Since 1974, the Nebraska Juvenile Justice Association (NJJA) has worked to improve services to youth by serving as a resource for leadership development and education for juvenile justice professionals. A key part of this mission is an annual conference held the first week of May in Kearney, Nebraska. This year’s conference, “Empowering Futures” was held May 1-3 and was attended by over 350 professionals.

The Juvenile Probation Services Division and probation staff from across the state has long been committed to NJJA’s effort to provide this exceptional annual opportunity. In support of this year’s conference, Deputy Administrator Kari Rumbaugh served as the President of the NJJA Volunteer Governing Board and Investigation & Assessment Specialist Amy Latshaw volunteered as co-chair of the conference planning committee. The board and planning committee strive to bring national keynote speakers to Nebraska such as Judge Robert Lung from Denver, Colorado who spoke on “Trafficking, Trauma, Resiliency and Evidence-based Hope”. Breakout sessions were held so participants could gain best practice knowledge and skills from local juvenile justice experts.

Several specialists from the Juvenile Division were selected to provide sessions at this year’s conference: Juvenile Justice Reform Specialist Lindsay Meyer and Director Erin Curran presented a breakout session entitled “Inspiring Hope in Justice Involved Individuals - Case Management Strategies for Decreasing Suicide Risk.” Director Amoreena Brady presented on “Implementation Science and Leadership to Support Juvenile Justice Change” and Amy Latshaw also presented a session entitled “Dual System Youth – How We ROLE Together for Youth and Families” with DHHS Administrator KaCee Zimmerman.

This year’s NJJA conference also provided other opportunities to share probation staff’s work. Juvenile Services RISE Officer Paige Zamora and her Recognizing Increased Skills in Education (RISE) team were able to highlight their program work at a vendor booth in the networking area of the conference. The division was also proud to display the work of probation youth artwork contest winners in the hallways for participants to enjoy. The NJJA conference this year and every year is an impactful way to enhance probation and court staff’s knowledge and skills, while also energizing them for the important work they do for youth and families.