DJS Secretary outlines Thrive Academy, workforce and girls’ programs in response to audit

Benny Schiraldi, secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, told the Public Safety Subcommittee the department has launched several programmatic responses to the audit and other findings, including a focused gun‑violence intervention called the Thrive Academy, workforce and apprenticeship expansions, procurement of evidence‑based therapy contracts and steps to modernize case data capture.

Schiraldi said Thrive Academy uses analytic screening to identify youths at high risk of involvement in gun violence and pairs eligible young people with a life coach who helps develop and resource a concrete plan—training, education, relocation if the family is in danger, or other supports. He said the administration provided $2.4 million in ARPA funds and the department received a roughly $750,000 local grant from a Pull Up fund in Prince George's County and additional federal support to begin the work.

"We started the Thrive Academy ... to pair young people who are at high risk of gun violence ... with a life coach, who will work with them to develop a life plan, and that we resource that plan," Schiraldi said. He reported early operational results to the committee: among participants tracked so far, fewer than 2 percent had been shot, none had been killed, and about four out of five had not been arrested for a gun crime. Schiraldi cautioned that the initiative is not a randomized trial and that researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland are working on evaluation designs.

Schiraldi described other actions that parallel OPAGA recommendations. On evidence‑based therapies, he said procurements for multisystemic therapy (MST) and functional family therapy (FFT) recently closed and services will begin in the spring; the department is adding Thrive to its list of evaluated programs. To improve contractor performance data, Schiraldi said DJS has surveyed case managers to identify common referral programs; the department found roughly 300 frequently used programs and is adding them as structured options in ASSIST to replace free‑text entries.

The secretary outlined workforce and gender‑specific initiatives. DJS expanded apprenticeship and employment opportunities: the department purchased 128 summer youth employment slots and 86 year‑round positions and launched a youth apprenticeship program called YOLO (Youth Opportunities to Learn Occupations). Schiraldi said the department has partnered with state agencies and unions, and plans to pay nonprofits to provide soft‑skills training and GED support. For girls, Schiraldi said DJS consolidated girls into a gender‑specific program at the Western Maryland Children’s Center, trained staff on gender‑responsive programming and is issuing a procurement for a continuum of services including staff‑secure custody, therapeutic foster care, independent living and wraparound community services.

Schiraldi also addressed the audit's data criticisms. He acknowledged ASSIST is a legacy case system designed for case‑based rather than client‑based workflows and said DJS is evaluating buy vs. build options while pursuing immediate fixes. He described a near‑term change: converting frequently referenced programs into drop‑down menu items to improve structured reporting and ease future analysis.

On SINs (children in need of supervision), Schiraldi said the department conducted outreach—"lunch and learn" sessions—with law enforcement, schools and local stakeholders to clarify how SINs referrals can be used to get services rather than punish children. He said those outreach efforts produced a tenfold increase in SINs referrals and were associated with a reported 24 percent reduction in recidivism for 13‑year‑olds in the period the department tracked.

Schiraldi also said the department is exploring residential treatment capacity for substance use disorders in adolescents; the governor included $3 million in the budget for that purpose and DJS is evaluating locations and whether to operate or contract for a treatment facility. He emphasized the department’s broader goal of building a continuum of community and residential services that fit county‑level needs.

Committee members questioned details about program evaluation, data quality and the limits of DJS authority where judicial decisions are involved. Schiraldi repeatedly acknowledged data limitations and said DJS is working with university researchers and philanthropy to develop stronger evaluation plans and to expand programs where evidence supports them.

Schiraldi summarized the agency’s approach as expanding targeted interventions for gun violence, adding evidence‑based therapy contracts, improving case data and investing in workforce and gender‑specific services—steps he said are meant to address OPAGA’s recommendations and gaps in the continuum of care.

The department did not present final outcome evaluations for the new programs at the hearing; Schiraldi said formal evaluations are planned and that early operational metrics will be shared as research partners complete counterfactual and comparison analyses.