What if we treated young people in trouble like their well-being and future were our highest priorities?
That is the driving question behind Reclaiming Futures, a national public health–oriented juvenile justice reform organization based within Portland State University’s Regional Research Institute (RRI) – a program housed in the School of Social Work. PSU researchers, including Reclaiming Futures Executive Director Evan Elkin and Deputy Director Jim Carlton, have led a movement for more than two decades to replace punishment with recovery, rewriting the script for teens caught in cycles of drugs, crime, and incarceration.
The center has evolved since its inception in 2000, from an early focus on reforming juvenile drug courts to a current emphasis on "upstream" solutions: preventive actions rooted in schools and communities, to provide young people with early treatment opportunities and connect with resources for community and family support.
Two new models have grown out of that evolution: School-Based SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment), and Community-Based Alternatives to Court.
School-Based SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment)
This program brings universal mental health screening into schools to interrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. It identifies struggling students—often those who never ask for help—and connects them to proactive support and care.
"It's kind of a culture shift. Because now the school is getting out ahead of problems instead of waiting for chairs to be thrown, or waiting for kids to show up in a counselor's office. So, some of what the researchers found is that, if you do universal screening, you catch a lot of quiet kids who normally wouldn't show up as needing help. The other huge finding for us is that kids who go through that sequence will tell you they feel closer to the adults in the building of the school, they feel better about school, they feel heard," Elkin said.
"Our program is universally implemented in King County, Washington, and we have now turned over the reins to them. They've institutionalized the program that we created: They were our big laboratory for this, and now they've taken it on," Elkin said.
A Community-Based Alternative to Court
The community-based alternative to juvenile treatment court is a new, community-run model designed to replace court involvement with family-centered support. Instead of meeting in a courthouse, families work with a local organization to create and carry out their own goals and treatment plans, with the judge simply signing off on the plan.
The focus is on motivation and teamwork, not punishment—if progress stalls, the organization helps re-engage the youth and family rather than issuing violations. This shift requires cooperation from judges and prosecutors, but the results have been remarkable: in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, where the program launched as Bridging Futures, nearly 90% of participating youth avoided reoffending. Versions of the model are now running in Ohio, Oregon, and Texas, with local agencies using existing funds to adopt and sustain the approach.
PSU as a Hub for Change
At PSU, Reclaiming Futures combines research, workforce development, and hands-on partnerships. Collaborations with the PSU's System of Care Institute place Master of Social Work students in schools to practice early intervention strategies.
To sustain its mission, the program worked with the PSU Innovation and Intellectual Property to license its models—an innovation that generates unrestricted funds for ongoing research and development. “It lets us keep innovating, even when grant cycles end,” Elkin said.
Communities working with Reclaiming Futures receive materials, training and ongoing coaching in their models. Reclaiming Futures is always seeking new partners among states, counties, tribes, and foundations ready to implement proven, humane, public health oriented approaches to juvenile justice reform and youth substance abuse and mental health challenges.