Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/youth-development/)
The roundtable discussion focused on the importance and effectiveness of mentoring and encouraged participation in mentorship opportunities for Florida’s youth.
Will Keeps was a 15-year-old member of a Chicago gang when he witnessed rival members kill his friend. He escaped the streets and moved to Iowa to help other young people from troubled backgrounds. Now, Keeps is hospitalized and in serious condition following just the sort of violence he has devoted his life to stopping: a shooting that killed two teenagers at the Starts Right Here education program he founded in Des Moines.
During the rollercoaster ride of a pandemic, it was Maxene Foster’s job to help make sure that cash-strapped Bronx residents got fed, were safely sheltered and so forth. For those efforts, the 20-year employee of Bronxworks, was tapped to represent the 900 staffers of that nonprofit agency during that rarest of Big Apple events: a ticker-tape parade. The ticker-tape, New York City parade celebrated youth probation officers, along with workers from nonprofit agencies, transit and other institutions deemed essential workplaces during the pandemic.
“Move the bodies.” That’s what a defense lawyer recently overheard an employee in juvenile court say, as if the young people being brought into the courtroom for the next hearing were animals to be herded. The dehumanizing of young people involved in the criminal legal system is common, unfortunately. Those comments, and the attitudes underlying them, can have detrimental effects on youth who hear themselves spoken about with bias, disapproval and disrespect.
Adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system are commonly referred to mental health services in order to address the behaviors that led them to legal involvement in the first place.
The first contact with the juvenile justice system presents an enormous opportunity for the court, court personnel, attorneys and service providers to impact the lives of children and their families.
The violence I was exposed to at an early age shaped who I became. It desensitized my perspective on violence, numbed my cries and dumbed down violence to the point I stopped asking why.
Juvenile justice systems have an unprecedented opportunity to utilize advances in knowledge about adolescent development and protecting public safety. The evolution of positive youth development (PYD) approaches and the heightened investment in risk and needs assessments are a prime example.
Finish Line Youth Foundation, a division of Finish Line, Inc., offers two grant opportunities with a specific focus on wellness and athletics. Grant proposals from eligible non-profits should focus on delivering direct services to youth under the age of 18. Additionally, proposals must come from specific locations served by the Youth Foundation. Interested organizations can take the Online Eligibility Quiz to determine if they meet the requirements. Finish Line, Inc. is an athletics retailer with more than 650 stores in 47 states.