Collaborating for Change

Training and Technical Assistance 

Each year, 4.2 million youth and young adultsexperience homelessness and approximately 1 million youngpeople become involved with the youth court, probation, and incarceration systems. In some cases, thisinvolvement may be due to lack of shelter or other necessities. This can sometimes occur when a young person is arrested for a curfew violationdue to lack of stable housing, or when they are arrested for theft for stealing food, or money to buy food. In other cases, youth who are arrested and released (either through a diversion program or after spending time in a juvenile detention facility) may experience homelessness because they are either unable to return to their families due to restrictions imposed by landlords or public housing authorities, or because families are unwilling or unable to have young people return due to family conflict.

To address the intersections between youth homelessness and legal system involvement, CJJ designed the training and technical assistance program Collaborating for Change: Addressing the Intersections of Youth Legal System Involvement and Homelessness.This training is available for communities that have already been selected to take part in HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP). It aims to provide selected communities with additional training and technical assistance related to the intersections between the youth homelessness and youth legal systems. 

Currently, CJJ and NLC are taking a deeper dive into Ohio, working to help assess their policies and practices related to the criminalization of youth homelessness, accessibility of diversion programs, and ways to improve reentry planning for young people who are returning to the community from youth legal system involvement. Additionally, in 2021 and 2022 we also explored our new learning collaborative approach. The Learning Network is a combination of nonprofits, governmental organizations, municipal leaders, and others, who explore the ways they can prevent youth homelessness by building stronger partnerships with their youth justice systems. Throughout the year, it will focus on the Principles for Change with an emphasis on how that principle can be applied in a way that centers equity and addresses the disproportionate number of young people of color who come into contact with the youth justice and youth homelessness systems.

CJJ thanks our funders and project partners for their help and support of this work. We are especially grateful to the Raikes Foundation, Nord Family Foundation, and Sisters of Charity Foundation for thier ongoing support. 

Resources

New Toolkit Released February 2022: 

• Revised Principles for Change: Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness​
• Resources to Implement the Principles for Change
• Partnering With Youth To Implement The Principles For Change
• Toolkit for Identifying Youth Experiencing Homelessness in the Justice System: Using a Structured Process to Recognize Red Flags and Ensure Housing First Approaches

Policy Recommendations: 

• Revised Principles for Change: Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness
• Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness: Principles for Change
• Principles for Change: A Brief Summary
• Implementing Change: Addressing The Intersections of Juvenile Justice and Youth Homelessness Among Young Adults

How You Can Help: 

• A Judicial Guide: Identifying and Serving Youth Experiencing Homelessness
• LGBTQ+ Youth Resources
• Implementing Change: Law Enforcement’s Role in Addressing the Intersections Between Juvenile Justice and Homelessness
• Implementing Change: School Personnel’s Role in Addressing the Intersections Between Juvenile Justice and Homelessness
• Implementing Change: State and Local Government’s Role in Addressing the Intersections Between Juvenile Justice and Homelessness
• Implementing Change: The State Advisory Group’s Role in Addressing the Intersections Between Juvenile Justice and Youth Homelessness
• Homeless and Runaway Youth in the Juvenile Justice System
• HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program: An Opportunity for City Leaders and Juvenile Justice to Help End Youth Homelessness
• Youth Homelessness and Juvenile Justice: Opportunities for Collaboration and Impact 
• Transforming Systems: Accelerating Collaboration Between Youth Homelessness Providers and Youth Policing and Incarceration Systems

Special Populations: 

• Implementing Change: Working to Address the Intersections of Juvenile Justice and Youth Homelessness
• Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness: Working With Girls
• Addressing the Intersections of Juvenile Justice Involvement and Youth Homelessness: Serving LGBTQ Youth
• At the Intersections: Increased Criminalization of Homelessness and its Impact on LGBTQ Youth in the Juvenile Justice System (A report CJJ contributed to, published by the True Colors Fund.)
• LGBTQ+ Youth Resources: Bridging the Digital Divide

Additional Resources 

• Youth Homelessness and the Juvenile Justice System: A Roadmap of What to Ask, What to Offer, and Expect from Referral to Reentry 
• We are Failing our Children: Addressing Homelessness Among System-Involved Youth 
• Slides from CJJ Workshop entitled “Ensuring Justice Involvement Does Not Increase Youth Homelessness
• Homelessness and Juvenile Justice: Policy Reform and Practice Collaboration to Reduce Homelessness and Justice-System Involvement
• National Clearinghouse on Homeless Youth and Families provides resources for youth experiencing homelessness and those working with them. They also have resources for youth in need of immediate assistance.
• CJJ Releases New Report on Intersections of Juvenile Justice and Homelessness

Advisory Committee

Starcia Ague ACLU Board of Directors (WA) Grace Bauer Justice for Families Darla Bardine* National Network for Youth Sonya Brown Project 18 Jeffrey Butts Justice Resource Institute Judge Joan Byer Judicial Officer, Ret. Alex Cawthorne National Governors Association Keyona Cooper Youth Advocate Margaret Dizerega Vera Institute for Justice Silas Follendorf National Network for Youth Sabrina Forte Bay Area Legal Aid Laura Furr* National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families Megan Gibbard A Way Home America

Jacqui Greene National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice Sparky Harlan Bill Wilson Center Aimee Hendrigan Melville Charitable Trust Melanie Heitkamp Youthworks of North Dakota Beth Holger-Ambrose The Link Serena Holthe National Juvenile Defender Center Amy Horton-Newell ABA Commission on Homelessness and Poverty Patricia Julianelle SchoolHouse Connection Meghan Maury National LGBTQ Task Force Marcy Mistrett Campaign for Youth Justice Mindy Mitchell* National Alliance to End Homelessness Jeannette Pai-Espinosa Crittenton Foundation Jennifer Pokempner Juvenile Law Center

Josephine Pufpaff Director of Systems Improvement and Youth Homelessness Martha Raimon Center for the Study of Social Policy Kathy Rowings National Association of Counties Justin Rush True Colors Fund Michael Santos* National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty  Elizabeth Seigle Council of State Governments Melissa Sickmund National Center on Juvenile Justice Diane Sierpina The Tow Foundation Diane Smith Howard National Disability Rights Network Jason Szanyi Center for Children’s Law and Policy Casey Trupin Raikes Foundation Stacey Violante Cote Center for Children’s Advocacy Alicia Woodsby Partnership for Strong Communities

*Steering Committee Member