For the past 2 years, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) has used its experience in systems reform and technical assistance to help 11 communities improve the juvenile justice and other systems of care that serve their children and families. Funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the Systems Improvement Training and Technical Assistance Project (SITTAP) reflects the on-going commitment of OJJDP to developing community-based collaborative solutions to prevent and control juvenile crime and victimization by reorganizing and reforming service delivery systems. These comprehensive community initiatives are collaborative efforts in which representatives from a broad cross-section of the community identify their most pressing problems, make decisions about how to tackle them, set goals, and hold themselves accountable for achieving results.

Funded by OJJDP, the project is operated by the Institute for Educational Leadership in partnership with the National Civic League. The SITTAP initiative is designed to: develop, expand, and enhance the skills and capacities of juvenile justice/child welfare systems and communities to make systemic changes leading to an integrated system of care for youth at-risk, delinquent youth, and their families. The project serves 11 grantees under two initiatives: SafeFutures and Safe Kids/Safe Streets.

The SafeFutures Program to Reduce Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence (SafeFutures) is a 5-year demonstration project that seeks to prevent and control youth crime and victimization through the creation of a system of care in communities. This system of care will enable communities to respond to the needs of youth at critical stages in their development by providing them with appropriate prevention, intervention, treatment services and imposing graduated sanctions. Grantees were selected to represent urban, rural, and by American Indian communities that demonstrated some prior experience with and a continuing commitment to reducing crime and victimization through comprehensive community assessments, strategic planning, and interagency collaboration. SafeFutures is being implemented in six communities: St. Louis, Missouri; Boston, Massachusetts; Contra Costa County, California; Imperial

The Safe Kids/Safe Streets initiative applies comprehensive, community-wide strategies to the reduction of child abuse and neglect. Building on a multifaceted strategy grounded in research about the causes and correlates of juvenile delinquency as well as effective prevention and intervention techniques, the program explores the linkages between child maltreatment, domestic violence, and juvenile delinquency. Safe Kids/Safe Streets challenges communities to improve community response to the abuse and neglect of children and adolescents in order to break the cycle of childhood victimization and subsequent delinquent and criminal behavior. Safe Kids/Safe Streets is being implemented in Chittenden County, Vermont; Kansas City, Missouri; Huntsville/Madison County, Alabama; Toledo, Ohio; and by the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan.