Nebraska’s Youth Impact team from the Omaha area will be featured in a national education session through the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University. The success of the team, led by Douglas County Juvenile Judge Doug Johnson, has garnered the attention of national organizers who are using the Douglas County group as national role models for successful programming.

The Nebraska Judicial Branch initiated a specialized project in 2012 with Georgetown University’s Center for Juvenile Justice Reform to identify and care for youth who are at risk of moving from the State’s welfare system to the criminal justice system. These “crossover” children who, by virtue of their poverty, are at high risk to participate in, or crossover to, criminal activity. Youth Impact teams grew out of probation’s original “Crossover Youth” project. 

The webinar with the Douglas County Youth Impact team is the first of a two-part webinar series which will take place on Tuesday, February 20, 2018. Individuals can register the webinar here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4469961556761900546

This webinar will focus on the research process, design and findings associated with the evaluation of the Crossover Youth Practice Model conducted by the Douglas County, Nebraska Youth Impact! team and the Nebraska Center for Justice Research at the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO).

The UNO Evaluation results suggest better outcomes for CYPM youth, increased information sharing between youth serving systems, improved decisions and relationships within the multi-disciplinary team, and cost savings to Douglas County.

The webinar will include a review of characteristics of the 428 youth served across 480 meetings held since November 1, 2012 and a discussion about the successes and challenges of implementation. Representatives from the Douglas Co. Working Group and Center for Justice Research will also describe their experience partnering to evaluate CYPM implementation and discuss how research findings are being used to improve local practices.  Topics will include how best to support primary data collection efforts between CYPM agencies and university researchers, and how to “make sense” of the data, both for research and practitioner purposes.

Presenters:

• Shawne Coonfare, Director, Douglas County Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC)
• Dan Jackson, Former Director, Nebraska Family Support Network
• Nick Juliano, Director, Regional Advocacy and Public Policy, Boys Town
• Ryan Spohn, Director, Director, Nebraska Center for Justice Research
• Emily Wright, Associate Director, Nebraska Center for Justice Research