Strategies for Youth

What Strategies for Youth does

Strategies for Youth (SFY) is a national nonprofit policy and training organization founded in 2010 by Lisa Thurau and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. SFY's mission is to improve interactions between law enforcement and youth by addressing the gap in officer training on adolescent brain development, trauma-informed approaches, and racial equity. The organization serves two primary customer segments: law enforcement agencies (police departments, sheriff's offices, school resource officers) and youth/families, with secondary engagement of state legislatures, policy makers, and state youth services agencies.

SFY's core product portfolio includes the Policing the Teen Brain (PTB) train-the-trainer program for law enforcement, the Juvenile Justice Jeopardy (JJJ) educational game for youth (with variants including Trauma Jeopardy Games and Don't Get Groomed), 12 Model Law Enforcement Policies for Youth Interaction, a Youth Services App, a PTB Trainer Portal (ptb.strategiesforyouth.org), and a JJJ Game Board hosted on cloud.c3softworks.com. The PTB program carries the IADLEST Seal of Excellence (recertified April 2026), a nationally recognized certification for law enforcement training. SFY operates in 25 states across the United States with named engagements in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, California, Indiana, Maine, Ohio, Texas, New Jersey, Nebraska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Virginia, and Tennessee.

SFY operates as a donation-funded 501(c)(3) nonprofit, providing training, model policies, and educational resources at no cost to beneficiaries. Revenue is sourced through charitable contributions processed via NeonCRM, with the organization holding a Candid Platinum Seal of Transparency and a Charity Navigator 4-Star Rating. The organization is led by Executive Director Anthony V. Pierro (appointed late 2024/2025, succeeding founder Lisa Thurau), with Legal Director Kristen Wheeler and Law Enforcement Policies Attorney Shelley R. Jackson (former DOJ Civil Rights Division Deputy Section Chief) on the leadership team. Strategic partnerships include NH Division of Children, Youth and Families, Contra Costa County Probation Department, NACOLE, NCJFCJ, the Massachusetts POST Commission, and the Office of Justice Programs.

Name

Strategies for Youth

Legal name

Strategies for Youth

Website

https://strategiesforyouth.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Strategies for Youth is a Cambridge, MA-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that trains U.S. law enforcement officers on adolescent brain development and trauma-informed policing, while educating youth on their legal rights through gamified curricula. The organization operates in 25 states via its Policing the Teen Brain program, Juvenile Justice Jeopardy games, and 12 model law enforcement policies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Law Enforcement Training and Juvenile Justice Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (6117), Educational Services (61)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Juvenile Justice System (Courts & Detention) (BPAIAFAF), Juvenile Justice Education Programs (Detention & Correctional Education) (EDAJAEAB)

Keywords

• Juvenile justice training
• Law enforcement training
• Youth education programs
• Policy advocacy services
• Trauma-informed policing

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: SFY operates as a nonprofit organization funded primarily through donations. The website features a donation portal (NeonCRM) and the organization celebrates its 16th anniversary with symbolic gift campaigns.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Strategies for Youth is a national nonprofit training and policy organization that delivers the Policing the Teen Brain (PTB) train-the-trainer program for law enforcement officers and school resource officers, alongside the Juvenile Justice Jeopardy (JJJ) educational games for youth. The organization also develops and distributes 12 Model Law Enforcement Policies for Youth Interaction, providing a comprehensive framework for developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and racially equitable policing of youth. Programs are delivered in 25 states through direct training, state agency partnerships, and online platforms.

Product overview

Strategies for Youth (SFY) is a national policy and training organization offering a portfolio of interconnected programs designed to improve police-youth interactions. The core offerings include Policing the Teen Brain (PTB), a train-the-trainer program for law enforcement, and Juvenile Justice Jeopardy (JJJ), an educational game for teaching youth about their legal rights. These are supported by 12 Model Law Enforcement Policies, the Youth Services App, and supplementary resources like Trauma Jeopardy Games and Best Practice Guides. SFY also developed 'Don't Get Groomed' to protect youth from exploitation. Programs operate in 25 states and are delivered through online portals (PTB Trainer Portal and JJJ Game Board) and in-person training events.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Policing the Teen Brain (PTB): A flagship training program that educates law enforcement officers on adolescent brain development and trauma-informed approaches to policing youth.
• Juvenile Justice Jeopardy (JJJ)
• Model Law Enforcement Policies for Youth Interaction

