The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded the Center for Network Development (CND) a competitive cooperative agreement to help state and local level jurisdictions improve information sharing practices. CND innovated juvenile information sharing as an approach to share ‘need to know’ information across juvenile justice, child welfare and other youth service agencies; designed and developed the Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing, which provide research based standards and methods for achieving juvenile information sharing; and created a data model for juvenile justice information exchange, the Juvenile XML Data Model - JJXDM.

The purpose of the National JIS Initiative (NJISI) is to improve procedures and policies of information sharing across state and local agencies, and with youth and juvenile services within communities. NJISI utilizes the modified NJISI Governance Guidelines as part of its recommended implementation strategies as an approach to share ‘need to know’ information across juvenile justice, child welfare and other youth service agencies; and created a data model for juvenile justice information exchange, the Juvenile XML Data Model - JJXDM. The JJXDM is now a major component to the new Children, Youth and Family Services domain in the National Information Exchange Model – NIEM. The CYFS domain can be viewed in its entirety at: www.cyfsdomain.org or on the NIEM site: https://www.niem.gov/communities/cyfs/Pages/about-cyfs.aspx

Grant Funding Opportunities for Juvenile Justice and At Risk Youth Initiatives!

Juvenile Mentoring Funding
Deadline: February 19, 2013

The Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Office announces grants that support research into mentoring as a prevention and intervention strategy for at-risk youth who would otherwise end up in the juvenile justice system. Eligibility is limited to governments, nonprofits, and for-profit organizations, faith-based and community groups, colleges and tribes. There will be $4 million for up to 10 awards with a maximum of $500,000 each. Information: Justice Information Center, 877/927-5657; email: JIC@telesishq.com; http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=GKVKQJJX8Q1TnnNsJlGTPrdmRn7dJ7xHVB3Knz7FnQlhgSP2hctG!-1679864363?oppId=212575&mode=VIEW .

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has announced the following funding opportunity: FY 2013 Family Drug Court Programs. This program builds the capacity of states, state and local courts, units of local government, and federally recognized tribal governments to either implement new drug courts or enhance pre-existing drug courts for individuals with substance abuse disorders or substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders, including histories of trauma, who are involved with the family dependency court as a result of child abuse, neglect, and other parenting issues. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. E.T., on March 25, 2013.

At Risk Families Funding - Rural Areas
Deadline: February 20, 2013

The Agriculture Department announces grant funding to support efforts in rural areas to develop educational programs for at-risk youth. The programs offer a range of services focusing on children and their families. Grantees must partner with community groups to deliver the services. Eligibility is limited to colleges and universities. There will be $560,000 available for multiple awards up to $160,000 each (no match is required). Information: Bonita Williams, 202/720-3566; email: bwilliams@nifa.usda.org. http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=n2ZFQkpTBt0QgrQfCs7VmZTBJkyfyh4Gk8Tk1cw4RXdDz1sQJ8Qd!-1328374230?oppId=212933&mode=VIEW .

SAMHSA Funding for Youth with Emotional Disturbances
Deadline: March 1, 2013

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announces the availability of one-year planning grants to help governments improve and expand services for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances. Applicants are expected to create comprehensive and sustainable plans for infrastructure services and support. Eligibility is limited to governments and tribes. There will be $11 million available for 13 awards of up to $800,000 each. Information: Gwendolyn Simpson 240/276-1408 or gwendolyn.simpson@samhsa.hhs.gov or the solicitation at: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=n2ZFQkpTBt0QgrQfCs7VmZTBJkyfyh4Gk8Tk1cw4RXdDz1sQJ8Qd!-1328374230?oppId=213333&mode=VIEW .

Assistance for Homeless Youth
Deadline: May 2013

The Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (ACF) will be announcing a solicitation to address the problem for youth living on the streets and in unstable conditions. These projects aim to increase young people's safety, well-being and self-sufficiency, and to help them build permanent connections with caring adults, with the goal of getting them off the streets. The FY 2013 has not been funding by congressional appropriators but will be twice the size offered in FY 2012 ($5.3 million) and will have more awards (58). Eligible entities will include governments and nonprofits with or without 501 (c) 3 status. Information: Last year's program information can be found here: https://www.cfda.gov/index?s=program&mode=form&tab=step1&id=57a9c04b52c3b5fc5f63985fb3596848 For more questions, contact: Oluwatoyin Akintoye, ACF, 202/205-7745.

