Juvenile-Justice Agencies and Religious Groups Collaborating to Help Youths

Moving Beyond the Walls: Faith and Justice Partnerships Working for High-Risk Youth, by Tracey A. Hartmann, evaluates how well religious organizations were able to work with each other and with juvenile-justice agencies in a project that sought to reduce crime and provide services for high-risk youths. Public/Private Ventures, a nonprofit group in Philadelphia that works to improve the effectiveness of social policies and programs, organized the project to help congregations and religiously affiliated groups in 15 cities collaborate on developing education, job-training, and mentor programs. Ms. Hartmann, a research associate at Public/Private Ventures, says that, for the most part, coalitions of small groups of the same religion worked well together to share resources, recruit volunteers, and put youth programs in place. Interfaith collaborations, on the other hand, faced greater challenges as they tried to integrate services. She also says that, while most juvenile-justice agencies eagerly formed partnerships with religious organizations, the agencies did not refer a large number of youths to the programs created by the collaborations.

Publisher: Public/Private Ventures, 2000 Market Street, Suite 600, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103; (215) 557-4400; fax (215) 557-4469; http://www.ppv.org; 52 pages; $7.50; free for download on the organization’s Web page.