NAYC is pleased to introduce you to a broad array of valuable organizational partners whose work corresponds to the priorities of our youth court network. If you wish to suggest additional partners at the national level, please e-mail us that information.

Coalition for Juvenile Justice
For nearly 25 years, CJJ has served as the national association of Governor-appointed State Advisory Groups and included members from many walks of life and professional disciplines who, together with allied individuals and organizations, seek to improve the circumstances of vulnerable and troubled children, youth and families involved with the courts, and to build safe communities.

National Juvenile Justice Network
The vision of the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN)is that juvenile justice systems in all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia will have laws, policies and programs that ensure the healthy development and fair and equitable treatment of all children and youth, through the work of a movement of local, state and national advocates for children and youth, working collaboratively to advance a common juvenile justice agenda and through a state-based network that is an effective and respected force for state level juvenile justice reform.

Community Foundations Directory
The nation’s community foundations provide a true “home-town” approach to philanthropic investments in programs which focus on local needs and community-based strategies. This directory is a state-by-state roster of U.S. community foundations with full contact information.

ACT 4 Juvenile Justice
ACT 4 Juvenile Justice (ACT4JJ) is a campaign of the National Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Coalition composed of juvenile justice, child welfare and youth development organizations exploring opportunities related to the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), which is overdue for reauthorization.

Voices for America’s Children
Voices for America’s Children is the nation’s largest network of multi-issue child advocacy organizations. Voices’ nationwide network spans almost every state, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, leading advocacy efforts at the community, state and federal levels to improve the lives of all children and youth, especially those most vulnerable, and their families.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is a nonprofit anti-crime organization of more than 3,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors. The organization looks at crime prevention strategies, informs the public and policymakers about those findings, and urges investment in programs proven effective by research. It focuses on high quality early education programs, prevention of child abuse and neglect, after-school programs for children and teens, and interventions to get troubled kids back on track.

Child Welfare League of America 
CWLA is a coalition of hundreds of private and public agencies serving vulnerable children and families since 1920. CWLA expertise, leadership and innovation on policies, programs, and practices help improve the lives of millions of children and youth in all 50 states. CWLA’s focus is children and youth who may have experienced abuse, neglect, family disruption, or a range of other factors that jeopardize their safety, permanence, or well-being. CWLA also focuses on the families, caregivers, and the communities that care for and support these children.

Children’s Defense Fund
The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) is a non-profit child advocacy organization that has work to ensure a level playing field for all children and youth. CDF champions policies and programs that lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education and a moral and spiritual foundation.

SparkAction
SparkAction is an online journalism and advocacy center by and for the child and youth field. With our partners, working to connect concerned adults and young people—whether they’re new to the issues or already advocates—to compelling, accurate information and context on children/youth issues, as well as tools to take action, from volunteering to advocating for better policies and programs.

Campaign for Youth Justice 
The Campaign for Youth Justice (CFYJ) is dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system. CFYJ advocates for juvenile justice reform through providing support to federal, state, and local campaigns; coordinating outreach to parents, youth, and families; fostering national coalition-building; encouraging media relations; conducting research; and publishing reports and advocacy materials.

Race Matters Consortium
The Race Matters Consortium is a diverse group of child welfare and juvenile justice experts representing research, policy, administration, practice, and advocacy, who first joined together in 1999 to systematically examine disproportional representation of individuals of different races and ethnic groups in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

American Youth Policy Forum
The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), a nonprofit, nonpartisan professional development organization based in Washington, DC, provides learning opportunities for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers working on youth and education issues at the national, state, and local levels.  AYPF’s vision is that all young people are able to meet their full potential in study, careers, and civic life as a result of our commitment and dedication to educate, inform, and engage policymakers in the development of effective and supportive youth policies.

Youth Today
Youth Today is a national independent news source for professionals in the youth service field. Issues covered included youth development, juvenile justice, violence prevention, adolescent health, mentoring and school-to-work strategies

Law-Related Policy, Services and Juvenile Rights

American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law
The ABA Center on Children and the Law aims to improve children’s lives through advances in law, justice, knowledge, practice and public policy. Our areas of expertise include child abuse and neglect, child welfare and protective services system enhancement, foster care, family preservation, termination of parental rights, parental substance abuse, adolescent health, and domestic violence.

American Bar Association – Division for Public Education
For 20-plus years, the ABA Division for Public Education has provided excellent resources for the development and promotion of youth courts.  The ABA’s confidence in youth courts as a positive diversionary strategy to keep young people from inappropriate involvement in the traditional juvenile Justice system has resulted in great connected with both the governmental and private sector legal community.

