This podcast episode highlights the impacts of the Second Chance Act on the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services participants and the opportunities they are provided thanks to federal funding.
This podcast episode is part of a limited series in honor of Second Chance Month, and features the work of a Second Chance Act grantee as well as the program efforts of the Utah Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services (JJYS). JJYS provides a continuum of intervention, supervision, and rehabilitation programs to detained youth while assuring public safety. Episode hosts, Heather Erwin and Joe Williams, are Technical Assistance Consultants for the American Institutes for Research (AIR), which provides support for grantees that have been awarded Federal Second Chance Act Funding. Podcast special guest, Emma, a participant who has completed the JJYS program, accompanies JJYS staff Reg Garff, the Program Director for Operational Policy and Special Projects, DeAnne Mason, Justin Seeley, and Luke Heperi. The group discusses Emma’s experience in the JJWS program and at the Women’s Youth Center, as well as the other JJYS staff’s reflections on the program’s impacts on young people they work with.