Building an Effective Community Advisory Board to Enhance the Implementation of a Statewide Juvenile Justice Programming Toolkit

• In Event: Implementation, Partnerships, and Organizational Context: Exploring the Principles of Effective Intervention Beyond Risk, Need, and Responsivity

Abstract

In 2024, a new repository of programs and practices for youth populations was developed and adopted by the state of California. This repository, “the California Juvenile Justice Toolkit,” was created under an initiative from the Office of Youth and Community Restoration (OYCR) to help probation departments and community-based organizations understand the range of available programs and practices for youth (n=234), and the extent of evidence behind them. In this paper, we describe the steps we took to form a Community Advisory Board (CAB) to help inform statewide implementation efforts and updates regarding the Toolkit, and to anticipate and prepare for specific responsivity factors across California’s 58 counties. Findings emphasize what we learned from working with the CAB, including the benefits and challenges of incorporating CABs into criminal justice-based implementation efforts.

Authors

• Meghan A. Novisky, University of Cincinnati

• Eric Willoughby, University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute

• Jessica J. Warner, University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute

• Myrinda Schweitzer Smith, University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute

• Jennifer Scott, University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute