families and youth affected by domestic violence, including safety planning and crisis intervention
services.
96 The sites also developed a “typology” designed to help practitioners better understand
the dynamics of family crisis and identify workable intervention strategies.
97 In an effort to diffuse
the knowledge gained by the Illinois sites to other jurisdictions, the National Youth Screening and
Assessment Project, a Models for Change National Resource Bank member, recently conducted a
cross-site validation study of the typology tool developed by the three local sites and, based on the
results, published a manual that is now available for use by states and local jurisdictions across the
nation.
98
Another benefit of focusing reform efforts at the community level is that such an approach
showcases local talent and creates a leadership ladder by which knowledgeable and experienced
practitioners and decision-makers who have an “on the ground” perspective can move into
positions of greater authority and influence. This has been the case in Illinois, where several
individuals who originally worked on local Models for Change initiatives later were tapped for
state and national leadership positions, including membership on the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention’s Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice, a group charged with
advising the President and Congress on juvenile justice matters.
99 In their new roles, these Illinois
change agents are in a position to share Illinois’ experience and expertise with other jurisdictions
and to suggest new initiatives for Illinois that have worked in other jurisdictions.
D. Collaborate, but Advocate
A core principle of the Models for Change initiative was that systems reform requires the
active involvement and cooperation of system stakeholders.
100 This approach was grounded in an
understanding that only those who occupy positions of authority within government have the
ability and resources needed to actually change laws, policies and practices. In furtherance of this
philosophy, many Illinois Models for Change partners worked diligently to identify and build
collaborative relationships with stakeholders across the justice system and other systems, including
education, child welfare and mental health. In some cases this was a relatively straight-forward
task, largely consisting of identifying potential system allies from around the state, establishing
regular channels of communication, and undertaking activities or projects that advanced common
goals. These activities varied and included conducting research, collecting and sharing data,
writing reports, identifying alternative policy and practice approaches, organizing coalitions,
volunteering to undertake tasks normally performed by public employees, and securing alternative
resources. In other cases, especially where advocates and systems’ representatives traditionally
held differing views on crime and delinquency, collaboration required targeted efforts to identify
places where the interests of both groups intersected and to establish respectful working
96 See HARTNETT, supra note 93, at 9–16 (describing the steps taken in each of the three jurisdictions to improve
responses to adolescent domestic battering).
98 See generally Wendy Nussbaum, et al., Adolescent Domestic Battery Typology Tool Manual, MODELS FOR CHANGE
(2015) (an instructional resource designed to help stakeholders identify and provide appropriate programming to youth
who commit acts of domestic violence against household members).
99 See Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice, OFFICE OF JUVENILE JUSTICE AND DELINQUENCY
PREVENTION,
http://www.facjj.org/ (last visited Jan. 22, 2016).
100 See Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice, MACARTHUR FUND.
http://www.modelsforchange.net/about/index.html (last visited Feb. 25, 2016) (describing the MacArthur
Foundation’s Models for Change initiative as “a network of government and court officials, legal advocates, educators,
community leaders, and families” who work together to promote systemic reform of the juvenile justice system).
