Under the national youth defense training and technical assistance award, the gault center (formerly national juvenile defender center) will ensure that youth defenders have access to high quality,…

Under the national youth defense training and technical assistance award, the gault center (formerly national juvenile defender center) will ensure that youth defenders have access to high quality, specialized legal training, practice tools, resources, publications, communities of practice and leadership development opportunities; support state and local grantees to implement effective, system-level enhancements that sustainably improve youth defense service delivery; and identify and respond to youth defense gaps, needs, and emerging issues at the local, state, regional, and national levels. To meet the objectives of this project, the gault center will continue to use and expand upon its wealth of resources and expertise to improve the delivery of high-quality, specialized legal defense for youth; address youth defenders' training needs; facilitate networking and develop communities of practice across the youth defense field; provide tools and resources to improve defense delivery systems, advance best practices, and enhance procedural justice; maintain a national clearinghouse of youth defense resources; and provide intensive training and technical assistance to ojjdp's state and local grantees by assigning staff to liaison with each grantee, working with each grantee to develop a written training and technical assistance plan, and engaging with each grantee throughout the duration of the grant period.