Reclaiming Futures® changed the way juvenile courts in 10 pilot sites help teens with drug and alcohol problems. A new national dissemination program supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will spread this proven approach to up to six additional communities through a learning collaborative that shares resources, improves data collection and utilization and promotes new standards of practice. No grant funds will be awarded as part of this initiative, but successful applicants will receive a technical assistance package valued at approximately $180,000.

Reclaiming Futures call for proposals FAQs

Download a PDF of the complete call for proposals

Program Overview
(Please refer to specific sections for complete details.)

Purpose
Reclaiming Futures changed the way juvenile courts in 10 pilot sites help teens with drug and alcohol problems. A new national dissemination program supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the national program office of Reclaiming Futures will spread this proven approach to additional communities through a learning collaborative that shares resources, improves data collection and utilization and promotes new standards of practice.

Eligibility Criteria
The following organizations within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States may apply:

• Juvenile courts
• Public and nonprofit treatment agencies
• State, local and tribal juvenile justice and alcohol and drug abuse treatment authorities

Applicants must be either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501 c (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Private foundations as defined under Section 509(a) are also eligible to apply.

Selection Criteria
Priority will be given to applicants that demonstrate strengths in the following areas:

• Cross-sector partnerships
• Leadership and vision
• Sustainability and service reform
• Mentorships, youth leadership, and workforce development

Total Awards

• No grant funds will be awarded as part of this initiative.
• Up to six communities will be selected as Reclaiming Futures sites in 2008. Each site will receive a package of technical assistance, including participation in fellowships that exchange information and ideas and coaching via conference calls and national meetings. Depending on the number of participating communities the estimated value of services provided by Reclaiming Futures is up to $180,000 per site. Communities must match this support by hiring and funding a half-time project director.

Key Dates and Deadlines

• April 1, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)—Deadline for receipt of brief proposals.
• May 6, 2008—Finalists invited to submit full proposals.
• June 13, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)—Deadline for receipt of full proposals.
• August 11–12, 2008—Telephone interviews of finalists.
• August 15, 2008—Notification of site selections.
• October 1, 2008—Start of projects.

How to Apply
This program only accepts proposals submitted through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grantmaking Online system.

Background

Young people who enter the justice system with serious drug and alcohol problems may not receive adequate treatment, even though research shows that young people who use drugs and alcohol are more likely to end up in trouble with the law, behave violently or drop out of school.

In response to this urgent need for appropriate treatment, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2002 launched Reclaiming Futures®, a five-year national program whose pioneering communities—Anchorage, Alaska; Santa Cruz County, Calif.; Chicago, Ill.; Southeastern Kentucky; Marquette, Mich.; the State of New Hampshire; Dayton, Ohio; Portland, Ore.; the Sovereign Tribal Nation of Sicangu Lakota in Rosebud, S.D.; and Seattle, Wash.— have changed the way judges, probation officers, treatment providers, families and community members help youth in the justice system get off drugs and alcohol. These communities adopted an innovative model of change that made a positive difference in the lives of young people.

In 2006, the 10 communities that piloted this model reported significant improvements in the quality of juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment services, according to research conducted by the Urban Institute and the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall Center for Children. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation seeks to spread this proven model across the country by establishing a collaborative among the original 10 Reclaiming Futures pilot sites and up to 12 new sites. These communities will work together in a national learning collaborative that shares resources, ideas and information. The collaborative will include three additional communities whose juvenile drug courts in 2007 received grants and other assistance through a partnership among RWJF, the Office for Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).

The Reclaiming Futures model combines system reforms, treatment improvement and community engagement to help young people break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime. Key elements of the Reclaiming Futures approach include:

• establishing alcohol and drug abuse screening and assessment for juvenile courts;
• developing individualized care plans;
• training alcohol and drug abuse treatment providers in evidence-based practices; and
• involving community as mentors and role models to provide the support teens need.

