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A moving video on the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange tells the story of a former justice-involved teen. Now a youth justice advocate at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, Xavier McElrath-Bey had been arrested 19 times by the time he was 13 years old. He grew up in an impoverished area in the South Side of Chicago that was known for its violence, crime, and drugs. His stepfather was abusive, his mother suffered from depression and schizophrenia, and his family was unable to afford basic necessities including gas, electricity and even food, and they were often evicted and forced to move.
Over 250,000 youth are being charged as adults every year. Like Xavier, these are children that have the odds stacked against them to begin with. Most of these youth experience trauma, endure physical abuse, and come from backgrounds with poor education and little opportunity for employment. In addition, these children are disproportionately Latinos and African Americans.
Now an advocate to reform the juvenile justice system, Xavier hopes that through sharing his story, he’ll also change people’s perceptions of formerly incarcerated youth and help them understand that these kids have great potential for positive change.

In 2004, the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health (NFFCMH) declared the first full week of May as National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. This year that week falls on May 4-10, and all are encouraged to participate in a weeklong celebration of advocacy and awareness efforts.

The NFFCMH is striving to make this year’s National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week the best yet in honor of its 25th Anniversary as the voice for children’s mental health!

The theme for this year is Building a Circle of Wellness to recognize the NFFCMH’s focus on debunking myths, spreading awareness, and promoting not only positive mental health but also overall health for our nation’s children.

This week is designed for those at the national, state and local level to come together and strive toward the vision for healthy children and families. Get involved in any or all of the following ways to show your support for this cause:

• Attend the Reclaiming Futures webinar, "What Works in Co-Occurring Treatment with Justice Involved Youth," on May 6 at 1pm ET
• Share any activities your organization is planning or attending with the NFFCMH via Corey Brown.
• Sign up for updates on exciting activities and new initiatives throughout the week.
• Participate in the Green Ribbon Campaign by ordering your own ribbons to spread awareness of the cause.
• Download the Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week Activity Workbook to get a jump-start on planning activities.
• Submit an entry in the NFFCMH’s 2014 Poster Contest.

Focal Point magazine, produced by the Pathways Research and Training Center (RTC) at Portland State University, recently published a collaborative article [PDF] between current and former Reclaiming Futures staff and partners examining how the Reclaiming Futures model saves money, reduces recidivism and improves abstinence from drug and alcohol abuse.
The article’s introduction is included below:

Why focus on the juvenile justice system? Despite the fact that most juvenile justice-involved young people are not being treated for substance abuse and mental health needs, the juvenile justice system is still the single largest referral source for adolescent treatment and this system is where young people in trouble often first come to our attention. Young people involved in the juvenile justice system often are challenged with substance use issues.
Nationally, about half of young people in the juvenile justice system have drug related problems. In fact, four of five young people in the juvenile justice system are under the influence of alcohol or drugs while breaking the law; test positive for drugs; are arrested for committing an alcohol or drug offense; admit having substance abuse and addiction problems; or share some combination of these characteristics.
Additionally, many young people in the juvenile justice system have a co-occurring disorder (both substance abuse and mental health). Yet in spite of research that shows treatment helps reduce recidivism and saves money, juvenile courts usually are not set up to detect and treat substance abuse or to provide mental health and other important services.
Instead, most of the young people in the juvenile justice system who need treatment for drugs, alcohol, and mental health problems are not getting it. Fewer than one in twelve young people who need such supports actually receive treatment of any kind. For those who receive treatment, less than half are retained for 90 days as recommended by research. Many communities are not using evidence-based treatments that have been tested in the field for many years.
Young people need different care than adults: care that addresses adolescent development and brain science, and that utilizes support from families and community. Too many juvenile courts mirror a more punitive approach appropriate to adult criminal court rather than the rehabilitative civil court envisioned when the juvenile court was first established in the late nineteeth century.

The good news is that there's already a solution to the issues outlined above: Reclaiming Futures! We know from our evaluations that the Reclaiming Futures model helps teens overcome the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime by addressing their co-occurring needs. Again from the article, "The Reclaiming Futures JTDC model has potential to increase drug and alcohol abstinence, reduce young people’s illegal activity, and reduce the cost of crime to society." 
Learn more about the Reclaiming Futures model here >>
For the rest of the article, jump to page 18 in the linked PDF for our Reclaiming Futures article, or scroll through the whole magazine for more great articles about co-occurring substance abuse and mental health issues facing teens and young adults.

