Reclaiming Futures considers an anti-oppressive frame to decrease disparities

The Reclaiming Futures mandate is to improve substance abuse service interventions within the juvenile justice system, and concurrently to ensure that racial disparities are avoided. But traditional efforts to reduce disparities have not been adequate to preclude these almost universal trends from reappearing in the initiative. In response, the authors have introduced anti-oppressive practice (AOP) to the initiative, beginning first with workshops at the national gatherings, and following up with webinars, discipline-specific training for judges, probation professionals, alcohol and drug treatment professionals, community members, and project directors, and finally, an in-depth course to advance the approach more deeply into the initiative. This paper begins with a review of the status of racial disparities in the United States, and shares details of the evolution of Reclaiming Futures to consider an innovative response to such disparities, namely anti-oppressive practice. We detail the ways in which AOP has been incorporated into Reclaiming Futures. The paper then discusses two key elements of our initiative: the theoretical and conceptual elements of AOP that make it a desirable approach to reducing disparities, and an introduction to the core competencies that are affiliated with AOP. We anticipate that this paper will be of interest to program administrators and service providers who are searching for practice innovations that offer a positive prognosis for reducing racial disparities.

Research highlights
► Anti-oppressive practice holds promise for addressing racial disparities in Reclaiming Futures.
► We introduce this field of practice to RF.
► Details of AOP theory and concepts are profiled.
► We identify core competencies of anti-oppressive practice.