Connecticut and Ohio to Receive Training and Technical Assistance to Address the Intersection of Youth Homelessness and Juvenile Justice Involvement
Over the next twelve months, the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) and the  National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (NLC) will work with communities in Connecticut and Ohio to provide training and technical assistance about ways to end the link between juvenile justice and youth homelessness.

"We are excited about the launch of the next phase of our Collaborating for Change project, and the chance to work with these communities to help ensure that young people are not criminalized for experiencing homelessness, and that if they do come into contact with the justice system, that they are able to exit to safe, stable, and secure housing," said CJJ's Executive Director, Naomi Smoot.

Each year, 1 in 30 young people ages 13 - 17 experience homelessness. A separate study found that nearly half of young adults who experienced homelessness reported that they had also spent time in a jail, prison, or detention facility.

To address and end the intersection between youth homelessness and juvenile justice, CJJ, NLC, and National Network for Youth (NN4Y) created a partnership and launched Collaboration for Change: Addressing Youth Homelessness and Juvenile Justice Involvement . This project seeks to ensure that young people are not criminalized for a lack of stable housing, and that youth who do come into contact with the justice system, have safe, stable, and secure housing.

As part of the project, CJJ, NLC, NN4Y and expert advisors from across the country developed the Principles for Change, a series of guiding principles to help communities improve responses for youth with unstable housing.

The newest phase of Collaborating for Change will include direct technical assistance to help communities better understand of how youth homelessness and juvenile justice intersect, assess and understand how their policies may be criminalizing young people experiencing homelessness, and identify ways to provide more diversion opportunities and related supports.

To learn more about Collaboration for Change and how to address the intersection between youth homeless and juvenile justice involvemnet, visit juvjustice.org/homelessness .

The Collaboration for Change project is supported by the Raikes Foundation, the Tow Foundation, and the Melville Charitable Trust.
Coalition for Juvenile Justice
202-467-0864
info@juvjustice.org