Federal Money Doesn't Want Drugs and Crime to Mix

The Reclaiming Futures initiative, which has been helping young people escape lives of drugs and crime since 2002 under the direction of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), has just received a major boost: $3.7 million in federal funding to expand the program. A RWJF press release reports that the funding was awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the US Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Reclaiming Futures brings disparate members of the juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment communities together to work on improving drug and alcohol treatment for teens who have run afoul of the law. According to RWJF, research from Columbia University finds that four of five young adults in the juvenile justice system committed their crimes while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, leading to the conclusion that juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment should be intimately intertwined.

“With this latest investment, the Reclaiming Futures model will now be in 26 communities across the nation,” said Laura Nissen, national program director for Reclaiming Futures. "We are honored that the federal government is supporting this innovative approach and helping us spread the model to even more communities where teens need our help."

With the federal money, the program will expand into three new jurisdictions, including the Cherokee Nation. There, the program will coordinate social services and increase community and family involvement in youth drug prevention and treatment.

Photo courtesy of tibchris, via Flickr