Developmental and Culturally Responsive Approaches to Advancing Justice
AIR’s research and technical assistance builds capacity, facilitates policy change, and transforms systems, like justice systems, to achieve outcomes for the people they serve. For example, our work in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Families elevated the voices of youth detained in San Francisco Juvenile Hall, with attention to how their perspectives aligned with prior research evidence about developmentally supportive environments. While drawing upon scientific evidence to reduce harm in secure settings, we also aim to examine decriminalization and explore humanizing alternatives to incarceration, given the harms of institutionalized racism and policies that criminalize Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) and lead to lasting consequences.
Human development is contextual and interdependent. We simultaneously are influenced by, and influence, our families, schools, communities, and broader social, economic, political, and other contexts. Our work highlights that individual development is bolstered by the assets and strengths in our communities and cultures, and within oneself. We rely on culturally appropriate frameworks that center the strengths, resilience and assets of the communities.
One example of this is the evaluation of the Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board (NOAB) Diversion Program in Oakland, which features community- and strengths-based services and restorative justice with family and community. We aim to recognize the agency and community cultural wealth that affected communities already possess and apply approaches that foster positive family engagement.
AIR centers inclusion, community engagement, and participatory methods to align with the experiences and strengths of individuals and communities who are most directly and disproportionately affected by the criminal legal system. We highlight the human potential for change and transformation by humanizing those who are involved with the criminal legal system in their developmental journey. For example, AIR’s Center for Youth Justice Transformation (formerly the Center for Coordinated Assistance to States) is hiring individuals with lived experience whose firsthand knowledge and experience with the criminal legal system is needed to generate equitable solutions in partnership with formal systems.
Through our research, evaluation, and relationship-based technical assistance, AIR helps to create systems that center the strengths and expertise of directly impacted communities and promote restoration and healing towards thriving.
Maura Shramko
Researcher
Related Projects
Evaluation of Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board (NOAB)
AIR, through funding from the AIR Equity Initiative, is providing implementation and impact evaluation services for a point-of-arrest restorative diversion program: NOAB at the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR).
NICJR reimagines the partnership between police and the community in Richmond and Oakland, California, by diverting youth to programming prior to court involvement. These youth receive access to community- and strengths-based diversion services based in restorative justice and in collaboration with members of the youth’s family and community. AIR brings the expertise of in culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate implementation and impact evaluation approaches to generate evidence for the NOAB program model.
Evaluation of San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families Justice Services
In 2021, the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department (JPD) established a priority to “center the voices, experiences, and well-being of young people and their families.” In 2022, JPD and San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth, and their Families, a longstanding AIR partner, funded AIR to interview youth detained in the juvenile hall to better understand young people’s experiences and the extent to which the Hall was a developmentally supportive environment.
Center for Youth Justice Transformation
At the community level, the evidence demonstrates that youth thriving requires a multisystem approach, and as training and technical assistance (TTA) providers, we strive to employ that approach. With that in mind, the Center for Youth Justice Transformation centers youth and family experts as the drivers of all efforts and prioritizes youth- and family-centered TTA and products by incorporating diverse perspectives.