The Center for Civic Education
The Center for Civic Education engages in research, development, and implementation of Law-Related Education at elementary and secondary levels and in the juvenile justice setting. The Center offers curriculum development in civic education, LRE for delinquency prevention, training, and technical assistance to a network of state LRE centers.

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
After having served the juvenile justice population for over twenty years, CJCJ has established numerous model programs with programs currently operating out of San Francisco, California.  CJCJ’s direct service programs demonstrate how alternatives to incarceration can be successful, not only in reducing overburdened correctional facilities, but also in reducing recidivism rates.

Constitutional Rights Foundation
The Constitutional Rights Foundation and its affiliated office, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, collaborate with national partners in implementing Youth for Justice by offering an array of Law-Related Education programs and activities for young people in their schools and communities with special emphasis on at-risk youth.

Street Law, Inc.
Street Law develops powerful, innovative Law-Related Education programs that are used to teach young people in school, community, and juvenile justice settings about the law while helping them develop critical thinking, dispute resolution, and communication skills. All programs feature resource persons from the community and practical law and interactive lesson plans that focus on skill development.

Juvenile Law Center 
Founded in 1975, the Juvenile Law Center uses the law to protect and promote children’s rights and interests in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, with a particular emphasis on ensuring that public systems do not harm children and youth in their care. JLC works to ensure that the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, which were created to help vulnerable children and youth, provide them with access to education, housing, physical and behavioral health care, employment opportunities and other services that will enable them to become productive adults.

National Juvenile Defender Center 
The National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) was created in 1999 to respond to the critical need to build the capacity of the juvenile defense bar and to improve access to counsel and quality of representation for children in the justice system.

National Legal Aid and Defender Association
NLADA is the nation’s leading advocate for front-line attorneys and other equal justice professionals – those who make a difference in the lives of low-income clients and their families and communities. Representing legal aid and defender programs, as well as individual advocates, NLADA is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership association devoting 100 percent of its resources to serving the broad equal justice community.

National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice 
The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice was established in 2001 to assist the field in developing improved policies and programs for youth with mental health disorders in contact with the juvenile justice system, based on the best available research and practice. The Center aims at providing a centralized national focal point that pulls together and links the various activities and research that are currently underway, maximizing the awareness and usefulness of new products and learnings, and using the best available knowledge to guide practice and policy.

Juvenile Justice Research and Demonstration Programs

Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative
The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) was designed to support the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s vision that all youth involved in the juvenile justice system have opportunities to develop into healthy, productive adults. After more than a decade of innovation and replication, JDAI is one of the nation most effective, influential and widespread juvenile justice system reform initiatives.

National Center for Juvenile Justice
The mission of the National Center for Juvenile Justice is effective justice for children, youth and families. Its primary means of accomplishing that mission is through research and technical assistance. The NCJJ is the research division of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). Since its inception in 1973, the Center has been a resource for independent and original research on topics related directly and indirectly to the field of juvenile justice.

Center for the Study of Social Policy
Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) is a public policy, research and technical assistance organization working with state and federal policymakers and with communities across the country. CSSP relies on data, extensive community experience and focus on results to promote smart policies that improve the lives of children, youth and their families and achieve equity for those too often left behind.

Center for Children’s Law and Policy 
The Center for Children’s Law and Policy (CCLP) is a public interest law and policy organization focused on reform of juvenile justice and other systems that affect troubled and at-risk children, and protection of the rights of children in those systems. The Center work covers a range of activities including research, writing, public education, media advocacy, training, technical assistance, administrative and legislative advocacy, and litigation.

Chapin Hall Center for Children
Chapin Hall is an applied research center at the University of Chicago dedicated to conducting and actively disseminating rigorous research that serves children and youth, their families, and the communities in which they live.

Child Trends
Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development. Our mission is to improve outcomes for children by providing research, data, and analysis to the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children, including program providers, the policy community, researchers and educators, and the media. The Child Trends Data Bank is a one-stop-shop for the latest national trends and research on over 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being, with new indicators added each month.

Center for Research on Children in the United States
The Center for Research on Children in the United States (CROCUS) was established in 2001 with start-up funds from the Foundation for Child Development and is joint venture between the Georgetown Public Policy (GPPI) and the Georgetown University Department of Psychology. CROCUS faculty and students have worked on a variety of research projects relating to children, youth and public policy.

Hamilton Fish Institute
The Institute focuses its efforts an analyzing and developing the most effective ways to prevent and reduce violence in and around schools; testing promising prevention strategies in rural, suburban and urban schools grappling with violence; and disseminating its findings throughout the country to assist other policy makers, states, schools, police departments, teachers, parents and youths to adopt the successful strategies.

