Along with my colleagues Jacqui Greene and Sara DePasquale, I am excited to announce a unique opportunity to bring together various community professionals to better support youth with complex needs who touch multiple public systems. The initiative will bring together county-level cross systems teams to develop strategies to address the well-being of high need youth. Local teams of ten participants from key child-serving systems will attend a workshop at the School of Government on February 22, 2027, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The first half of the day will consist of a workshop led by Youth Experiential Learning Labs (YExLS), a group which hosts a hands-on experience for attendees, to gain a better understanding of “what it is like to be youth navigating public systems while also pursuing their own dreams, following their own interests, and surviving their own traumas.” YExLS describes the workshop as being designed to bridge the gap between what youth in foster care or the juvenile justice system experience in those systems versus what those systems are intended to provide for youth. This experiential learning will lay the groundwork for the afternoon session where the local teams will start to develop strategies to address the complex needs of youth across systems in their own communities. Teams will have time to process the learning lab experience and engage in facilitated strategic planning to identify and address cross systems barriers and community strengths in serving high need youth. The program’s goal is for team members to return to their communities with more awareness, cross system connections, and action steps to better meet the complex needs that are commonly present in the lives of justice-system involved youth. For one year following the on-site program, there will be quarterly virtual meetings with each team facilitated by faculty from the School of Government to support ongoing efforts to implement action steps identified during the workshop.
Team Composition. Each team must consist of ten members that include the following representatives:
- District court judge who presides over juvenile proceedings
- Juvenile defender
- Prosecutor
- Lead Juvenile Court Counselor or Chief Court Counselor
- Department of Social Services child welfare supervisor
- Department of Social Services income maintenance representative
- School representative who holds a leadership position
- Representative from an entity that authorizes mental health services for youth (e.g., LME/MCO or Healthy Blue)
- A parent with lived experience
- An additional representative selected by the team
Teams should identify a lead team member who will be the main point of contact with the School of Government and who will coordinate the team at the local level.
Grant Supported Expenses for Teams. Funding for this program is provided in part by the Growing Practical Solutions for North Carolina (GPS NC) Grant, supported by Civic Federal Credit Union and coordinated by the ncIMPACT initiative. As a result, there is no registration fee for this program. For teams traveling more than 35 miles from the district court located in their County Seat, hotel expenses for each member for the evening of February 21, 2027, at the hotel where the School secures a room block, will be paid directly to the hotel by the School of Government. Breakfast and lunch for all teams will be provided at the workshop.
Application. More information including how to apply can be found at this link: https://www.sog.unc.edu/courses/building-cross-systems-strategies-address-high-need-youth. Teams interested in applying to participate should complete and submit the application by November 23, 2026. It is essential that all team members are committed to attending the entire session on February 22, 2027. The team lead will be notified about acceptance into the initiative on December 16, 2026. To ensure all team members participate in the workshop, we recommend having them save the February 22, 2027, date once the application is submitted.
Questions? We are happy to answer questions you may have related to this initiative or the application process, including questions about required team membership. Questions can be directed to Timothy Heinle at Heinle@sog.unc.edu.
