School of Social Work to expand youth program

The Portland State Graduate School of Social Work has plans to expand its Reclaiming Futures initiative, which provides aid to youths in the justice system struggling with drug and alcohol abuse, after receiving a $6.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in February.

The foundation is a national organization based out of New Jersey that is devoted to improving the health and health care of American citizens. It launched Reclaiming Futures in 2002. PSU was chosen as the central location for the program, and the national office of Reclaiming Future is based at the School of Social Work.

Five years ago, PSU was awarded $21 million for the inception of the program. Most of the money has paid for establishing 10 pilot sites to test the program throughout the country, one of which is the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice, according to Mac Prichard, director of the communications office for Reclaiming Futures.

“The grant is about promoting the spread of Reclaiming Futures to other communities,” Prichard said.

In the next two years, money from the recent grant will allow Reclaiming Futures to improve programs at the existing locations. In the next four years, they plan to expand to more locations, according to Prichard.

Reclaiming Futures will accept applications from interested communities and choose new sites this summer. They also plan to create a national resource center at PSU to provide case studies, information and other resources to the community and others involved in the program.

Prichard said that most justice systems generally do not provide treatment for young people using drugs and alcohol. He also said that the number of drug- and alcohol-related arrests has been increasing among teens.

“If we’re going to break that cycle, we’ve got to give them treatment for the behavior that causes it,” Prichard said. “The overall mission is to break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime.”

In a study conducted by the Urban Institute, an organization that gathers data to evaluate policies, programs and services in the United States, there have been significant improvements in the substance-abuse treatment services in the juvenile justice systems of the 10 pilot communities involved in the Reclaiming Futures program.

Prichard said there are six steps to the program’s unique model for rehabilitation. They include: screening for substance abuse; providing a full assessment of the problem; creating a care plan; ensuring that the treatment begins; connecting the youth to the community through school, work and other activities; and following up to make sure all the steps were completed.

The other current Reclaiming Futures programs are in Anchorage, Alaska; Santa Cruz, Calif.; Chicago, Ill.; Marquette, Mich.; New Hampshire; Rosebud, S.D.; Dayton, Ohio; Seattle, Wash.; and four counties in southeastern Kentucky.