National Center for School Engagement
NCSE partners with school districts, law enforcement agencies, courts, and state and federal agencies to support youth and their families to be engaged at school.  Services include training and technical assistance, research and evaluation, and information and resources.

Models for Change
The Models for Change initiative is an effort to create successful and replicable models of juvenile justice system reform through targeted investments in key states. With long-term funding and support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Models for Change seeks to accelerate progress toward a more rational, fair, effective, and developmentally appropriate juvenile justice system.

Center for Court Innovation
A public/private partnership the Center for Court Innovation is a non-profit think tank that helps courts and criminal justice agencies aid victims, reduce crime and improve public trust in justice. The Center combines action and reflection to spark problem-solving innovation both locally and nationally.

Center for Juvenile Justice Reform
The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University advances a balanced, multi-systems approach to fighting juvenile crime that holds youth accountable and promotes positive child and youth development. It supports this reform agenda through a variety of activities, primarily a groundbreaking program of intensive study designed for public agency leaders responsible for policy development and implementation in their jurisdictions.

National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice (EDJJ)
EDJJ focuses on assisting practitioners, policymakers, researchers and advocates to identify and implement effective school-based delinquency prevention programs, education and special education services in juvenile correctional facilities, and transition supports for youth re-entering their schools and communities from secure care settings.

The Future of Children
The Future of Childrenis a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.  The mission of The Future of Children is to translate the best social science research about children and youth into information that is useful to policymakers, practitioners, grant-makers, advocates, the media, and students of public policy

Justice Policy Institute 
The mission of the Justice Policy Institute is to promote effective solutions to social problems and to be dedicated to ending society’s reliance on incarceration.

Governmental and Professional Service Associations

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) of the U.S. Department of Justice provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization. OJJDP supports states and communities in their efforts to develop and implement effective and coordinated prevention and intervention programs and to improve the juvenile justice system so that it protects public safety, holds offenders accountable, and provides treatment and rehabilitative services tailored to the needs of juveniles and their families.

Office of Justice Programs
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) provides innovative leadership to federal, state, local, and tribal justice systems, by disseminating state-of-the art knowledge and practices across America, and providing grants for the implementation of these crime fighting strategies. Because most of the responsibility for crime control and prevention falls to law enforcement officers in states, cities, and neighborhoods, the federal government can be effective in these areas only to the extent that it can enter into partnerships with these officers. OJP does not directly carry out law enforcement and justice activities. Instead, OJP works in partnership with the justice community to identify the most pressing crime-related challenges confronting the justice system and to provide information, training, coordination, and innovative strategies and approaches for addressing these challenges.

Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) administers, coordinates, and recommends policy for improving quality and excellence of programs and activities that are designed to: provide financial assistance for drug and violence prevention activities and activities that promote the health and well being of students in elementary and secondary schools, and institutions of higher education.

Corporation for National and Community Service 
The Corporation for National and Community Service plays a vital role in supporting the American culture of citizenship, service and responsibility. CNCS is a catalyst for change and champion for the ideal that every American has skills and talents to give. The Corporation is the nation’s largest grantmaker supporting service and volunteering. Through the Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America Programs, CNCS provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to express their patriotism while addressing critical community needs.

Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics 
The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics is a collection of 22 Federal government agencies involved in research and activities related to children and families. The Forum was founded in 1994 and formally established in 1997. The mission of the Forum is to foster coordination and collaboration and to enhance and improve consistency in the collection and reporting of Federal data on children and families. The Forum also aims to improve the reporting and dissemination of information on the status of children and families.

Tribal Justice and Safety 
The U.S. Department of Justice is working to provide the most efficient and timely information to tribal communities and acts as a one-stop shop for tribal communities, developed to provide a user-friendly, updated and comprehensive resource for American Indian and Alaska Native tribal communities to help further improve public safety.

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges 
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) seeks to improve courts and systems practice and raise awareness of the core issues that touch the lives of many of our nation’s children and families. The NCJFCJ provides training, wide-ranging technical assistance, and research to help the nation’s courts, judges and staff in their important work.

National Conference of State Legislatures 
The National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation’s 50 states, its commonwealths and territories.  NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues.

National League of Cities – Institute for Youth, Education and Families
The Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute), a special entity within the National League of Cities (NLC), helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their communities.  NLC launched the YEF Institute in January 2000 in recognition of the unique and influential roles that mayors, city council members, and other local leaders can play in strengthening families and improving outcomes for children and youth.

