Community Connections for Youth Earns Casey's 2017 Gloria J. Jenkins Award

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has named Com­mu­ni­ty Con­nec­tions for Youth as the recip­i­ent of its 2017 Glo­ria J. Jenk­ins Award.

The award, which the Foun­da­tion pre­sent­ed at its 23^rd JDAI Inter-Site Con­fer­ence in Orlan­do, Flori­da, rec­og­nizes out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to deten­tion reform by a com­mu­ni­ty-based organization.

Com­mu­ni­ty Con­nec­tions for Youth, which is based in the Bronx bor­ough of New York City, empow­ers local orga­ni­za­tions to devel­op effec­tive com­mu­ni­ty dri­ven alter­na­tives to youth incar­cer­a­tion. The non­prof­it also advo­cates for fam­i­lies who have youth in the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem and arms them with the tools and resources nec­es­sary to help their chil­dren succeed.

The award’s name­sake spent 40 years as a com­mu­ni­ty activist in Chica­go. Glo­ria J. Jenk­ins and her hus­band, Eddie, estab­lished the West­side Asso­ci­a­tion for Com­mu­ni­ty Action, or WACA, to improve the well-being of local res­i­dents through advo­ca­cy, direct ser­vices and com­mu­ni­ty devel­op­ment. When deten­tion reform began in Cook Coun­ty, Illi­nois, in the ear­ly 1990s, WACA estab­lished the first evening report­ing cen­ter in the Juve­nile Deten­tion Alter­na­tives Ini­tia­tive net­work. The cen­ter filled a reform need by serv­ing as an effec­tive alter­na­tive to deten­tion for youth who had vio­lat­ed their probation.

Oth­er juris­dic­tions, includ­ing Lucas Coun­ty, Ohio, have repli­cat­ed the mod­el used by Com­mu­ni­ty Con­nec­tions for Youth to build com­mu­ni­ty capac­i­ty for juve­nile jus­tice reform. 

Read about the win­ner of the Natal­ie S. Bimel Award for out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions of com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers to juve­nile deten­tion reform

Read about the win­ners of the JDAI Dis­tin­guished Sys­tem Lead­er­ship Award