Youth Today Exchange

Tenure: 1989–1992
Accomplishments (as cited by the administrator)
Full Story

• Stabilized and organized a demoralized staff and reached agreement as follows: Help me advance the Bush administration policy agenda, and I agreed to help them on projects they were working on that did not conflict with the Bush agenda.
• Focused on combating illiteracy among youth in or at risk of being involved in juvenile delinquency. For example, required boot camp programs funded by OJJDP to include scientifically based reading instruction, and commissioned Retarding America: The Imprisonment of Potential, which illustrated the solution to illiteracy among juvenile offenders.
• Emphasized the need to continue addressing the serious habitual offender programs. Program policy decisions included a balance of prevention, and a crackdown on gangs and on juvenile offenders who commit serious crimes.
• Strongly encouraged the continuation and completion of the mandates that required separation of incarcerated adults and juveniles. This included resolving several disputes with states on applying the mandates in exchange for funding (especially a long-standing dispute with Pennsylvania), and supporting local decisions on the use of funds at the state level rather than micromanagement from the federal government.

Tags | Sweet accomplishments, Sweet Era