The Center will “develop and distribute resources (for example, newsletters, toolkits, online training programs, webinars, training and methodological manuals).”
The program will seek to provide “training and technical assistance to juvenile justice practitioners to help them meet the needs of LGBTQ+ and ‘two-spirit’ young people. It will also “inform the policies, practices and/or programs of the justice system.”
The goal of the project is to “support the reforms of the juvenile justice system aimed at meeting the needs of LGBT+ and “two-spiritual” young people who are in the field of justice.”
According to a ” LGBTQ glossary” published by John Hopkins University, “two-spirit” refers to “certain Native American and Canadian First Nation people who identify with a third gender, implying a masculine and a feminine spirit in one body.”
Program and Grants Management Specialist at the Office of Justice Programs Leanetta Jessie led a webinar offering further details of the project.
One goal of the project is to “increase the field’s knowledge of, and capacity to address, protective factors such as: family engagement and acceptance” while another is to identify “gaps in knowledge related to LGBTQ+ and the intersection of youth of color.”