State Advisory Group Chairs

Youth MOVE National, under the OJJDP-funded Center for Coordinated Assistance to States at American Institutes for Research (AIR), offers the Toolkit for Implementing Authentic Youth Engagement Strategies Within State Advisory Groups, to aid SAGs in engaging youth members and understanding some of the youth justice issues most pressing to young adults. The toolkit includes an assessment for State Advisory Groups to evaluate current efforts, as well as strategies for enhancing youth engagement. Topics include Promoting Youth Recruitment and Retention on State Advisory Groups, Increasing Engagement with Unique Populations, Youth-Adult Partnership, and Youth Engagement Readiness.  Captured in graphic organizers and interactive tools, the resource provides inclusive and trauma-aware strategies for engaging young adult partners and what young people see as core youth justice issues. Youth MOVE National’s Justice for the Community Council (J4CC) led the writing of content. J4CC is an advisory council of 6 young leaders with lived experience, committed to seeing change within the juvenile justice system. These leaders leveraged the Deliberate Discussion series to shape content. The Deliberate Discussion Series created space for key audiences (SAG youth and non-youth members and young adult justice advocates) to share struggles and strategies for generating sustainable pathways for youth and young adults’ involvement in SAGs.

In collaboration with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ),  CCAS is pleased to share a new resource entitled “State Advisory Groups (SAGs) Capacity Building Toolkit.”   This valuable resource provides a foundation for SAGs to become change agents related to improving juvenile justice policies and practices and outlines the five (5) principles for long-term SAG effectiveness.  The toolkit also includes a blueprint for meaningful engagement of young people in the important work undertaken by SAGs.