Blog: Positive Youth Development

A few days ago, I posted about a framework for providing opportunities for young people in the juvenile justice system to develop important skills that build on their competencies instead of their deficits in Positive Youth Justice - a Model for Building Assets in the Juvenile Justice System. This was based on a publication authored by Jeffrey Butts, Gordon Bazemore, and Aundra Saa Meroe, and published by the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, titled, Positive Youth Justice: Framing Justice Interventions Using the Concepts of Positive Youth Development.
 
At the back of the publication, I found these inspiring "rules" for creating youth development programs: 

1. Assume that young people are competent. When you start with the assumption that youth are damaged, some of them will likely “catch” the very problem they think they are supposed to have.
2. When working with young people, make sure they are in mixed groups—youth and adults solving common community problems together, and making sure youth themselves come from a mix of the usual group labels—good/bad, quick/slow, etc.
3. Jobs and activities for youth must be important, rewarding, and meaningful to create a sense of success, contribution, and belonging.

 
We often assume that teens land in the juvenile justice system because they're "villains" or victims (of trauma, circumstance, or a behavioral health issue like substance abuse).  But what if we used a different lens?
What if we assumed that teens commit crimes to meet needs typical of of all adolescents? After all, during this phase of development, teens want excitement, power, status, and a sense of belonging. (Plus, they're not strong on empathy, paving the way for criminal behavior.)

Do delinquent teens see criminal activity as something positive? 
Many adults assume that they do. However, research by Rachel Swaner and Elise White, published in 2010 by the Center for Court Innovation, suggests that for some youth at least, their attitudes and values are not anti-social at all. Though the youth outcomes in their study were not terribly positive, it underscores the need to provide youth with opportunities to do positive activities that reinforce their positive values. 
The study, titled, "Drifting Between Worlds: Delinquency and Positive Engagement among Red Hook Youth,"  involved a small sample of 44 youth in a housing project in Red Hook, Brooklyn. About half participated in Youth ECHO, a positive youth development program that enlisted the youth themselves in choosing community problems to tackle, and creating guerrilla marketing campaigns to address them. 
A few highlights from the study:

Last fall, youth in the Juvenile Recovery Court in Clark County, WA, got a chance to tell their stories on film. Six participants received training in "digital storytelling" and, with the help of court staff, and a prevention specialist, they turned their 250-word personal stories into powerful video presentations. Their efforts were given great coverage in the Dec. 27, 2010 issue of The Columbian. 
Below is a joint interview with the three people who made this amazing project happen for these youth: Bradley Finegood, LMHC (at left, above), who coordinates Clark County's Superior Court therapeutic specialty courts; Angela Zahas, a county prevention specialist (far right, above); and Anna Lookingbill, the Juvenile Recovery Court's resource coordinator (see middle, above). 
 
 
Q: What is digital storytelling? How is it different from making a video?
 
Anna:  There's two layers to digital storytelling. The first is the technical component, such as learning the software. (We used low-cost or free software, such as a free audio program called Audacity, and Microsoft's photo editing program.)
 
But there's also a pretty significant component around, "What's the story you want to tell?" How do you tell it in a way that has emotional impact on people? 
 
So when you teach it, it’s a layered thing – there's a technical piece, plus storytelling.
 
Brad: It was a small initial investment that will continue to pay dividends. Once Angela was trained on digital storytelling, it could be replicated. We could train others at a low cost – outside of human capital – for what could be an extremely powerful project. There's no fees we have to pay, no manuals we have to buy – so it just made a lot of sense. It's a long-term buy-in to people’s recovery.
 
On a side note, the kids who went through this started out extremely closed, but they opened up, smiled, they shared – so that’s something priceless when you talk about youth from the juvenile justice side of it. 

