Remarks of Acting Assistant Attorney General Brent J. Cohen at the Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Justice Programs Justice-Involved Youth Webinar

Thank you, Dan [Tsai], and thank you, Jesse [Cross-Call]. I'm really pleased to be part of today's webinar, and very glad to see so many people from across systems and sectors, coming together to improve health outcomes for justice-involved youth.

Let me thank Alissa Deboy, Melissa Harris and everyone from the Medicaid Benefits and Health Programs Group - and from across the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services - for their outstanding work around this issue and for partnering with us at the Office of Justice Programs.

And, of course, I want to thank my colleague, Liz Ryan, the Administrator of OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Liz has been a steadfast champion for our nation's young people, first in the field and now at the Department of Justice, and she shares my excitement about this latest effort to support youth coming back to their homes and communities.

I also want to recognize colleagues at the Bureau of Justice Assistance, as well as Mariel Lifshitz from my office. Mariel has been working closely with CMCS to explore ways that we can work together to support continuity of care for people returning to their communities - both youth and adults - and her guidance and direction have been invaluable in helping us make great strides together.

This work is incredibly important to me. I've spent much of my career supporting youth and young adults who come into contact with the system, including several years at the New York City Department of Correction, where I was particularly focused on better serving young people, ages 16 to 24, leaving Rikers Island.

One of the efforts we undertook was launching the New York City Justice Corps with the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College, and in partnership with several community-based organizations.

The idea was that we could connect young people returning from jail with services, resources, and opportunities in their own communities as a pathway to desistance and an on-ramp to success. The original model included a focus on community service and internship opportunities with stipends, followed by job placement. The initiative sought to empower cohorts of young adults to become change agents in their personal lives and throughout the broader community.

Our work on the New York City Justice Corps has been part of a guiding philosophy of mine throughout my career, and it's one that carries through the work that Liz and my colleagues and I are doing at OJP - keeping young people connected to their communities and supported through critical services, none of them more important than physical and behavioral health services.

We know that almost 25,000 youth were in juvenile justice residential placement in 2021, which is the latest year for which we have national data. And there were tens of thousands of young adults under the age of 25 in adult prisons and jails. Virtually all of them will be leaving those facilities at some point.

Among young people who come into contact with the justice system, there are high rates of substance use and misuse. All too often, they have histories of trauma and adverse childhood experiences that have been left untreated. Their physical and mental health needs demand appropriate, professional attention, and it's critical that we provide access to screening and assessments, and connections to coverage and services, in the time leading up to their release and, crucially, as they return to their communities.

I'm proud that Liz and her team have been making substantial investments in programs across the country where youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system are being connected to continuums of care, spanning early intervention programs to reentry services. Continuity of care, which also includes continuity of coverage, is vital to any comprehensive strategy.

I'm pleased that we've also been making strides in this area working with adults, through our partnership with CMCS on the Section 1115 reentry demonstration program. For example, we're working through our Second Chance Act training and technical assistance providers to provide education and awareness about the 1115 opportunity, and we've developed a Medicaid and Corrections Policy Academy to help states build multidisciplinary partnerships aimed at improving care for individuals reentering their communities.

The steps we're taking now to expand case management, screening and diagnostic services to Medicaid- and CHIP-eligible youth and young adults will build on this momentum.

I recognize that these requirements are not a small lift for many states. It bears mentioning that the new law defines "youth" as up to age 21, as well as some young adults up to age 26 under the former foster care eligibility group. So, you're being asked to prevent gaps in coverage for youth and young adults in both detention and adult correctional facilities. We are here with our colleagues at HHS today to let you know that we are grateful for the vital role you will play in helping youth get back on their feet, and we will do whatever we can to help support your efforts.

I would also say, though, that we hope we can count on each of you to look beyond the mandated requirements and consider the essential goal we're trying to achieve - giving our young people, far too many of whom have suffered adversity and trauma throughout their lives, the chance to heal and grow and thrive. It's good for our young people, and it's good for our communities.

I commend you all for the great work you're doing to make this happen, and I look forward to the great things that lie ahead in our work together.

It's now my pleasure to hand it off to our next speaker, Melissa Harris, the Deputy Director of the Medicaid Benefits and Health Programs Group in the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services.

Thank you, Melissa, I'll turn it over to you.

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