2026–28 Juvenile Justice Applied Leadership Network

Improv­ing out­comes for young peo­ple involved in — or at risk of enter­ing — the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem requires lead­ers who can deliv­er mea­sur­able, equi­table and last­ing results for those fac­ing the great­est bar­ri­ers to suc­cess. The Applied Lead­er­ship Net­work helps mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary teams build the lead­er­ship skills need­ed to dri­ve mean­ing­ful change in their juris­dic­tions. The pro­gram is orga­nized around a shared result: All youth in con­tact with the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem are treat­ed equi­tably and thrive in their homes, schools and communities.

Dur­ing the pro­gram, each team iden­ti­fies a mean­ing­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to improve out­comes with­in its juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem and com­mu­ni­ty. Teams then devel­op, imple­ment, refine and mea­sure a results-focused action plan. Casey encour­ages appli­ca­tions from teams whose plans are co-designed with — or led by — com­mu­ni­ty-based part­ners, espe­cial­ly those using local data to strength­en pre­ven­tion, diver­sion and pos­i­tive sup­port strate­gies in neigh­bor­hoods with the great­est need.

The pro­gram is ground­ed in the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion’s Results Count^® lead­er­ship frame­work. While man­ag­ing their day-to-day respon­si­bil­i­ties, par­tic­i­pants attend sem­i­nars, apply Results Count skills and tools to a real-world chal­lenge, and receive coach­ing from fac­ul­ty and peers. By com­bin­ing learn­ing with prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tion, teams strength­en their lead­er­ship, improve their strate­gies and accel­er­ate progress toward bet­ter out­comes for young people.

Applied Lead­er­ship Net­work Goals

• Accel­er­ate equi­table out­comes for young peo­ple involved with, or at risk of involve­ment in, the juve­nile jus­tice system.
• Strength­en col­lab­o­ra­tion across youth- and fam­i­ly-serv­ing sys­tems to expand equi­table oppor­tu­ni­ties in the community.
• Deep­en part­ner­ships between com­mu­ni­ty and sys­tem lead­ers to build a stronger net­work of sup­port for young peo­ple at risk of, or involved in, the juve­nile jus­tice system.
• Expand and strength­en the pipeline of lead­ers com­mit­ted to juve­nile jus­tice reform.
• Build lead­ers’ capac­i­ty to influ­ence pol­i­cy and dri­ve sys­tems change at the local, state, and fed­er­al levels.
• Strength­en lead­ers’ resilience and well-being so they can sus­tain their lead­er­ship and advance mean­ing­ful results.

Core Com­pe­ten­cies

Par­tic­i­pants engage in ALN while bal­anc­ing the demands of their cur­rent roles and respon­si­bil­i­ties. Through­out the pro­gram, teams strength­en the core Results Count lead­er­ship com­pe­ten­cies by apply­ing them to real-world chal­lenges in their com­mu­ni­ties and sys­tems, reflect­ing on their expe­ri­ences and learn­ing along­side peers and fac­ul­ty. These com­pe­ten­cies pro­vide the foun­da­tion for lead­ing col­lab­o­ra­tive change and achiev­ing mea­sur­able improve­ments in out­comes for young peo­ple, fam­i­lies and communities.

Par­tic­i­pants will strength­en the fol­low­ing Results Count lead­er­ship competencies:

• Being results-based and data-dri­ven — using data, mea­sur­able results and con­tin­u­ous learn­ing to guide deci­sions and improve outcomes.
• Advanc­ing equi­ty by address­ing dis­par­i­ties — exam­in­ing how race, class, cul­ture and oth­er fac­tors influ­ence out­comes and tak­ing action to expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for all chil­dren, youth and families.
• Using one­self as an instru­ment of change — rec­og­niz­ing how your behav­iors, expe­ri­ences and rela­tion­ships influ­ence your lead­er­ship and lead­ing effec­tive­ly from what­ev­er role you hold.
• Prac­tic­ing adap­tive lead­er­ship — lead­ing through com­plex­i­ty, uncer­tain­ty and change while help­ing oth­ers nav­i­gate dif­fi­cult challenges.
• Col­lab­o­rat­ing to achieve results — build­ing part­ner­ships across sys­tems and com­mu­ni­ties and engag­ing stake­hold­ers to work toward shared results.

These com­pe­ten­cies are inte­grat­ed through­out the learn­ing expe­ri­ence. Through sem­i­nars, coach­ing, team-based appli­ca­tion, indi­vid­ual reflec­tion and prac­tice between ses­sions, par­tic­i­pants deep­en their under­stand­ing of each com­pe­ten­cy and strength­en their abil­i­ty to apply it with­in their teams, orga­ni­za­tions, sys­tems and communities.

Pro­gram Delivery

Between Feb­ru­ary 2027 and April 2028, teams from select­ed juris­dic­tions will par­tic­i­pate in sev­en in-per­son sem­i­nars, each last­ing two and a half days. Between sem­i­nars, teams will receive coach­ing and par­tic­i­pate in prac­tice calls to rein­force their learn­ing. Pro­gram fac­ul­ty will also con­duct a site vis­it with each team to sup­port deep­er appli­ca­tion of the Results Count frame­work with the team and its part­ners. All team mem­bers are expect­ed to attend every seminar. 

See Sem­i­nar Dates for the calendar

The learn­ing expe­ri­ence fol­lows a con­tin­u­ous cycle of Learn → Apply → Reflect → Refine → Repeat. Each sem­i­nar builds on the work com­plet­ed from the pre­vi­ous ses­sion, allow­ing teams to strength­en their lead­er­ship while advanc­ing mean­ing­ful work in their own com­mu­ni­ties. Between sem­i­nars, par­tic­i­pants apply Results Count tools and lead­er­ship prac­tices with their part­ners at home, receive coach­ing from fac­ul­ty and peers, and return ready to deep­en their learn­ing, refine their strate­gies and accel­er­ate progress toward their shared results.

Net­work Staff and Faculty

Fac­ul­ty mem­bers for this cohort include:

• Gail D. Mum­ford, senior asso­ciate, Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Bar­bara Squires, direc­tor, Lead­er­ship Devel­op­ment, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• David Navar­ro, senior asso­ciate, Lead­er­ship Devel­op­ment, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Dante Green, pro­gram asso­ciate, Juve­nile Jus­tice Strat­e­gy Group, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Kennedy Tate, pro­gram assis­tant, Lead­er­ship Devel­op­ment, The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Valerie Thomp­son, fac­ul­ty
• James Czar­ni­ak, fac­ul­ty
• Guest pre­sen­ters with exper­tise in results-dri­ven lead­er­ship and/​or juve­nile justice

ALN Alum­ni

Cur­rent­ly there are 76 ALN alum­ni across 24 states and Puer­to Rico. When the mem­bers of Class 6 com­plete the pro­gram, they will join the alum­ni net­work. Through peer sup­port and col­lab­o­ra­tive learn­ing, ALN alum­ni con­tin­ue to strength­en their lead­er­ship while apply­ing and mod­el­ing a results-dri­ven frame­work with­in their home organizations.