Applications Sought for the 2023 Reimagining Juvenile Justice Training-for-Trainers Institute

Appli­ca­tions are now being accept­ed for the 2023 Reimag­in­ing Juve­nile Jus­tice (RJJ) Train­ing-for-Train­ers (T4T) Insti­tute. The pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment ini­tia­tive is spon­sored by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion and deliv­ered by School & Main Insti­tute (SMI). Geared toward state and local agen­cies serv­ing youth involved in the jus­tice sys­tem and their part­ners, this team-based train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty is based on pos­i­tive youth devel­op­ment — build­ing youth ser­vices around strengths, inter­ests and oth­er pos­i­tive aspects of a young person’s life.

Six teams will be select­ed to par­tic­i­pate in the train­ing pro­gram that will help them gain the skills and knowl­edge need­ed to bring the RJJ cur­ricu­lum to their local juris­dic­tions. This year, the T4T Insti­tute is empha­siz­ing the role of young adult lead­ers as design­ers, part­ners and co-trainers.

View the FAQ

Appli­ca­tions must be received by 5 p.m. ET, June 2, 2023. Lead appli­cants for the 2023 RJJ T4T Insti­tute must be rep­re­sen­ta­tives of state or local pub­lic sys­tems that serve youth involved in the jus­tice sys­tem. They should aim to sup­port, divert and redi­rect youth to appro­pri­ate and fair jus­tice options, includ­ing those requir­ing a high degree of cross-sys­tem col­lab­o­ra­tion and coordination.

Two infor­ma­tion ses­sions will be held to help inter­est­ed appli­cants pre­pare for the process:

• April 27, 4–5 p.m. ET: Chat direct­ly with the nation­al RJJ team from SMI, the Casey Foun­da­tion and sev­er­al expe­ri­enced train­ers from pre­vi­ous RJJ cohorts. Reg­is­ter here for ses­sion one.
• May 9, 4–5 p.m. ET: Speak with expe­ri­enced young lead­ers about strate­gies for youth engage­ment and empow­er­ment as design­ers, co-train­ers and par­tic­i­pants in RJJ train­ing. Reg­is­ter here for ses­sion two.

The 2023 Insti­tute is the sixth iter­a­tion of the RJJ cur­ricu­lum, which was pilot­ed by SMI in Mass­a­chu­setts in 2016; repli­cat­ed at the Pima Coun­ty, Ari­zona, JDAI^® site in 2018; and expand­ed to a nation­al train­ing-for-train­ers insti­tute in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

Josh Camp­bell, a for­mer T4T par­tic­i­pant with the Mul­ti-Agency Resource Cen­ter in Cal­casieu Parish, Louisiana, said: ​“RJJ worked bet­ter than any­thing I’ve ever done keep­ing peo­ple in the room, dri­ving the con­ver­sa­tion for­ward and work­ing toward a com­mon goal of hap­py, healthy and suc­cess­ful youth.”

In 2023, the RJJ T4T Insti­tute will be deliv­ered through sev­er­al vir­tu­al and in-per­son activ­i­ties. All team mem­bers should be able to com­mit to full par­tic­i­pa­tion in T4T activ­i­ties to pre­pare them for bring­ing RJJ train­ing to their local jurisdictions.

For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact Gail D. Mum­ford at gmumford@​aecf.​org or Kathy Fly­nn Wood­land at katflynn@​schoolandmain.​org.