Programs
Our Work
Since its founding, Justice for Families (J4F) has provided critical support to family members of incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated young people. The COVID-19 public health crisis has exacerbated existing challenges young people and their families face during reintegration, including difficulty managing trauma reactions, navigating social stigma, and the many complications following extended time away from family, community, and school. At the beginning of the COVID crisis, we quickly pivoted to a virtual platform and bolstered our local work in the South Bronx so we could effectively support these families. In response to critical community needs, we coordinated and executed expanded direct services to meet families’ basic needs and increase access to support resources, turning our Bronx office into a Relief Hub for the most vulnerable members of our community, and a learning lab to implement our programming at the local and national levels.
Our direct services include :
- EOutreach and Coordination
- ESystem Advocacy and Contingency Support
- ESocial and Emotional Support Workshops
Services
Training for agencies, organizations, and families.
Assessments of family engagement policy & practice.
Guidance to develop and sustain family advisory councils.
Guidance to conduct effective family focus groups.
Facilitation and guidance for strategic planning sessions.
Policy Development relating to family engagement.
Training & Technical Assistance
Our virtual learning experiences are designed for professionals that work in child-serving agencies and organizations, such as judges, probation officers, detention staff, mental health providers, educators, youth advocates, and law enforcement. Participants will come from a variety of educational backgrounds, age groups, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and life experiences. Some will be seasoned professionals who have been in the trenches for decades, while others will be at the beginning of their professional journey.
We currently offer three training programs: the Family Leadership Institute, Community Peer Navigator Institute, and Systems Professionals Training.
Family Leadership Institute
The Family Leadership Institute is a high impact leadership development and skill-building program that provides peer-to-peer support, healing, coaching, and intensive training for grassroots justice reform advocates. The Institute provides deeply impacted people with a unique opportunity to connect with others who share their determination and experiences; hear about victories, defeats and the lessons learned from those efforts; brainstorm ideas about their local work; share valuable connections and resources; and build strong peer-to-peer relationships that are relied upon for support, ideas and technical assistance. The Institute will follows a curriculum entitled “Improving Outcomes by Partnering with Youth and Families,” which assists and supports individuals seeking to improve opportunities and outcomes for children who encounter the justice and/or child-welfare systems and their families. Participants will be introduced to a robust framework, concrete skill-building tools, and effective strategies that enable families to hold systems accountable, lead the movement for fairness and opportunity for all communities, and ensure reform implementation and integrity.
Community Peer Navigator Training
The Community Peer Navigator Institute trains parents and family members who do the critical work of supporting their loved ones during post-incarceration reintegration, which involves navigating social service systems, on-going communication with juvenile justice agencies, and providing the social and emotional support young people require after prolonged disconnection from their families, peers, and education. Building on the Family Leadership Institute curriculum, the Community Peer Navigator Institute increases the capacity of directly-impacted community caregivers to effectively advocate for youth during systems engagement, and to build collective power towards policy and system reforms that protect the long-term needs and overall well being of youth.
Systems Professional Training
J4F works with justice system professionals to improve family engagement practices and promote better outcomes for system-involved youth. Our core curriculum is “Improving Outcomes by Partnering with Youth and Families,” and its goal is to assist and support systems and agencies seeking to improve opportunities and outcomes for children who encounter the youth or criminal justice system and their families. This five-day curriculum provides a framework, resources, information and tools for justice systems, agencies and programs that serve youth and their families in a justice-related context. It is designed to equip, prepare, challenge and support systems’ professional leadership, supervisors and line-level staff by providing a robust framework and concrete skill-building tools for enhanced youth and family engagement designed to yield better outcomes not only for youth and families but also for systems and communities.
Ready To Get Started?
Head over to our contact page and we will connect you with someone from our support staff to help you and/or your team get started.