Below you'll find a selection of the latest grants, jobs, webinars and events posted to our Opportunity Board. Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!
Webinars

• Understanding Addiction and Supporting Recovery Strategies and Tools for Clergy and Other Congregational Leaders Webinar Series: April 29
• What Works in Co-Occurring Treatment with Justice Involved Youth: May 6

Events

• 2014 Adolescent Conference: May 13-15
• 2014 Coalition for Juvenile Justice: June 18-21
• Looking Back, Planning Ahead: A Vision for the Next 40 Years in Juvenile Justice: June 18-21
• 2015 National Mentoring Summit: January 28-30

Grants

• Multi-State Mentoring Initiative: Ends May 27
• Second Chance Act Two-phase Juvenile Reentry Demonstration Program: Ends June 2

Juvenile Justice Reform

• PACE Embracing the Needs of Girls, Looks to Expand Beyond Florida (JJIE.org)
  PACE Center for Girls was called "the most effective program in the nation for keeping adolescent girls out of the juvenile justice system” by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in its 2008 Kids Count report.
• Inside Calif. Juvenile Hall, Rare Glimpse at Solitary Confinement Cells (The Center for Investigative Reporting)
  Although solitary confinement for extended periods is considered one of the most psychologically damaging forms of punishment – particularly for teenagers – no one knows how many juveniles are held alone in cells in California.
• Juvenile Justice System Not Meeting Educational Needs, Report Says (Education Week)
  Many of the teenagers who enter juvenile-justice systems with anger problems, learning disabilities, and academic challenges receive little or no special help for those issues, and consequently fall further behind in school, a report released Thursday concludes.

For 65 years now Mental Health America has celebrated May as Mental Health Month and this year’s theme is “Mind Your Health.” Mental Health America and their nationwide affiliates have reached millions of people to bring awareness to the importance of mental health to overall health and wellness, inform people about how the body and mind interact, and offer tips and tools to protect and promote health.
Here are a few of the ways you can get involved with Mental Health Month this May:

• Take a three minute mental health screening to assess if you could be experiencing signs of a mental health condition.
• Social support can lessen the effects of stress on depression, anxiety, and other health problems. Create a plan to strengthen connections in your life and positively impact your emotional health.
• Learn about the effects of stress on the body and find tips to help cope with everyday stress.
• Find resources for help if you or a loved one might be suffering from a mental health disorder.
• Download the 2014 May is Mental Health Month toolkit for your organization for media and marketing materials, statistics, and information for public education.

The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights recently released a study on school discipline that reported significant racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions starting as early as the preschool level.
This disparity brings about a myriad of concerns including an opportunity gap among students and the impact out-of-school suspension can have on the children’s future at such an early stage of life. Suspensions can lead to delays in academic advancement and increase the likelihood of students dropping out and entering the juvenile justice system.
While 94 percent of school districts do not use out-of-school suspension for preschoolers, there were concerning inequalities among those that did: African American children represent 18 percent of preschool enrollment but 42 percent of students suspended once, and 48 percent of the students suspended more than once.
Conversely, white students represented 43 percent of enrollment but only 26 percent of students suspended more than once.
Attorney General Eric Holder says on the issue, "Every data point represents a life impacted and a future potentially diverted or derailed. This Administration is moving aggressively to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline in order to ensure that all of our young people have equal educational opportunities."
President Obama has proposed a new initiative called Race to the Top-Equity and Opportunity (RTT-Opportunity) to address the inequalities among students. This initiative would create incentives for states and school districts to drive change in how they identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps.

Last week, Reclaiming Futures fellows from across the country gathered in New Orleans to share experiences, learn together, and get inspired all over again. For those who were unable to attend, see below for highlights, including an inspiring interview with Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries.
Father Greg Boyle on why he Supports Reclaiming Futures

Our two efforts and movements are completely aligned. We're the largest gang intervention rehab reentry program in the country, so gang members and folks who have been in the system, felons between the ages of 14 and 50 come through our doors. It's a community that's therapeutic, engages in attachment repair, is interested in healing and moving people toward exactly a reclaiming of their own futures.
Our program is not for those who need help; it's for those who want it. That's the only way rehab works. It never works with somebody who's dragged and forced.
But once they walk through the doors it's ticker tape parade and streamers so that they feel welcomed, accepted, not judged. We help them re-imagine their futures because gang violence is a lethal absence of hope. It's an inability to conjure up an image of what tomorrow looks like, which is exactly in line with what Reclaiming Futures is all about.

#rfutures14 pic.twitter.com/Xuir5W8JcU
— Brittini Long (@longred3316) April 10, 2014

Below you'll find a selection of the latest grants, jobs, webinars and events posted to our Opportunity Board. Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It's free to browse and post!
Events

• 2014 Adolescent Conference: May 13-15
• 2014 Coalition for Juvenile Justice: June 18-21