The southern university law center proposes to implement the louisiana juvenile justice reform act implementation commission (JJRAIC) support initiative

The Southern University Law Center received a $250,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (CFDA 16.548 Delinquency Prevention Program) to support the Louisiana Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission (JJRAIC). The project aims to assist the JJRAIC in significantly improving Louisiana's juvenile justice system and reducing risks to youth safety in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Key activities include providing administrative support for JJRAIC meetings and operations, conducting community outreach, delivering trauma-informed care training, establishing a JJRAIC website and communications infrastructure, and helping the JJRAIC develop strategic reform and sustainability plans based on data analysis. This Cooperative Agreement award will support these efforts over a 2-year period from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2025.

The purpose is to assist the louisiana JJRAIC in its efforts to significantly improve their juvenile justice system and reduce the risks to youths' physical and emotional safety while they are being served by the child welfare and juvenile justice serving agencies in the state. Project activities include hiring and overseeing interns/staff to provide day-to-day administrative support and infrastructure for JJRAIC meeting planning, communications, management of subcommittees, report production, and related activities; conducting community outreach; supporting and provide training and clinics to recruit, train, and RE-train staff on trauma-informed juvenile justice care and programming; coordinating training for commission members; establishing and maintaining a website and communications infrastructure for the JJRAIC; assisting in the development of strategic short- and long-term juvenile justice reform stabilization and sustainability plans; assisting in securing and analyzing viable data that will be used in decision-making. This is to ensure that the JJRAIC is able to use the data to invest in and secure resources that sustain juvenile justice best practices activities in louisianas various juvenile justice serving entities.