideology or anecdote. At Chapin Hall, we are committed to building knowledge about the state of our young people - and the nature, extent, and consequences of the challenges they face - and sharing what we learn about how our society is faring in addressing those challenges.
Child Stats, Forum on Children and Family Statistics
The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (Forum) is a collection of 22 Federal government agencies involved in research and activities related to children and families. The Forum was founded in 1994 and formally established in April 1997 under Executive Order No. 13045. The mission of the Forum is to foster coordination and collaboration and to enhance and improve consistency in the collection and reporting of Federal data on children and families. The Forum also aims to improve the reporting and dissemination of information on the status of children and families.
Child Trends is a non-profit research organization that collects, analyzes, and distributes data with the goal of improving outcomes for children. The organization works on issues pertaining to such issues as child poverty, child welfare, early childhood development, education, health, and demographic trends.
This one-stop-shop for the latest national trends and research on over 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month, is provided by Child Trends.
The Center for Research on Children in the United States (CROCUS) was established in 2001 with start-up funds from the Foundation for Child Development and is joint venture between the Georgetown Public Policy (GPPI) and the Georgetown University Department of Psychology. CROCUS places significant emphasis on graduate education, combining training in public policy analysis with coursework in developmental psychology to offer an unusual educational program to students seeking careers at the intersection of developmental science and public policy. CROCUS research is primarily focused on early childhood education, including research on pre-K programs, child care programs, and Head Start. Faculty and students have also examined child traffic fatalities, juvenile justice, and the strategies of child advocacy groups, among other research projects. The current focus of CROCUS is the Oklahoma Pre-K program, which now reaches a higher percentage of four-year-olds than any other pre-K program in the U.S.
The Center for the Study of Social Policy's website dedicated to helping policy makers make sound decisions that contribute to better outcomes and opportunities for all children and families.
Health Policy/Health Care
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
The mission of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law is to protect and advance the rights of adults and children who have mental disabilities. The Center envisions an America where people who have mental illnesses or developmental disabilities exercise their own life choices and have access to the resources that enable them to participate fully in their communities. The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law uses a coordinated approach of litigation, policy analysis, coalition-building, public information and technical support for local advocates in four broad areas of advocacy: advancing community membership; promoting self-determination; ending the punishment of people with mental illnesses for the system failures; and preserving rights.
Center for Children and Families
The Center for Children and Families (CCF) is uniquely focused on the pressing issues of lack of health insurance for children and low income adults. It develops and disseminates research, strategies and ideas to improve the health of America's low and moderate income children and families. In particular, the Center examines policies and implementation issues with respect to Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), employer-based coverage, and public-private coverage initiatives. CCF also analyzes and monitors how federal policy developments and state-based initiatives are affecting the health care coverage of America's families. CCF is based in Georgetown University Health Policy Institute.
Families USA is a national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Working at the national, state, and community levels, Families USA has earned a national reputation as an effective voice for health care consumers for 25 years.
A leader in health policy and communications, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., with a growing role in global health. Unlike grant-making foundations, Kaiser develops and runs its own research and communications programs, sometimes in partnership with other non-profit research organizations or major media companies.
SAMHSA was created as a services agency to focus attention, programs, and funding on improving the lives of people with or at risk for mental and substance abuse disorders. SAMHSA aims to build resilience and facilitate recovery for people with or at risk for substance abuse and mental illness. In collaboration with the States, national and local community-based and faith-based organizations, and public and private sector providers, SAMHSA works to ensure that people with or at risk for a mental or addictive disorder have the opportunity for a fulfilling life that includes a job, a home, and meaningful relationships with family and friends.
Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health
The mission of the TA Partnership is to support communities in their efforts to successfully develop and implement local systems of care. We assist with developing a broad array of community-based, strength-based services to improve outcomes for children with serious emotional disturbance. The TA Partnership operates under contract with the federal Center for Mental Health Services to provide technical assistance to system of care communities and is a collaboration between the American Institutes for Research and the Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health.
Child Welfare
The Casey Family Programs’ mission is to provide and improve-and ultimately to prevent the need for-foster care. Established by United Parcel Service founder Jim Casey, CFP is a Seattle-based national operating foundation that has served children, youth, and families in the child welfare system since 1966. CFP operates by providing direct services and promoting advances in child-welfare practice and policy. It collaborates with foster, kinship, and adoptive parents to provide safe, loving homes for youth in our direct care. CFP also collaborates with counties, states, and American Indian and Alaska Native tribes to improve services and outcomes for the more than 500,000 young people in out-of-home care across the U.S. CFP works with families and alumni of foster care to develop tools, practices, and policies to nurture all youth in care and to help parents strengthen families at risk of needing foster care.
Child Welfare League of America
CWLA is an association of nearly 800 public and private nonprofit agencies that assist more than 3.5 million abused and neglected children and their families each year with a range of services. This website houses national data, CWLA research, publications and newsletters, and information on CWLA advocacy, programs, and initiatives.
The Children's Bureau (CB) is one of two bureaus within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, of the Department of Health and Human Services. With an annual budget of over $7 billion, the Children's Bureau works with State and local agencies to develop programs that focus on preventing the abuse of children in troubled families, protecting children from abuse, and finding permanent placements for those who cannot safely return to their homes. The Children's Bureau seeks to provide for the safety, permanency and well being of children through leadership, support for necessary services, and productive partnerships with States, Tribes, and communities.
The National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice and Permanency Planning
The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning at the Hunter College School of Social Work is a training, technical assistance, and information services organization dedicated to help strengthen the capacity of State, local, Tribal and other publicly administered or supported child welfare agencies to: institutionalize a safety-focused, family-centered, and community-based approach to meet the needs of children, youth and families. The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning is a service of the Children's Bureau - ACF/DHHS.
Youth Development
The Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) provides national leadership on youth and family issues. The Bureau promotes positive outcomes for children, youth, and families by supporting a wide range of comprehensive services and collaborations at the local, Tribal, State, and national levels. The Bureau is focused on promoting positive youth development. The Bureau provides grants to organization working with runaway and homeless youth and children of prisoners.
Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development
The Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development is a division of Georgetown University's Department of Pediatrics. The mission the GUCCHD is to bring together policy, research and clinical practice for the betterment of individuals and families, especially children, youth and those with special needs including: developmental disabilities and special health care needs, mental health needs, young children and those in the child welfare system. The Center is committed to developing comprehensive service delivery systems that are family centered, culturally competent, community-based and embrace inclusive practices. It implements its work through value based strategies that effect partnerships, collaborative approaches, participatory action and translational research, linking of research to policy and practice, and creation of accessible knowledge. The Center primary goals include ensuring effective services and supports within comprehensive service delivery systems for all individuals, especially children, youth and their families, and those with special needs and engaging in comprehensive service system development for all children and their families in the District of Columbia.
For more than a decade, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership has been working to expand the world of quality mentoring. MENTOR believes that, with the help and guidance of an adult mentor, each child can discover how to unlock and achieve his or her potential. MENTOR is widely acknowledged as the nation's premier advocate and resource for the expansion of mentoring initiatives nationwide. As such, MENTOR works with a strong network of state and local Mentoring Partnerships to leverage resources and provide the support and tools that mentoring organizations need to effectively serve young people in their communities.
MENTOR recognizes that, although nearly 17.6 million young Americans need or want mentoring, only 3 million are in formal, high-quality mentoring relationships. That means more than 14.6 million young people still need mentors. That unmet need constitutes what we call the "mentoring gap." MENTOR works to close that gap.
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