Arts Education Partnership Adds Focus on Juvenile Justice

From Arts Education Partnership:

This year, the Arts Education Partnership announced the addition of juvenile justice as a new focus area to its existing scope of work. Through increased funding support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education, AEP will report on opportunities for the arts in juvenile justice at the community, state and federal levels. This new work will analyze existing research, policies, practices and programs; identify potential information gaps; and provide policy considerations related to the arts in education within this focus area.

Participating in the arts can have positive academic and personal effects for students. Arts engagement can help support present and future outcomes and success for youths, including increased civic engagement, pursuit of high school graduation and interest in college enrollment. Positive outcomes can occur both in and out of school, with findings showing decreased delinquent behavior and increased impacts for historically underserved students.

Nationally, the landscape for this work has expanded, including the work of the Create Justice initiative,  Creative Youth Development National Partnership and the Shakespeare in American Communities program. Over the next year, AEP will join its partner organizations and other stakeholders in contributing to this conversation by sharing more about the role of the arts in youth justice reforms. To ensure that this work remains comprehensive and topical, AEP looks forward to incorporating input from stakeholders across the arts, juvenile justice and education fields.

Please consider this an invitation to share your ideas, questions, resources and programs related to the arts and system-impacted youth.

Read the full story >>

Published: December 18, 2019