Round-up: State Budget Gaps, Research on Alcohol and Kids, Vulnerable Populations in Juvenile Justice

Even though it was a holiday week, I ran across a number of interesting stories and resources.

• First, The Kaiser Family Foundation published a fascinating (and depressing) summary of projected budget shortfalls in all 50 states. This impact is already being felt in juvenile justice, as you can see in this article from Youth Today.

These shortfalls will also, of course, impact funding for adolescent treatment. But these effects can be mitigated if local communities continue to educate policymakers on the importance of treatment, and the long-term cost-savings it brings. In Anchorage, for example, the local Reclaiming Futures team has worked hard to integrate a number of local coalitions around three primary goals, one of which is reducing teen substance use and abuse. Team members are now at the table when a whole range of issues that matter to teens are discussed, and local strategy is determined. (Stay tuned for a follow-up post on Anchorage.) 

• Last week, I also learned about Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol-Free, which has an excellent array of "ongoing research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol-related problems among 9- to 15-year-olds."
• Need some continuing education, but have no money in the budget for travel? Then watch these videos from a day-long research and policy conference on "Vulnerable Populations in the Juvenile Justice System," held at Princeton in November.
• I was recently asked to do a guest post on a blog focused on social science research. In it, I used adolescent treatment as an example of how applied research can transform a field. 
• Finally: don't forget that you can follow Reclaiming Futures on Twitter!
  Unfamiliar with Twitter? it's a micro-blogging service; each post is limited to 140 characters. Accounts are free, but if you just want to see what sort of things I've posted, go here, and type "RFutures" in the "Search" box. You should see all of the most recent posts.
  I will be cross-posting material from this blog, but I will also post links there to stories and resources that don't make it to the blog, so check back there often!