This tool kit from the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform (CCJR) at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy provides an overview of barriers that rural communities face in preventing youth involvement in the juvenile justice system. It also provides examples of innovative practices serving justice-involved youth and their families in rural communities that can be adapted by other juvenile justice practitioners.

The toolkit highlights the importance of leveraging community strengths as an important strategy for overcoming the challenges rural jurisdictions face in delivering effective prevention and juvenile justice services. Strengths of rural communities identified by the sectors discussed in this tool kit include:

• A local ethos that supports helping neighbors and other community members;
• Well established working relationships between community members and between service providers across sectors;
• A sense of pride in their community, culture, and history; and
• A natural environment that is often serene and majestic (which can serve as a draw for relocating service providers or provide free and healthy activity opportunities).

Access this tool kit