Messages of love, support, and encouragement from family members of youth in a Close to Home placement. Photo credit: Leake and Watts Services, Inc.
On February 21, CCLP released a report on the implementation of Close to Home by the New York City Administration for Children’s Services. Close to Home is a landmark initiative designed to align New York State and New York City’s juvenile justice system with research and nationally recognized approaches to working with young people charged with crimes. CCLP found that, in just five years, Close to Home has radically transformed the experience of youth who come into contact with the justice system in New York City. By shifting focus away from incarcerating youth in large institutions far from family and community supports, Close to Home has sent an important message: the right response to troubled youth is not to isolate them but instead to invest in those young people and their communities.
In the report, Nate Balis, Director of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Justice Strategy Group, notes that Close to Home “has had significance well beyond the Empire State,” placing “New York City . . . at the forefront of what we all hope is a new wave of youth justice transformation.”
The new report includes guidance for other jurisdictions looking to replicate aspects of Close to Home by describing the factors that led to implementation of Close to Home, summarizing the core principles behind the initiative, outlining the achievements of Close to Home to date, and identifying lessons learned and opportunities for enhancements to the initiative going forward.
You can read a copy of the report on the CCLP website here: Close to Home Implementation Report. Thank you to the Annie E. Casey Foundation for supporting this report.