The NCJFCJ is pleased to announce that it recently received funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to become part of the Federal Youth Court Program (formerly the National Youth Court Center) funded by OJJDP, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. The Federal Youth Court Program will be housed in NCJFCJ’s Juvenile and Family Law Department and will be managed by Veronica Medina, Program Manager, and Britney Batz, Projects Coordinator. Youth courts (also called teen, peer, and student courts) are programs in which youth sentence their peers for minor delinquent and status offenses and other problem behaviors. The youth court movement has grown from 78 youth courts in 1994 to more than 1,125 youth courts located around the country in 2006.

Under this new cooperative agreement, NCJFCJ will be responsible for maintaining and enhancing the program’s website, www.youthcourt.net, maintaining and collecting new information for the National Youth Court Database, e-mailing monthly issues of the Youth Court E-Update, producing and distributing the Youth Court newsletter, In Session; and various other activities and products.  In February, NCJFCJ will participate in the Federal Youth Court Program's Double Header Training scheduled in Las Vegas, Feb. 25-28, 2007.

The NCJFCJ would like to thank the Council of State Governments/American Probation and Parole Association, which has been integrally involved with the National Youth Court Center for the past decade, for their work in the youth court field to date. The strong foundation that CSG/APPA helped to build with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention will serve youth courts well into the future. For more information about youth courts, please go to www.youthcourt.net or contact Veronica Medina at (775) 784-6576 or vmedina@ncjfcj.org