Roundup: Input Needed on Federal Strategic Plan on At-Risk Youth Policy - and More

Juvenile Justice System News

• Chicago Public Radio's excellent series, Inside and Out, recently covered racial disparities in the Illinois juvenile justice system, and explored them in a live community forum. 
• In an editorial, The New York Times urges support for bills in Congress that would create a blue-ribbon commission on fixing the criminal justice system. Among other items on the fix-it list: incarcerating nonviolent offenders. 
• Federal funding for at-risk youth from ... the National Endowment for the Arts? Yes! In partnership with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the NEA 's Shakespeare for a New Generation program will fund six theatre companies to provide educational activities and performances to youth in the juvenile justice system. 

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment News

• Want to give input on a strategic plan on federal youth policy for at-risk youth? Twelve federal agencies are participating in an interagency working group to create the plan, and they want to hear from you. It's a great opportunity to talk about substance abuse treatment needs for teens in the juvenile justice system: follow the link for more information. (Hat tip to Faces and Voices of Recovery.)
• Insurance companies are lobbying to change the federal parity law that was intended to make sure that behavioral health problems, including adolescent substance abuse, are treated by insurers in the same way as physical health problems are.   
• If you weren't at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) meeting on Behavioral Health and Information Technology (Health-IT), you can now access a recording of it online.You may want to check it out, as it includes information on federal privacy protections under 42CFR Part 2. (Hat tip again to Faces and Voices of Recovery.)

Resources

• Why They Run: An In-depth Look at America's Runaway Youth, based in part on "a decade of expert studies," has just been released by the National Runaway Switchboard.
• Concerned about the cradle-to-prison pipeline? Stop the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track is a D.C.-based organization that offers talking points, model discipline policies for schools, and model legislation. 
• Sign up now for an online, self-paced course called, "Introduction to Positive Youth Development" from the National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth.