Janeen Buck Willison, Lisa Brooks, Meghan Salas, Meredith Dank, Megan Denver, Elissa Gitlow, John K. Roman and Jeffrey A. Butts
April 2010
Urban Institute

Much of today’s literature on youth programs emphasizes the importance of evidence-based approaches. The Urban Institutes evaluation found Reclaiming Futures to be a promising strategy, however, many of the features that may be responsible for the positive system changes seen in the Reclaiming Futures initiative were inspired by practices not yet tested thoroughly by evaluators.

As researchers conduct studies to discover and to prove the effectiveness of new practice principles for youthful offenders with substance abuse issues, positive youth development and cultural competence may emerge as new evidence-based practices. The strong results documented in the evaluation of Reclaiming Futures suggest that these approaches may one day deserve to be considered core principles of effective juvenile justice practice and future reform efforts may need to incorporate them as both targets and strategies for system change.

This report examines two such components of the Reclaiming Futures initiative: positive youth development and cultural competence.