Introduction to the Special Issue on Reclaiming Futures

Reclaiming Futures, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched in 2000, seeks to create new practice models that interrupt the cycle of drugs and crime among young people. To date, some 29 communities have participated in the demonstration project and national learning collaborative.

This special edition of Children and Youth Services Review includes 11 other articles that:

  • Present updated and evolving analyses of the program, and challenges and opportunities to evaluate complex system reform initiatives.
  • Offer deeper reflection, analysis and recommendations regarding the initiative—the community engagement component; how to use communication to drive community and systems change; and initial reflections on some of the lessons learned about enhancing juvenile drug courts.
  • Discuss issues of diversity within the initiative.
  • Address the power of family involvement and the need to link to best practices in juvenile reentry.
  • Explore some of the larger contextual policy issues associated with efforts to build successful integrated and responsive care systems for youth with substance use disorders.

“This collection of articles represents both earned knowledge and an intentional evolution,” the authors of this introduction write.



This article is part of a special issue of Children and Youth Services Review on the RWJF-funded Reclaiming Futures program.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Reclaiming Futures

  1. 1 Helping Substance-Involved Young People in Juvenile Justice Be Successful
  2. 2 The Development and Evolution of Reclaiming Futures at the Ten-Year Mark
  3. 3 Toward an Effective Treatment System for Adolescents with Substance Use Disorders
  4. 4 Community-Directed Engagement and Positive Youth Development
  5. 5 Reclaiming Futures Initiative from a Sicangu Lakota Tribal Perspective
  6. 6 Reclaiming Futures
  7. 7 Evaluating Systems Change in a Juvenile Justice Reform Initiative
  8. 8 Reclaiming Futures Considers an Anti-Oppressive Frame to Decrease Disparities
  9. 9 Exploring the Implementation of Justice-Based Alcohol and Drug Intervention Strategies with Juvenile Offenders
  10. 10 Reclaiming Futures and Juvenile Reentry
  11. 11 Family Involvement in Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery

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