• Youth in Recovery Paint the Town - with a Mural Celebrating Healthy Living - Youth in recovery are eager to contribute to the community, and share their experiences and their creativity. So Reclaiming Futures Forsyth County, in North Carolina, worked with a local artist to help them paint a huge mural about recovery and healthy living on the side of a building (see before-and-during photos at right) that was formerly an eyesore. >>Full story here.
• Juvenile Court Supervisor, Coach -- and Institution - You might not know Lawrence Bass, but you should. He's been a steadying force in the lives of teens on the basketball court and in juvenile court in Guilford County, NC (a Reclaiming Futures site) for 40 years now. The News & Record in Greensboro, NC -- where he works as a juvenile court supervisor -- recently profiled him; check it out!
• Private Juvenile/Adult Prison in Mississippi Source of Profits -- and Abuse - The Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU National Prison Project have filed a class-action lawsuit over Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi. "If there's mistreatment going on at Walnut Grove and the Justice Department finds that it is, they ought to sue the hell out of somebody," says state representative John Mayo. "I can't understand why we have to be sued to do what's right."
• Where Did the Jobs for Teens Go? - Youth Today has the story on a new study from the Center for Labor Market Studies showing that the number of employed teens aged 16-19 with jobs has dropped significantly. Also: teens who work in high school are more likely to graduate; low-income teens without jobs are more likely to engage in crime.
• Why Juvenile Justice Reform Makes Sense to Conservatives - Juvenile justice reform -- traditionally a liberal cause -- aligns very well with conservative political principles, Marc Levin, of the Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, explains in this PowerPoint. This is a great resource to draw upon when you're advocating for juvenile justice reform in your own community -- reform can be a uniter, not a divider. (Hat tip to John Kelly at Youth Today.) 

Give teens a microphone or a paintbrush, and they'll often tell you they want to be a music star, become the next Picasso, or produce multi-platinum records.
Maybe they'll achieve that dream and maybe they won't, but I find that giving kids the chance to be creative helps them achieve something even more powerful: healing. And it's lasting, too. 
That's why I think one of the most powerful ways to help youth be successful in (and after) substance abuse treatment is to help them express themselves creatively. 
That's the goal of A.R.T.C., "Achieving Recovery Through Creativity,” a program of Preferred Family Healthcare (PFH), a nonprofit treatment agency based in Missouri. 
A.R.T.C. is a therapeutic creative arts program integrated into our substance abuse and behavioral health programs. It identifies and incorporates the strengths, needs, abilities and preferences of our young clients into their individualized treatment plans.

Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the Department of Education
March 17, 2010 at 10am PT / 1pm ET

Mr. Jennings will reprise his plenary presentation from the 2010 Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE)on the efforts by the Department of Education and the federal government to reach out to youth currently in recovery.
 
As part of this work Mr. Jennings will discuss how the Department of Education is hoping to increase the number of recovery schools, including programs designed for students and families committed to achieving success in both education and recovery.
 
To learn more about Mr. Jennings you can read his bio.

Register now »

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) is offering grants to support mentoring for youth  leaving secure facilities. One-time awards of up to $625,000 will be made for a project period of up to three years. (Hat tip to Mark Fulop.) 
From the call for proposals: "The purpose of this initiative is to support the successful and safe transition of juvenile offenders from correctional facilities to their communities. To this end, OJJDP will provide funding to develop, implement, and expand mentoring programs and transitional services. OJJDP expects successful applicants to integrate best practices and proven principles into mentoring service models, develop strategies to recruit and maintain mentors, and assess and develop services to respond to the needs of youth offenders reentering their communities. Local community collaboratives should lead such programs, design them to address local needs, and use local resources. If local resources are not available, the program should obtain resources outside of the community through partnerships and other collaborative efforts.
Application deadline: May 2, 2011. 
[UPDATE March 11, 2011:  Got questions?  Check the FAQ.]

You may remember Olivia from our our national Reclaiming Futures video, made several years ago: she'd just graduated from juvenile drug court in King County, WA, where she benefited from the Reclaiming Futures initiative in Seattle-King County. She also  had a great mentor in Hazel Cameron, who directs The 4C Coalition in Seattle, which provides mentors to youth in the juvenile justice system. 
How's Olivia doing these days? Take a look at the video above, in which Olivia, now 22, gives a speech to a packed room at the Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) in Baltimore, MD, on December 14, 2010.
Olivia's story is just under 20 minutes long, but it seems to fly by -- she tells her story with poise, humility, humor, and gratitude. Check it out! 
Update January 12, 2011 - I forgot to mention it, but this post is just in time for National Mentoring Month!