The Reclaiming Futures model makes the detection of substance abuse, its treatment and the coordination of other services part of the way juvenile courts do business every day. Reclaiming Futures supports the key objectives of RWJF’s Vulnerable Population Portfolio by offering a fresh approach to a long-standing problem, addressing poor health status in the context of other factors such as juvenile justice, making fundamental changes in how services are organized and delivered, and increasing service integration among local service providers and state and federal agencies, including legal agencies.

RWJF will select new communities—up to six in 2008 and up to six more sites in 2009—to join the Reclaiming Futures learning collaborative. This call for proposals seeks applicants to the 2008 period. The call for proposals for communities that wish to become a Reclaiming Futures site in 2009 will be released in early 2009.

The Program

Up to 12 new communities will join a national learning collaborative to implement the Reclaiming Futures model. The Reclaiming Futures national program office (NPO) will provide significant technical assistance to these communities. New sites will not receive cash grants.

Each site will receive a package of technical assistance, including participation in fellowships that exchange information, ideas and coaching via conference calls and national meetings. Depending on the number of participating communities the estimated value of services provided by Reclaiming Futures is up to $180,000 per site. Local communities must match this support by hiring and supporting a project director working at least half-time.

This new phase of Reclaiming Futures has three goals, to:

• demonstrate how to use state-of-the-art tools, methods and Web-based resources to adopt the Reclaiming Futures model;
• develop data collection methods that make the case for Reclaiming Futures and use this information to inform strategic relationships with elected and appointed officials and key administrative and community partners; and
• participate in a national dialogue to promote the Reclaiming Futures model as a new national standard of practice.

Each community selected for the national learning collaborative will benefit from the following elements:

• A Toolkit: Including publications, workshops, online curricula and time with expert consultants.
• Coaching: Each site receives coaching to assist with local implementation of the Reclaiming Futures model.
• Leadership: One local representative per site from the following five groups—project directors, judges, community leaders, juvenile justice professionals and substance abuse treatment providers—will participate in a national fellowship. Fellows share information and ideas about Reclaiming Futures through monthly conference calls and an annual meeting.
• National Learning Collaborative Participation: A community's leadership team will participate in peer-to-peer education in the learning collaborative through training, coaching and other instruction in the Reclaiming Futures approach. The Reclaiming Futures national learning collaborative includes three other communities whose juvenile drug courts have received grants and other assistance through a partnership among RWJF, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).

Applicants must make a system-wide commitment that the Reclaiming Futures model will guide the operation and coordination of the juvenile justice and alcohol and drug treatment systems. Communities chosen to join the national learning collaborative must do the following to receive a license as an official Reclaiming Futures site from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:

1. Hire a project director working at least half-time with a formal job description to use the Reclaiming Futures model to establish an integrated care system for alcohol and drug involved young people.
2. Appoint a "change team" that includes representatives of the judiciary, probation, alcohol and drug treatment, community, including faith, business, mentoring or youth leadership organization, youth and family sectors, and others as needed.
3. Assure that change team members participate in all Reclaiming Futures learning collaborative activities and complete the core curriculum, including online learning courses, phone conferences with a Reclaiming Futures coach and other sites, and face-to-face national meetings as a team.
4. Produce a strategic plan (with timelines, benchmarks and clear assignments of responsibilities) that includes:
   1. a management structure for the change effort;
   2. an articulated commitment to improving systematically the response to identifying and intervening with alcohol and drug involved young people across the juvenile justice system;
   3. cross-disciplinary orientation and training for system partners;
   4. adoption of all of the elements of the Reclaiming Futures model;
   5. expansion of active community partners (i.e., treatment agencies, youth mentoring and leadership opportunities, youth employment opportunities);
   6. development and implementation of a data tracking system to demonstrate the process and outcome measures in the Reclaiming Futures model; and
   7. strategies and capacity to engage in sustained and targeted communications of specific stakeholders, such as teens and families, and the public.

Eligibility Criteria

The following organizations within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of the United States may apply:

• Juvenile courts
• Public and nonprofit treatment agencies
• State, local and tribal juvenile justice and alcohol and drug abuse treatment authorities

Applicants interested in securing local matches from other foundations or local funders to increase the number of sites within a given state are especially encouraged to apply.