Second Chance Act Adult Mentoring and Transitional Services for Successful Reentry Program
Deadline: March 21st, 2013

The Bureau of Justice Assistance as announced funding for the Second Chance Act of 2007 that provides comprehensive responses to the increasing number of incarcerated adults who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and returning to communities. There are currently over 2.3 million individuals serving time in our federal and state prisons, and millions of people cycling through local jails every year. Ninety-five percent of all offenders incarcerated today will eventually be released and will return to communities. The coordination of reentry services for members of Native American tribes is even more complex given that they can return from federal, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), state, local, and tribal facilities. Programs funded under the Second Chance Act help ensure that the transition individuals make from prison and jail to the community is successful and promotes public safety. Award ceiling: up to $300,000. Information:http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=BMQ3RQgTp2lSj1CPv4L2s3yJN0G3L2QPLW1GQGwLHTplkl0sh3kt!-1679864363?oppId=217113&mode=VIEW

Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program
Deadline: March 22nd, 2013

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has announced the Drug Free Community Support Program. The program has two goals: 1.Establish and strengthen collaboration among communities, public and private non-profit agencies, and federal, state, local, and tribal governments to support the efforts of community coalitions working to prevent and reduce substance use among youth*. 2.Reduce substance use among youth and, over time, reduce substance abuse among adults by addressing the factors in a community that increase the risk of substance abuse and promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse. *For the purposes of this RFA, "youth" is defined as individuals 18 years of age and younger. Award amount: up to $125,000.
Information: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=BMQ3RQgTp2lSj1CPv4L2s3yJN0G3L2QPLW1GQGwLHTplkl0sh3kt!-1679864363?oppId=216753&mode=VIEW

Children, Youth and Family Services NIEM Domain Training

The Children, Youth, and Family Services (CYFS) Domain, part of the NIEM, has an extensive training program available. It includes an introduction to the CYFS domain, plus an entirely reworked version of the existing NIEM training. This new version is customized for the CYFS community and contains CYFS-specific examples and exercises. It covers advanced technical concepts regarding the NIEM, as well as the process of developing IEPDs and creating schema-based artifacts. While not a replacement for a full course in XML and XML Schema, the videos do give a whirlwind overview of these topics.

The training is video-based and hosted on YouTube for easy access from any YouTube-enabled device. The videos are high-definition, ensuring readable on-screen XML for examples and exercises. There's over six hours of video instruction, broken and organized into manageable sections of 15 minutes or less. This training is conducted by the NJISI’s Technical Lead, Tom Carlson of Tom Carlson Consulting.

This training was developed in coordination with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the National Juvenile Information Sharing Initiative (NJISI).

Click here to view the Children, Youth and Family Services NIEM Domain Training.

If you have any questions about this training or, would like to discuss a more in depth classroom training for your jurisdiction, please contact us at: info@juvenileis.org.

The revised Governance Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing has been completed and is available for review. These Governance Guidelines are based on the lessons learned from the State of Colorado’s Children and Youth Information Sharing (CCYIS) collaboratives actual implementation of OJJDP 2006 version of the Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing. Through these lessons the Guidelines were enhanced with the experiences of the pilot sites and modified to allow successful implementation of juvenile information sharing within local and state agencies and organizations. Tools have been integrated into the guidelines to provide users with tested and proven resources for successful implementation. To view the, new Governance Guidelines for Juvenile Information Sharing, click here.

CND and Tom Carlson Consulting have created a new JuvenileIS channel on YOUTUBE. We will be posting webinars and training videos out on the YOUTUBE channel as another way of getting the word out on juvenile information sharing.  The first video is the just released National Information Exchange Model - NIEM training, NIEM Misconceptions... UNMISCONCEPTUALIZED. Misconceptions abound about the NIEM, misconceptions that make it much scarier than it actually is. Take a look at this most ‘interesting’ video!!

What Do Youth and Parents/Guardians Think About Information Sharing?

The Family/Youth Involvement Subcommittee of the Colorado Children and Youth Information Sharing Collaborative (CCYIS), one of the pilot sites of the NJISI, was charged with planning incorporation of youth and family perspectives. Subcommittee members, with the help of JSI, developed the recruitment strategy, facilitation protocol, and the semi-structured focus group interview guides. Ten discussion groups  (5 youth and 5 adult) were held in the early summers of 2010 and 2011. The outcome of these interviews have been compiled and placed in this report. The family and youth perspective radiates throughout the report and provides us with recommendations and insight on how families and youth in crisis expect to be treated and how they expect their information to be shared.  Visit the publications page for a printable version of this document.

For further information about NJISI and related articles, visit our News page.