Blog: No bio box

If you don't live in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, or Washington, I can't actually tell you how your state measures up with regard to clients initiating and engaging in treatment.
But that's the point: only a few states in the nation can answer that question, and that needs to change.
Which is at least partly why

This Thursday, two youth advocates will talk about the importance of treatment and services for teens.
No big deal -- except they'll be talking to the Oregon Senate Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The youth will testify as part of a scheduled hearing about adolescent substance abuse treatment statewide.
It all started last January, when Reclaiming Futures co-sponsored a state summit on the subject. Our co-sponsors

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about why it was important for communities engaged in juvenile justice reform to keep the public informed about what they were doing. I listed several Reclaiming Futures sites that had done a good job announcing their work.

Over at Youth Today's the excellent blog, I ran across a link to a video of a "town hall meeting" on national juvenile justice policy sponsored by the American Bar Association and held at Georgetown Law School. I recommend that you check out Youth Today's summary of the event for highlights and policy recommendations for the Obama administration before heading over to see the video, which is nearly three hours long -- but the snippets I've seen so far made me want to watch the whole thing.

When you've assembled all the players in your Reclaiming Futures initiative for the first time, can you tell if the collaborative will be successful? Are there ways to help it along? 

In 2004, renowned photographer Susie Fitzhugh went to three Reclaiming Futures communities -- Seattle, Santa Cruz, and the Southeastern Mountains of Kentucky -- to document how the initiative was changing lives. Be sure to check out this sobering and inspiring peek at communities in the midst of reform. 
Anyone in other Reclaiming Futures communities have photos they want to share? 
 
 

It's election day, and there's a lot of talk about long lines, along with a few reports of electronic voting machine glitches and questions about provisional ballots. In fact, Ohio's broad use of provisional ballots could prove pivotal, according to a New York Times article last week.

It's not likely that Obama or McCain will order a full-scale troop withdrawal in the war on drugs any time soon. However, both candidates have reason to know we're losing the war, according to a recent piece by Joe Conason in Salon.

Mac Prichard, M.P.A.
COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT, PRICHARD COMMUNICATIONS