Reclaiming Futures
Reclaiming Futures helps teens in trouble with drugs, alcohol and crime. It began in 2001 with $21 million from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is now in 26 communities thanks to additional funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
The 10 founding projects were funded in the communities of Anchorage, Alaska [1]; Santa Cruz, California; Chicago, Illinois; four counties in Southeastern Kentucky; Marquette, Michigan; the state of New Hampshire; Rosebud, South Dakota; Dayton, Ohio [2]; Portland, Oregon [3] ; and Seattle, Washington. In these varied communities, teams of people associated with the juvenile justice system began working together to help teens in the system with substance abuse issues. The teams consist of judges, probation officers, treatment professionals, community members and families, all working together on behalf of the youth.
Reclaiming Futures has created a six-step model that other communities across the nation could use to change the way they help teens in trouble. Key elements of the Reclaiming Futures model include screening and assessing teens for drug and alcohol problems and assembling a team to develop a strength-based care plan; training drug and alcohol treatment providers in evidence-based practices that work with teens; and involving community members as natural helpers and role models to provide the support teens need.
According to evaluation by the Urban Institute [4]and the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall Center for Children.[5]communities that piloted the Reclaiming Futures approach to helping teens overcome drugs, alcohol and crime reported significant improvements in juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment. and eight communities that piloted the Reclaiming Futures model have improved the social networks that that juvenile justice and substance abuse agencies use to communicate and cooperate with one another.
We are included in the following various reports:
1. To Improve Health and Health Care [6], Volume XIII, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Anthology, Isaacs SL and Colby DC, January 2010.
2. GAO-10-125 Juvenile Justice Programs, DOJ Is Enhancing Information on Effective Programs, but Could Better Assess the Utility of This Information,[7] December 2009
Reclaiming Futures is housed in the Regional Research Institute for Human Services of the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University [8].