Reclaiming Futures

Reclaiming Futures -- Reclaiming Futures is an initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help teens in trouble with drugs, alcohol and crime.

In 2002, 10 project sites were funded in the communities of Anchorage, Alaska ; Santa Cruz, California; Chicago, Illinois; four counties in Southeastern Kentucky; Marquette, Michigan; the state of New Hampshire; Rosebud, South Dakota; Dayton, Ohio ; Portland, Oregon ; and Seattle, Washington. In these varied communities, teams of people associated with the juvenile justice system began working together to help teens in the system with substance abuse issues. The teams consist of judges, probation officers, treatment professionals, community members and families, all working together on behalf of the youth.

Reclaiming Futures has since created a six-step model that other communities across the nation could use to change the way they help teens in trouble. Key elements of the Reclaiming Futures model include screening and assessing teens for drug and alcohol problems and assembling a team to develop a strength-based care plan; training drug and alcohol treatment providers in evidence-based practices that work with teens; and involving community members as natural helpers and role models to provide the support teens need. One way it has recruited mentors in five of its communities is through its “When You Were 15” campaign.

Reclaiming Futures sites have reported significant improvements in the quality of juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment services in 12 out of 13 areas, according to a recent evaluation by the Urban Institute and the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall Center for Children.

The U. S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recently announced a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to award grants to incorporate the Reclaiming Futures approach at four sites over the next four years.

Reclaiming Futures is housed in the Regional Research Institute for Human Services of the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University.