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The Strategies for Youth Model is Unique.

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Strategies for Youth creates pathways for improving police-youth interactions by ...

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... using training tools and outreach programming to move officers and youth from conflict to safer interactions.

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Our Policing the Teen Brain training provides officers with tools and skills to work more effectively with youth.

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We use a game call Juvenile Justice Jeopardy to educate youth about the potential consequences of their actions.

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Our work centers around developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and racially equitable approaches for policing youth.

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Through research reports, opinion pieces and speaking engagements, we promote using a developmentally appropriate approach to policing youth.

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We link law enforcement with youth-serving community resources to create additional support for youth and families.

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By building capacity and linking officers with resources...

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...communities feel safer and police and youth interactions improve.

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SFY's results are tangible: public safety improves, communities become more cohesive and there is greater equity in policing of youth.

About US

Our Fundamental Belief

Strategies for Youth believes that adults who are developmentally competent have more effective interactions with youth.

Here’s how we define that concept: Developmental Competence refers to the understanding that children and adolescents’ perceptions and behaviors are influenced by biological and psychological factors related to their development stage.

Mission and Vision

Mission

SFY is a national policy and training organization dedicated to ensuring best outcomes for youth interacting with law enforcement.

Vision

We achieve our mission by:

providing law enforcement agencies and officers with developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, racially equitable training, policies and partnerships;
teaching youth how to navigate interactions with law enforcement officers and their peers, and to be aware of what conduct puts them in legal jeopardy,
conducting original research and working with scholars to raise the profile of this issue.

Prospectus

Strategies for Youth (SFY) was founded in 2010 to improve interactions between police and young people, with a focus on youth of color, and to reduce unnecessary arrests and use of force by police against young people.

Approximately 40 percent of youth arrests are for minor or “contempt of cop” offenses with no underlying crimes. The reality of current police/youth relations stems from a combination of factors:

inadequate and limited police training that emphasizes control,
the adolescent impulse to resist authority and their vulnerability to legal misinformation,
and a longstanding history of mutual distrust of one another’s motives, resulting in escalations of situations that pose little risk to public safety.

These arrests are unnecessary, avoidable, expensive, and harmful to youth, their families, and their communities.

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Case Statement

SFY places a priority on improving outcomes for youth—particularly youth of color—who are at high risk of arrest and violent encounters with law enforcement officials. Our strategies include:

Training law enforcement in effective strategies for interacting positively with youth. SFY teaches officers about adolescent psychology, including how to recognize signs of mental illness and trauma, and how to de-escalate situations and avoid use of force, while weaving in issues related to racial bias.
Promoting partnerships between community-based organizations and law enforcement to connect youth and their families with a network of available services.
Teaching youth through Juvenile Justice Jeopardy about the legal consequences of their behaviors, and how to engage effectively and peacefully with law enforcement officers.
Building public momentum for policy reforms that institutionalize a positive youth development approach in law enforcement through research and publications.

Read Our Case Statement »