JDAI Sites: Apply Now for New Staff Development Opportunity

Now through Jan. 25, 2018, agen­cies and orga­ni­za­tions affil­i­at­ed with a Juve­nile Deten­tion Alter­na­tives Ini­tia­tive (JDAI™) site can apply to par­tic­i­pate in a pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment pro­gram sup­port­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion called Re-Imag­in­ing Juve­nile Jus­tice (RJJ).

This new pro­gram, taught by nation­al­ly rec­og­nized experts and inno­va­tors in the juve­nile jus­tice field, will con­sist of six day­long mod­ules deliv­ered over sev­er­al months. RJJ par­tic­i­pants will learn about embrac­ing a devel­op­men­tal per­spec­tive when work­ing with jus­tice-involved youth. Front­line staff will also build skills need­ed to divert and redi­rect youth to appro­pri­ate and fair jus­tice options, includ­ing options that require sig­nif­i­cant cross-sys­tem col­lab­o­ra­tion and coordination.

RJJ was suc­cess­ful­ly pilot­ed with a cohort of 21 juve­nile jus­tice pro­fes­sion­als in Mass­a­chu­setts, a state active­ly engaged in JDAI. At its con­clu­sion, par­tic­i­pants were bet­ter equipped to sup­port and devel­op the strengths of youth and their families.

“Young peo­ple need a con­nec­tion to a con­sis­tent, car­ing adult in order to flour­ish,” says David E. Brown, a senior asso­ciate with the Casey Foundation’s Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group. ​“If front­line staff can become that car­ing adult or ensure that each youth is con­nect­ed to a car­ing adult, then the chance of a pos­i­tive out­come is much higher.”

Because of the program’s sys­tem-wide scope, the selec­tion process will favor appli­ca­tions rep­re­sent­ing a mix of stake­hold­ers, agen­cies and depart­ments. Train­ing in the new JDAI site will begin in spring 2018 and cov­er the fol­low­ing topics:

• the fun­da­men­tals of pos­i­tive youth development;
• col­lab­o­ra­tion across systems;
• youth voice and leadership;
• racial and eth­nic equi­ty; and
• fam­i­ly engagement.

On Jan. 10, 2018, at 3 p.m. EST, RJJ part­ners — the School & Main Insti­tute and Whee­lock College’s Juve­nile Jus­tice and Youth Advo­ca­cy Depart­ment— are team­ing up with the Casey Foun­da­tion to host an infor­ma­tion­al webi­nar about the 2018 program.

To RSVP for the webi­nar, log on to JDAIcon​nect​.org. After being redi­rect­ed to the Casey Foundation’s Com­mu­ni­ty Café page, users must click on the ​“Non-Casey Staff Login” link and fol­low the instructions.

In addi­tion to reg­is­ter­ing for the webi­nar, log­ging on to JDAIcon​nect​.org enables users to:

• learn more about the curriculum’s design and deliv­ery; and
• access a link to the program’s application.