American Probation and Parole Association
The American Probation and Parole Association is an international association composed of members from the United States, Canada and other countries actively involved with probation, parole and community-based corrections, in both adult and juvenile sectors. All levels of government including local, state/provincial, legislative, executive, judicial, and federal agencies are counted among its constituents. Educators, volunteers and concerned citizens with an interest in criminal and juvenile justice are also among APPA’s members.

National Association of Counties 
The National Association of Counties (NACo) is the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States. Founded in 1935 NACo provides essential services to the nation’s 3,068 counties. NACo advances issues with a unified voice before the federal government, improves the public’s understanding of county government, assists counties in finding and sharing innovative solutions through education and research, and provides value-added services to save counties and taxpayers money.

National Association of Chiefs of Police
Founded in 1967, NACOP promotes and supports the law enforcement profession through a variety of programs and services. NACOP encourages leadership of command law enforcement and encourages a free exchange of information between men and women presently engaged in law enforcement, reserves, security, etc., through publications, meetings, regional training, research endeavors, films and study courses.

International Association of Chiefs of Police 
International Association of Chiefs of Police serves the needs of the law enforcement community by launching historically acclaimed programs, conducting ground-breaking research and providing exemplary programs and services to its membership across the globe.

National Sheriffs Association 
The National Sheriffs’ Association is in its seventieth year of serving law enforcement and other criminal justice professionals of the nation, is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the level of professionalism among those in the criminal justice field. Through the years, NSA has provided programs for Sheriffs, their deputies, chiefs of police, and others in the field of criminal justice to perform their jobs in the best possible manner and to better serve the people of their cities, counties or jurisdictions.

National Human Services Assembly
The National Human Services Assembly is an association of the nation’s leading national non-profits in the fields of health, human and community development, and human services.  Many of the member organizations are national offices of large networks of local health & human service organizations.  Others are national research or resource organizations or national programs.

Philanthropic Partnerships

Youth Transitions Funders Group 
The Youth Transition Funders Group is a network of grantmakers whose mission is to help all youth make a successful transition to adulthood by age 25. YTFG is dedicated to improving the lives of the 3 million young.

Community Foundations Directory
The nation’s community foundations provide a true “home-town” approach to philanthropic investments in programs which focus on local needs and community-based strategies. This directory is a state-by-state roster of U.S. community foundations with full contact information.people.

Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement
PACE’s mission is to inspire interest, understanding and investment in civic engagement.  PACE strives to build a community within philanthropy committed to vigorous debate and action around encouraging participation and engagement in community, civic, and political life; to inspire and incubate strategic collaborations with policy makers, nonprofits, business, and the media to support active citizenship; and to increase the quantity and the quality of philanthropic investment in civic engagement strategies.

Time Banks USA 
Time Banks mission is to expand a movement that develops, supports, and promotes a network of Time Banks that rebuild community, and reforms economic and social systems, policies and practices so that they empower human beings to contribute to the well-being of each other through reciprocity.

The Atlantic Philanthropies
The Atlantic Philanthropies is dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of people who are disadvantaged by their economic situation, race, nationality, gender, age, disabilities, immigration status, sexual orientation, political affiliation or religion.

Youth Serving Coalitions and Organizations

iCivics
Our Courts is a web-based education project designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy. Our Courts is the vision of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who is concerned that students are not getting the information and tools they need for civic participation, and that civics teachers need better materials and support.

America’s Promise
Founded in 1997 with General Colin Powell as Chairman and chaired today by Alma Powell, America’s Promise Alliance is a cross-sector partnership of corporations, nonprofits, faith-based organizations and advocacy groups that are passionate about improving lives and changing outcomes for children and youth.

MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership

For over two decades, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership has been working to expand the world of quality mentoring. MENTOR believes that, with the help and guidance of an adult mentor, each child can discover how to unlock and achieve his or her potential. MENTOR is widely acknowledged as the nation’s premier advocate and resource for the expansion of mentoring initiatives nationwide.

Boys and Girls Clubs of America 
Boys and Girls Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence. More than 4.2 million young people are served annually by some 50,000 trained staff in more than 4,000 club locations.

4-H
4-H is a community of more than 6 million youth and adults working together for positive change. Here you can learn about the wide variety of people and programs that make up 4-H, implemented by the 106 U.S. Land Grant Universities and USDA’s Cooperative Extension System through more than 3,000 offices across the country.

Big Brothers Big Sisters 
Big Brothers Big Sisters operates under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in communities across the country.