New and Featured OJJDP Resources for Youth Development Practitioners

This month’s OJJDP News @ A Glance highlighted several new resources recently released by OJJDP and its technical assistance centers that are relevant to mentoring practitioners, specifically those working with tribal youth, gang-involved young people, and youth impacted by bullying.

For one, OJJDP announced that its Tribal Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center has launched its new website. This center’s goal is to help tribes build capacity to develop, expand, improve, and maintain their juvenile justice systems. The website serves as a clearinghouse of culturally appropriate resources, training, and technical assistance and provides information in areas such as juvenile healing to wellness courts; tribal youth-specific prevention, intervention, and treatment programming; and tribal-state collaborations to meet the needs of American Indian and Alaska Native children exposed to violence. You can visit OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center website and learn more about OJJDP’s tribal youth programs and services.

Additionally, The National Gang Center (NGC) has launched its redesigned website. The new website’s focus areas are criminal justice, safe communities, and research. There is an inquiries section for quicker responses from staff and new forms to request technical assistance, consultations, and training. Users can also access the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model, which is designed to help community efforts to combat gang activity. It includes tools for identifying appropriate target areas and groups to focus resources on. Jointly funded by OJJDP and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National Gang Center works to reduce gang-related crime and violence by delivering resources, training, and technical assistance to practitioners nationwide.

Finally, in observance of National Bullying Prevention Month this October, OJJDP has highlighted its School-Based Bullying Prevention Implementation Guide (I-Guide), a research-based resource that assists school personnel, parents, and youth-serving practitioners with creating safe school environments. The I-Guide provides information on needs assessment tools, ways to analyze the problem, evidence-based programs to prevent and intervene in bullying, and guidance on gaining support for prevention program implementation. There is also a literature review and additional information about bullying prevention programs on OJJDP’s Model Programs Guide website. OJJDP is a member of the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention, an interagency effort that coordinates policy, research, and communications on bullying topics. To learn more about bullying prevention and to access helpful resources, visit StopBullying.gov.