The CT Youth Services Association (CYSA) was formed in 1972 to lead, strengthen and support a unified network of youth-serving agencies in towns and cities across CT that promote the well-being of children, youth and families. This grant provides support for the juvenile justice liaison at CYSA, who will advance justice policy reforms at the local and state level by advising and informing the 12 local youth justice coalitions across CT about state government proceedings and sharing local trends and problems with state policymakers.

Youth Service Bureaus (YSBs) are youth service agencies that were created by municipal governments in Connecticut during the 1960s and 1970s to address growing problems involving youth. The Connecticut Youth Services Association (CYSA) was formed in 1972 to lead, strengthen and support a unified network of municipal YSBs dedicated to promoting the well-being of CT’s children, youth and families. This grant provides support for a two-year project to build a statewide data collection and evaluation system across all 104 YSBs to help ensure equitable services for youth regardless of their location they live and document their outcomes.

To support the efforts of local leaders in three Connecticut cities to implement system reforms to improve outcomes for youth at risk of or involved in the justice system. The cities were selected for technical assistance based on the commitments of their mayors and a cross-sector team of officials to implement City Plans created during phase one of this project.  Data analysis and stakeholder feedback were collected to identify problematic policies and gaps in services and to develop reform strategies. CYSA and the Charter Oak Group, a results-based accountability consulting firm, will help the city officials implement their goals and evaluate outcomes.

To work with teams of key local leaders in six to eight selected cities of various size that are committed to assessing and strengthening local services for youth at risk of justice involvement and school failure. Local leaders will include the community’s chief elected official, youth services agency, Board of Education representative, police chief and public health director, among others. This project aims to improve the local juvenile justice system and community-based services for youth and families involved and inspire local advocacy for state-level reform. Successes will be shared with other cities through the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and cities around the U.S. through the National League of Cities, a technical assistance partner in this project.