Transforming Juvenile Probation

The Transforming Juvenile Probation Certificate Program is designed to guide and support teams from state and local jurisdictions—including probation leadership, judges, attorneys, and other key stakeholders—to fundamentally transform their system-wide approach to probation.
This Certificate Program is offered by the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CJJR) and developed in partnership with and support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation (Casey). The curricula for the program are based on the principles and practices outlined in the Casey Foundation publication, Transforming Juvenile Probation: A Vision for Getting It Right, and the CJJR and CSG Justice Center publication, Transforming Juvenile Justice Systems to Improve Public Safety and Youth Outcomes.
The Certificate Program builds on Casey’s more than 25 years of experience with the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative® (JDAI) and five years of studying probation with researchers, practitioners, youth, families, and pilot probation transformation sites. The Program also rests on the decades of experience of CJJR and the CSG Justice Center in delivering high-quality training and technical assistance to juvenile justice systems across the country on research-based and data-driven policies and practices to improve outcomes for youth.
Curriculum
The Transforming Juvenile Probation Certificate Program is a five-day period of intensive instruction, discussion, and planning for jurisdictions that seek to fundamentally transform their approach to probation in order to improve public safety and outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system. Participant teams will receive instruction from researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, as well as guidance from CJJR and Casey, to develop and implement a Capstone Project advancing system-wide reform in their jurisdiction.
Specific training modules will cover the following topics:
Instructors
Instructors may include:
- Michael Umpierre, Director, Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy
- Chris Bijoux, Deputy Director for Equity and Racial Justice, Center for Juvenile Justice Reform, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy
- Stephen Bishop, Associate Director, Juvenile Justice Strategy Group, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Danielle Lipow, Senior Associate, Juvenile Justice Strategy Group, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Scott MacDonald, Justice Consultant, Justsolve Inc., and former Chief Probation Officer, Santa Cruz County, California
- Regina Mitchell, Director of Systems Innovation, Center for Children’s Law and Policy
Capstone Project
As a critical part of the Certificate Program, teams will develop a Capstone Project laying out the transformational plan for their jurisdiction. The Capstone Project is a detailed, concrete, strategic action plan and a blueprint for the broader transformative local system changes that each team will seek to effectuate.
Throughout the Certificate Program, participants will have dedicated team-planning time to develop and refine their Capstone Project and will receive support from CJJR and Casey staff. In addition, each team will be assigned a Casey TA Team Lead who will support teams in designing, implementing, and evaluating their Capstone Project. More information on this post-program TA can be found in the next section. In order to finalize their Capstone Project, participants will refine the strategic plan created at the end of the Certificate Program once they return to their community.
As part of the Capstone Project, a one- to two-page Capstone Summary is due approximately one month after the Certificate Program. The final Capstone Project Proposal outlining key deliverables, timelines, and responsible parties (5-8 pages) is due approximately three months after the Certificate Program. After the Capstone Project is developed and approved, participants receive an Executive Certificate from Georgetown University and become part of the CJJR Fellows Network. While the initial Capstone period will last one year, the full transformative plan will be an ongoing, iterative process.
After the conclusion of the initial Capstone year, CJJR will also request formal annual progress updates for at least two years. Based on these updates and implementation progress, CJJR recognizes the individual or team across all of its Certificate Programs that has made the most significant progress in improving outcomes for youth in their community with the Capstone of the Year Award. First distributed in March 2012, this award marks an annual CJJR practice to honor and recognize the success, innovation, and tremendous work of CJJR Fellows through their Capstone Projects. The recipient of this award can be any CJJR Fellow from any year. The recipient will receive national recognition for their accomplishment and is awarded free registration and travel for two individuals to attend CJJR’s annual Janet Reno Forum.
Application Guidelines
The Transforming Juvenile Probation Certificate Program will be held on May 16-20, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Through the generous support of the Casey Foundation, participant’s tuition for the Certificate Program and a minimum of one year of distance and on-site consultation and implementation TA is provided at no cost. Teams will be responsible, however, for covering their travel expenses for the Certificate Program, including airfare, local transportation, and meals and incidentals (outside of breakfast and lunch provided during the program).
All participants must attend the full program, and per current Georgetown University policy, all participants must submit proof of full vaccination in order to attend the program. Masks are required on site unless actively eating or drinking. Participants will receive updates regarding Georgetown University’s pandemic safety policies.
Applications are now being accepted through February 25, 2022. Please download the request for applications below and also see the section below for the recommended team composition for this program.
Selection Criteria
A total of five multi-disciplinary teams will be selected for participation in the Certificate Program. Each team should be comprised of a maximum of ten members and include representatives from the following constituencies:
The teams selected will represent both geographic and demographic diversity and are expected to have representation from a local jurisdiction. In this regard, state-level teams, whether from a state or locally-run probation system, must include a pilot local jurisdiction on their team. Local teams applying from a state-run probation system are expected to have state-level participation and approval for selection. Applicants should note that the Capstone Project is intended to be implemented at the local level, so team composition should reflect the guidance noted above.
While the requirements and recommendations detailed above should guide team composition, the exact composition of the teams will depend on the jurisdiction applying. If your team chooses a composition that differs from our recommendations, please explicitly explain that choice and their contribution in Essay Prompt #6 of your team’s application. Further, successful applicants will propose teams composed of individuals who hold decision-making authority within their agencies and the ability to influence the successful implementation of the Capstone Project.
Teams should demonstrate the following characteristics in their applications and interviews:
- A sustained commitment to system-wide probation transformation.
- A history of juvenile justice reforms and evidence of effective implementation of these reforms.
- A history of successful cross-agency/systems/stakeholder collaboration and reform initiatives.
- Stable organizational structure, leadership, staffing, and funding; a foundation of guiding policies and practices; and the ability to reallocate staffing and other resources in a flexible manner.
- The capacity and commitment to annually collect, analyze, and report data on both system performance and youth outcome measures. This data collection will continue beyond the initial one-year technical assistance period, with teams routinely monitoring outcomes to measure change and sustain improvements.
- A willingness to contribute to peer-to-peer learning networks among the Certificate Program cohorts, as well as to inform and inspire the juvenile justice field nationally around probation transformation.