The Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative is based upon eight core interconnected strategies that address the primary reasons why youth are unnecessarily or inappropriately securely detained in correctional facilities. The model if implemented with high fidelity, safely reduces the use of secure detention while also reducing racial and ethnic disparities.

Overview:

Ramsey County, Youthprise, and community partners have embarked on a journey to reform the juvenile justice system to improve outcomes for youth and their families. The vision for this work is being accomplished by replacing the use of facilities as a response to juvenile crime with services that assist and support youth with changing their behaviors while remaining in their communities with their family and friends who care about them the most. Another important aspect of the work is to intentionally recognize the current racial disparities in the juvenile justice system and the impact they have on youth and their families. Because of this intentionality, we are targeting these efforts towards youth who are largely overrepresented in the system. The purpose of this letter of inquiry is to expand the options and approaches of services for youth on probation, who are at risk of being placed out of their home and into a youth correctional institution. We recognize and value there are many stakeholders in the community who have expertise in working with young people and their families. We encourage grassroots community based organizations with the capacity to apply and strongly encourage creativity in developing models and approaches of service. We believe involving youth and family in collaborating with their care will ensure a greater success for the youth on probation and will help share power with the family once probation is no longer involved. We are seeking programs and services that are innovative, grassroots-based, and have the ability to consider a broad range of needs presented by youth and families.

Program Design/Services: This may include, but is not limited to the following:

• Providing mentor or befriender staff with knowledge of the juvenile justice system to provide advocacy and support to youth and their families while they are on probation.
• Culturally tailored and community-informed narrative assessments of the youth and their family’s strengths and personal goals.
• Support accessing health and human services as identified by the youth and family. This could include:
  • housing supports
  • food/nutrition supports
  • access to health/healing care
  • mental/emotional health supports
• Education planning and advocacy for youth and their family to help them attain their educational goals including credit recovery and successful transition to school.
• Working as a team member with the family and probation officer to develop a community support plan that will help the youth find activities and supports they like with a goal of reducing riskof reoffending and developing positive peer relationships.
• Repairing harm to victim(s) and community through restorative practices.

Core elements that we would like to see in programming and services are:

• Community based
• Culturally specific
• Based on positive youth-development models
• Strengths based for youth and their families
• Reasonable costs associated with the achievement of program goals
• Supportive youth and their caregivers (caregivers as identified by youth)
• Guided by a vision for the future of programming
• Focused on community restoration
• Innovative and emerging practices
• Targeted at reducing the use of juvenile detention and out of home correctional placements

Available Funding and Application Deadline:

There is $184,000 available in funding and we anticipate funding 1 to 3 organizations.  The deadline for the submission of the LOI is 11:59 pm on 5-31-19.

Review Process:

LOI’s will be reviewed by the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative’s Deep End Alternative Governance Committee, those approved to move forward in the process will be notified via email on 6-3-19.  The second stage of the process will consist of a 10 to 20 minute presentation of your project to a community review panel on 6-6-19 from 5 pm to 8 pm.  The final stage of the review process will consist of a review by the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative’s Deep End Alternative Governance Committee on 6-17-19 of all previously submitted materials including community reviewer’s presentation scores and comments.  Awardees will be notified by 6-21-19.

For questions, please contact Maurice Nins, Jr. at 612-692-5523 or maurice@youthprise.org.