Press Room

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced $3.7 million in federal funding to expand its Reclaiming Futures initiative, which was launched in 2002 to help young people break the cycle of drugs, alcohol, and crime.

Awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment and the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the funding will be used to expand the initiative's Juvenile Drug Court Program into three additional courts over the next four years. The program works with juvenile drug courts to adopt the Reclaiming Futures model and establish treatment practices designed to reduce substance abuse among participating youth. RWJF will provide $1 million in technical assistance to implement the model at the new sites.

The Denver-based Colorado Judicial Department, the County of Ventura Juvenile Drug Court in California, and the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, will each receive roughly $425,000 from OJJDP to provide treatment and up to $800,000 from CSAT for court operations.

"Reclaiming Futures helps teens overcome the social barriers that stand in the way to better health by helping these young people not only get substance abuse treatment, but also by providing help in getting connected to jobs, mentors, and staying in school," said RWJF program officer Kristin Schubert. "In recognizing these critical relationships between our health and where and how we live, work, learn, and play, Reclaiming Futures creates sensible solutions and helps fulfill the mission of our foundation to improve the health of all Americans."

“Nearly $3.7 Million in Federal Funds Awarded to Expand Reclaiming Futures to Help Turn Teen Lives Around.” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Press Release 10/26/09.