The RFK National Resource Center’s Story

The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice works to advance the national platform for juvenile justice system reform developed through the long history of support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Since 2004, the Foundation has supported reform in multiple states across all regions of the United States through the Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice initiative. Models for Change has sought to translate research into fair, effective, and developmentally informed juvenile justice practice and policies. The Foundation’s approach to juvenile justice reform is grounded in the core principles of fundamental fairness, developmental differences between youth and adults, individual strengths and needs, youth potential, responsibility, and safety. By supporting state and local reformers in a variety of settings, working on a variety of issue areas, and taking a variety of approaches, Models for Change helped to generate a broad and flexible range of replicable system reform models during the past decade. With the MacArthur Foundation’s support, the RFK National Resource Center worked to advance models for reform through the use of proven frameworks, resource publications, guidebooks and toolkits in the areas of:

  1. probation and youth justice system reviews to improve system practice and policies that result in enhanced treatment, accountability and client outcomes for youth, families and their community
  2. multi-system collaboration and coordination and practice reform on behalf of dual status youth
  3. diversion and the development of a comprehensive set of alternative responses for youth that can be better served outside of the youth justice system through connections to services and treatment that ameliorate risk and serve youth and family needs, and
  4. advancing the interwoven set of best practices within and across the youth justice system that commit to adolescent brain science, positive youth development, family and youth engagement, application of risk-needs- responsivity assessment methodologies, addressing the opportunities for reducing or eliminating practice disparities resulting in overrepresentation of youth of color, and maturation of effective methods for measurement, sustainability, and replication  

The staff of the RFK National Resource Center has been at the forefront of developing and implementing positive opportunities for enhancement and improvement within the youth justice system for ten years. This period of achievement includes an extensive history of professional experience within youth justice, child welfare, and behavioral health systems predating the 2013 launch of our work under the banner of the RFK National Resource Center. Founded and created from the history of our innovative work in partnership with courageous leadership in state and local jurisdictions, operating and leading change based on strong core principles (see our resolution statement, A Call to Action, and our Five Core Principles Driving Youth Justice System Improvement at Every Key Decision Point) and utilizing an experienced, dedicated and passionate staff, the RFK National Resource Center is uniquely poised to lead the effort to enhance the capacities of communities and jurisdiction’s nationwide to better serve all youth and families involved in the juvenile justice and related youth serving systems. We believe we owe this commitment to our nation’s youth, families, and communities to expand our partnerships that will result in enhanced system performance and improved youth outcomes. We look forward to working with you to accomplish these achievable goals. 

Five Core Principles Driving Youth Justice System Improvement at Every Key Decision Point

  1. Use validated risk and needs assessments to guide supervision, service, and resource allocation decisions, to include routine screening for active trauma symptoms.
  2. Implement evidence-based and promising programs and services that are proven to reduce recidivism and improve a variety of other youth outcomes, and evaluate the results of these services through effective data collection and analysis.
  3. Embrace a cross-system and collaborative approach to address the youth’s needs.
  4. Examine data on race/ethnicity, paying special attention to the arrest and detention stages at the front end of the system, and take steps to use data to develop consistent policies and practices that seek to reduce racial and ethnic disparities.
  5. Use operational tenets of implementation science and change management to develop an organizational infrastructure with capacity to drive, train, coach and mentor system change to ensure sustainability.

Click here to access a printable (PDF) version of our Five Core Principles.

Learn More About Us

Meet the RFK National Resource Center Staff

Contact Us

John A. Tuell
Executive Director
571.261.0435
jtuell@rfkcommunity.org

Jodi Martin
Deputy Executive Director
360.241.4860
jmartin@rfkcommunity.org