The Center provides assessment services and specialized training to individual organizations, local, and state jurisdictions throughout the country. Current projects involve consultation, technical assistance, and evaluation of local or statewide implementation initiatives for justice-involved girls in prevention, detention, probation, and commitment facilities. At the national level, the Center is the training and technical assistance provider for OJJDP through the National Girls Institute.

National Girls Institute

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), in partnership with NCCD, launched the National Girls Institute in 2010 to advance the understanding of girls’ issues and improve program and system responses. The purpose of NGI is to develop and provide a range of training, technical assistance, and resources to tribal, community, and private organizations that serve at-risk and delinquent girls.

To inform the work of NGI, a national assessment was conducted in the first year to determine the informational and training and technical assistance needs of at-risk or justice system-involved girls, their parents/caregivers, and key professional and community stakeholders. NGI sponsored a pre-lab, Girls at the Margin: What Girls Want Us to Know at the national OJJDP conference in October 2011. At this session, the preliminary findings of the national listening sessions were shared. NGI is developing a regional training calendar as well as responding to individual field-initiated requests. For more information about NGI activities, listening session findings, access to resources, or to request TTA for your agency, please visit the NGI website.

Stanislaus Girls Juvenile Justice Initiative

Based on a community needs assessment, NCCD developed a strategic plan to improve outcomes for girls at risk for or currently involved in the juvenile justice system in Stanislaus County, CA. NCCD will evaluate the processes and related outcomes of five interventions that are central to the initiative. These include the implementation of a task force, gender-responsive training, gender-specific assessment, a gender-responsive pilot intervention program in probation, and a mentoring program.