Products and services

• Policing the Teen Brain (PTB) A train-the-trainer program that teaches law enforcement officers and school resource officers how to understand and interact with teenagers using developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and racially equitable approaches. The program focuses on the science of adolescent brain development.
• Juvenile Justice Jeopardy (JJJ)

Quantifiable outcome

• Significant declines in juvenile arrests reported in communities where SFY has worked, based on independent evaluations.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NH Division of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 May 2025SFY has an ongoing partnership with NH DCYF to rollout Juvenile Justice Jeopardy (JJJ) games across the state of New Hampshire. This is the 4th-6th statewide training offered through this partnership, indicating a deep, multi-year collaborative relationship focused on statewide juvenile justice reform.
• Office of Justice ProgramscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 April 2025SFY was invited to address Office of Justice Programs grantees—law enforcement agencies and universities building VR de-escalation simulators—about the unique nature of interactions between law enforcement and youth.
• Contra Costa County Probation DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025Multi-agency training partnership where Contra Costa County Probation Department hosts SFY's Policing the Teen Brain train-the-trainer programs for local police departments including Concord, Pittsburg, and El Cerrito. The 2nd cohort of officers completed 28 hours of training through this initiative.
• NACOLE (National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 March 2025SFY presented a webinar on key legal precedent and social science research supporting the need for youth-specific law enforcement policies, delivered through NACOLE's platform to their membership of civilian oversight professionals.
• NCJFCJ (National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 March 2025SFY's Lisa Thurau co-presented with Judge Faith Graham at NCJFCJ's 2025 National Conference on Juvenile Justice on judicial strategies to ensure procedural justice for youth at the initial point of police contact.
• National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2017SFY partnered with NBRPA for the Full Court Press: Prep For Success program in Farmingdale, NJ, combining basketball instruction with life lessons and SFY's educational programming about juvenile justice for youth participants.
• Jr. NBA and Police Athletic/Activities League (PAL)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSFY collaborated with Jr. NBA and Police Athletic/Activities League for the Full Court Press youth engagement program combining sports instruction with SFY's educational content.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Juvenile Law Center: Juvenile Law Center is a nonprofit advocacy and legal defense organization focused on advancing the rights and well-being of youth in the justice system. It addresses overlapping juvenile justice reform themes with SFY's policy and advocacy work.
• Justice Policy Institute: Justice Policy Institute conducts research and policy advocacy on juvenile and criminal justice reform, including racial and ethnic disparities. Its policy research and reform orientation closely parallel SFY's policy development work.
• National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE): NACOLE advances effective civilian oversight of law enforcement and is an existing SFY partner that co-hosted SFY webinars on youth-specific policies. Overlapping mission around police accountability and reform makes it a direct peer in policy/training content for law enforcement audiences.
• Campaign for Youth Justice: Campaign for Youth Justice is a nonprofit dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing, and incarcerating youth under 18 in the adult criminal justice system. It operates in the same juvenile justice reform advocacy space as SFY.
• National Center for Youth Law (NCYL): NCYL is a national nonprofit that uses legal advocacy to transform systems serving children and youth, including juvenile justice reform. Its focus on vulnerable youth and system change aligns with SFY's mission and target stakeholders.
• Center for Children's Law and Policy: Center for Children's Law and Policy works to improve juvenile justice and child welfare systems through policy reform, training, and technical assistance — a model and audience directly comparable to SFY's training and policy programs.
• National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ): NCJFCJ is an existing SFY partner that co-presented on procedural justice for youth at police contact. It focuses on juvenile and family court systems and shares SFY's mission of improving youth justice outcomes through judicial and system reform.

Broad incumbents

• International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP): IACP is the largest professional association for police leadership worldwide and offers training and model policies that overlap with SFY's content library. It is a broad incumbent addressing many policing topics, of which youth is one subset.
• Police Executive Research Forum (PERF): PERF is a well-established police-research organization that produces training, policy guides, and reports for law enforcement leadership. It competes in the same 'research-driven police policy/training' category as SFY but at a much broader scope beyond youth.
• Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights: RFK Human Rights operates a Juvenile Justice Campaign focused on ending the incarceration of children. While broader in human-rights scope, its juvenile justice advocacy and youth-focused litigation parallel SFY's reform mission.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Strat4Youth
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/StrategiesForYouth
• Facebookfacebook.com/StrategiesForYouth
• Instagraminstagram.com/strategies4youth

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Strategies for Youth