Applicants must be either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501 c (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Private foundations as defined under Section 509(a) are also eligible to apply.

Selection Criteria

Priority will be given to sites that demonstrate the following strengths:

1. Cross-sector Partnerships
   • Management teams with experience in interagency collaborations and strong administrative, training and supervision skills.
   • History of collaboration and systems change that produce results.
2. Leadership and Vision
   • Local judge(s) with strong commitment to the adoption of the Reclaiming Futures model.
   • History of advocacy for substance-abusing youth and their families in the juvenile justice system.
   • Successful leadership collaboration across systems.
3. Sustainability and Service Reform
   • Commitment to project sustainability and matching funds.
   • Success in making services developmentally appropriate, gender specific and culturally relevant.
   • Commitment to effective management information system infrastructure and a demonstrated ability to track individual youth and family cases.
4. Mentorships, Youth Leadership and Workforce Development
   • Successful community support for youth and commitment to creative solutions for youth concerns.
   • Involvement by adult and youth community members in the development of a service system and creation of alternative programming.
   • Support by influential community leaders.

Evaluation and Monitoring

The Reclaiming Futures NPO is responsible for overall management and monitoring of this national learning collaborative and will ask grantees to provide periodic reports. The NPO many also ask project directors to participate in meetings and give progress reports. At the close of the project, the lead agency is expected to provide a written report on the project and its findings suitable for wide dissemination.

How to Apply

All proposals for this program must be submitted only through the RWJF Grantmaking Online system at http://grantmaking.rwjf.org/say.

There are three stages in the competitive proposal process: (1) applicants submit a brief proposal; 2) a limited number of communities will be invited to submit a full proposal; and 3) a small group of finalists will participate in an individual telephone interview.

Stage 1: Brief Proposal
Applicants must submit a brief proposal of up to 1,500 words that describes proposed goals and objectives, the population to be served, the community’s readiness and experience, and local project leadership. All proposals must be submitted through the RWJF Grantmaking Online system.

Stage 2: Full Proposal
After a review of brief proposals, a limited number of applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. Full proposals cannot exceed 7,000 words. Instructions for submitting a full proposal will be provided at that time.

Stage 3: Telephone Interview
After review of all full proposals selected finalists will be invited by letter or e-mail to participate in a telephone interview.

For more information on Reclaiming Futures and proposal requirements please contact:
Jim Carlton, deputy director
Reclaiming Futures
Portland State University
School of Social Work
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR 97207-0751

Inquiries regarding the program can be made to the deputy director as follows:
Phone: (503) 725-8954
Fax: (503) 725-8915
E-mail: jcarlton@pdx.edu

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation does not provide individual critiques of proposals submitted.

Program Direction

Direction and technical assistance for this program are provided by the Portland State University School of Social Work which serves as the national program office located at:
Portland State University
School of Social Work
P.O. Box 751
Portland, OR 97207—0751
www.reclaimingfutures.org

Responsible staff members at the national program office are:

• Laura Nissen, Ph.D., M.S.W., director
• Jim Carlton, deputy director

Responsible staff members at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are:

• Kristin Schubert, M.P.H., program officer
• Jim Marks, M.D., M.P.H., senior vice president and director, Health Group
• Elaine Cassidy, Ph.D., program officer, Research and Evaluation
• Ann Christiano, M.P.A.P., senior communications officer
• Joann Baquilod, grants administrator

Timetable

• April 1, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)
  Deadline for receipt of brief proposals submitted online.


• May 6, 2008
  Finalists invited to submit full proposals.


• June 13, 2008 (3 p.m. ET)
  Deadline for receipt of full proposals submitted online.


• August 11–12, 2008
  Telephone interviews with finalists.


• August 15, 2008
  Notification of site selections.


• October 1, 2008
  Start of projects.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, we work with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change.

For more than 35 years, we’ve brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those we serve. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, we expect to make a difference in your lifetime.

For more information visit www.rwjf.org.

Download a PDF of the complete call for proposals