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The State Relations Assistance Division (SRAD) is seeking to increase the numbers of active youth State Advisory Group (SAG) members, and this year's second annual OJJDP/SRAD joint training conference will address how youth can better perform their SAG responsibilities.

The conference will feature workshops and events specifically targeting the youth members and their responsibilities as SAG members. Workshops will assist youth members to develop their leadership and listening skills so they can make meaningful and effective contributions to their advisory groups.

Under the requirements of Section 223(a) (3) (A) (IV) of the JJDP Act, at least one-fifth of the membership of each SAG must be composed of youth members, appointed on or before their 24th birthday. However, recruiting and retaining youth members has always been a challenge for the SAGs.

To begin with, SAGs sometimes have trouble identifying appropriate candidates for youth membership. Most effective youth members seem to fall into two camps: They are either veteran social activists, with a long personal history of volunteerism and community engagement, or they are young people who have had some personal involvement with the juvenile justice system and are now interested in giving something back. Finding enough youth with these special qualities—who also have the time and inclination to serve on a mostly adult State advisory committee—remains a challenge.

Even when SAGs do manage to identify the requisite number of youth members, getting youth appointments officially confirmed is often lengthy and cumbersome. Most governors prefer to confirm SAG appointments in batches—rather than on an individual ad hoc basis—which means that it sometimes takes months for a youth member's nomination to be approved. "Many of the States that are currently out of compliance have actually put forth nominations," reports OJJDP State Representative Kristie Brackens, "but they are still awaiting confirmation of their recommendations."

Once youth have been officially appointed, many SAGs still struggle with the challenge of keeping youth members active and engaged. At a recent OJJDP-sponsored SAG training event in New Jersey, youth members offered a host of reasons they found it difficult to participate regularly in their advisory group meetings—scheduling conflicts with school, problems covering expenses, and a lack of basic transportation, to name but three. Some youth members also report they are put off by the length of SAG meetings and the prevalent use of acronyms, which make it hard for them to follow the conversation.

Some States have begun to find creative ways to address these issues. For example, Colorado's SAG now holds some SAG events on weekends, and it pairs each of its youth members with an older SAG member, who serves as a mentor for the youth—making sure they understand any necessary acronyms and helping solve other problems as needed. Similarly, North Carolina's SAG is considering having older committee members "sponsor" youth members' attendance at meetings and conferences.