Reducing Risk for Girls in NYS

This project seeks to create, refine, and disseminate evidence-based, gender-responsive, anti-bias training to JJS staff and leadership across NYS, with a specialized focus on rural needs and challenges, and to scale and disseminate evidence-based programming designed and proven effective for JJS-involved girls.

This project addresses these critical needs through three primary activities: Develop and deliver a widely accessible virtual training to improve JJS staff knowledge, competencies and skills using evidence-based strategies to enable staff to recognize and respond to girls’ complex needs in ways that effectively reduce risk and promote resilience (Goal 1); provide outreach and coaching to improve uptake in targeted rural jurisdictions and create additional training content to address the specific needs and challenges of JJS staff in rural jurisdictions (Goal 2); and deliver and scale ROSES, an evidence-based gender-responsive direct service program proven effective as a diversion, prevention and intervention response for JJS-involved girls (Goal 3). 

Beneficiaries of these activities include all NYS JJS staff (judges, court attorneys and referees, defense and prosecution attorneys, court clerks and officers, and probation, diversion and residential staff) and JJS-involved girls interacting with trained staff, and/or receiving ROSES. Products and deliverables include: a virtual interactive training deck, literature reviews synthesizing best practices in building staff knowledge, competencies and skills, and statewide webinars introducing virtual training and rollout and recounting lessons learned (Goal 1); feedback sessions with target rural jurisdictions, followed by coaching plans and activities, and additional virtual training content to augment the training deck for rural areas statewide (Goal 2); and ROSES train-the trainer (TTT) manual and materials, delivery of ROSES direct service programming to roughly 110 JJS-involved youth in Westchester County, and statewide ROSES TTT webinar and toolkit for dissemination (Goal 3).