OJJDP notified the National Center for Youth in Custody (NCYC) and its parent organization (National Partnership for Juvenile Services) on April 29, 2014 that it would discontinue funding NCYC effective September 30, 2014. 

The National Center for Youth in Custody (NCYC) was launched in 2010 by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in response to the call from the field for assistance, leadership and support to improve and reform youth detention and correction facilities and adult facilities housing youthful offenders. OJJDP collaborated with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to support NCYC’s training and technical assistance resources. 

NCYC is directed by the National Partnership of Juvenile Services (NPJS). NCYC also is guided by a national group of professionals, experts, researchers and youth and family representatives.

NCYC Mission and Objectives

To advance the field of juvenile justice by providing training and technical assistance and by disseminating effective practices and approaches to the justice community. The Center will strive to serve the range of facilities in which juveniles are placed, including adult facilities that confine juvenile offenders. The Center emphasizes the rehabilitative goals of the juvenile justice system.

 To support it’s mission, NCYC has set for the following objectives:

• Deliver strategic, targeted, and measurable training and technical assistance directly to facilities that detain or confine youth.

• Identify, document, and promote effective, evidence-based approaches to working with youth in custody

• Expand the knowledge base and research on juvenile justice and best practices in detaining and confining youth.

• Create a resource community for juvenile justice practitioners, youth in custody, and families.

NCYC Goals

• Provide resources and technical assistance so Youth In Custody (YIC) staff can deal with conditions of confinement issues.

• Allocate services and resources to benefit underserved YIC communities or populations.

• Create a system to support the implementation of evidence-based practices in YIC facilities.

• Strengthen legitimate professional perspectives on programming, leadership, and staff development.

• Assist YIC facilities in developing multiple pathways to compliance.

Why do we need NCYC?

• No other OJJDP grantee addresses the professional development needs of practitioners (direct care staff, supervisors, and administrators) in juvenile detention, juvenile corrections, or adult facilities working with youthful offenders.

• No other OJJDP grantee addresses improved conditions of confinement in juvenile detention, juvenile corrections or adult facilities working with youthful offenders.

• No other OJJDP grantee uses shared costs and mutual aid to maximize services while minimizing expenses.

OJJDP supported the creation of the National Center for Youth in Custody; but, now, the agency we have counted on for support and advocacy has with one stroke of a pen zeroed us out as if our profession is of little consequence.

There have been times in our history when we have not had funding to assist with professional development, conditions of confinement improvement, and technical assistance and problem-solving; but the argument for funding practitioners is so compelling that it has usually resulted in new funds. We need your help in making that argument once more.

What does this mean?

For example, it will mean no more webinars - of which we had 1,000 practitioners registered for the April 30 Webinar on Trauma Informed Care. NCYC has offered one webinar each month on topics relevant to practitioners in the field. It will also mean no more free technical assistance, no more shared cost mutual aid, no more training except at national conferences, and no more updates to key training curricula, to name a few. We hope this is not what you want.

Please help us make our case with Director Listenbee and the OJJDP Leadership Team. Let's make this a grass-roots response. Request continued and increased funding for the National Center for Youth in Custody (NCYC). Let's make sure the OJJDP Leadership Team gets the message. Thank you for your help.