NCJ Number
198316
Date Published
May 2002
Length
41 pages
Annotation
This report describes the organizational structure and outlines the priorities for the Seattle SafeFutures Program (SSF), a program designed to intervene with youth and families in the juvenile justice system.
Abstract
The SSF has been part of a national program initiated by the U.S. Justice Department, entitled "SafeFutures: Partnerships to Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency." The SSF built on existing initiatives to improve collaboration among service providers and the juvenile justice system to identify and fill gaps in the current continuum of services for at-risk youth and families, and to achieve long-term systems change in order to assure seamless and uninterrupted services to children and families at all levels of involvement in the juvenile justice system. Desired outcomes for the project were specified to be reduction in family, individual, and community factors that place youth at risk of becoming perpetrators or victims of criminal/violent acts; promotion of developmental assets within families, individuals, and the community that protect youth; and effective interventions for youth involved in the juvenile justice system and for their families. Regarding project organizational structure, the Seattle Department of Housing and Human Services was the grantee for the SSF, as it provided fiscal management and staffing for the various aspects of the program. The implementation of the SSF collaboration was achieved through the efforts of two interagency groups: the SSF Community Planning Board, which provided overall policy direction, and the SSF Interagency Staffing Group, which implemented numerous collaborative projects. Key SSF activities were direct service program activities, systems and services coordination and integration for improved service delivery, systems reform, and the evaluation of SSF. Priority activities of each of these areas are described in this report, including highlights of the evaluation for each activity.