Janet Reno Endowment

Video link: https://youtu.be/TgXnDxQRlhw

The Center established the Janet Reno Endowment in 2016 to honor and promote the legacy of America’s first woman Attorney General. As Attorney General, Janet Reno distinguished herself as a courageous advocate for justice and equality, proving her strong commitment to improving the administration of this country’s system of justice, with a particular focus on the juvenile justice and other child-serving systems, such as child welfare, education and behavioral health.

Time and again, she demonstrated her dedication to improving the lives of our nation’s most vulnerable young people. To honor this legacy, the Endowment supports efforts that increase awareness about Janet Reno’s contributions to our nation’s children, provides resources to enhance the ability of individuals and communities to lead reforms, and honors exceptional women leaders. The Endowment helps ensure Janet Reno’s dedication to supporting youth is honored and remembered, and that attention to the issues to which she devoted her career is sustained.

Help Support the Endowment

Learn more about how you can support the below activities!

The 2026 Janet Reno Forum Returns on September 10th!

What can we do to ensure that the tragedies of our past don’t write the story of our future?

The 2026 Janet Reno Forum will be an in-person, one-day conference held on Georgetown’s Washington, DC Capitol Hill campus that explores the past, present, and future of America’s Youth Justice story through the lens of truth-telling and creative expression. Through a series of plenary sessions, we’ll meet storytellers, leaders, community-members, artists, and advocates as they each, in their own ways, serve as truth-tellers to effectuate change and rewrite the next chapter of youth justice. 

We’ll unearth a forgotten, painful past, and the work underway to bring dignity to those who our society has literally buried in unmarked sites. We’ll look clear-eyed at the challenges and harms that are present in today’s youth legal system, but also at the inspiring efforts of those working tirelessly to create practices that are restorative, just, and lead to better futures. Through it all, we’ll dive into the cathartic power that truthtelling and art can have to shift perspectives, nurture empathy, and help heal harms. Alongside the plenary sessions, attendees will experience an array of creative expressions including an art gallery, spoken word, music, and more from justice-driven and system-impacted artists.

Finally, the Shay Bilchik Award for Innovation in Youth Justice and the Janet Reno Women’s Leadership Award will be presented, recognizing the incredible efforts of two individuals who have contributed to rewriting and reimagining a better, more hopeful American youth justice story. 

Endowment Activities

To honor Janet Reno’s commitment to juvenile justice reform and prevention, the Center coordinates and manages the following activities:

Women’s Leadership Award

The Endowment supports the Women’s Leadership Award which recognizes women leaders who champion the causes to which Janet Reno dedicated her career. This award is given to a nominee who has demonstrated a commitment and ability to effect change in her community or organization to benefit youth, particular those at risk of entering the juvenile justice or child welfare systems. The inaugural Women’s Leadership Award was presented to Marian Wright Edelman in April 2017 at the Georgetown University Leadership. Evidence. Analysis. Debate. (LEAD) Conference. In subsequent years, awardees will participate in and be honored at a Janet Reno Forum. Learn more on the Women’s Leadership Award landing page here.

Janet Reno Forums

The forums convene leadership experts, policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and advocates to discuss promising practices, new research, and policy reform proposals in the realms of juvenile justice, child welfare, and child and youth development. Each forum will be preceded by the development of a white paper, commissioned for the forum and developed by experts in the field. The paper will be presented at the forum to help frame the discussion. Learn more on the Janet Reno Forum’s landing page here.

Janet Reno Leadership Fund

There are two ways the Janet Reno Leadership Fund supports communities seeking to reform the ways they serve at-risk children and youth. First, it provides scholarships for leaders with financial need to attend the Center’s Certificate Programs, which are week- long periods of intensive study using a research-based and data-driven curriculum to improve outcomes for youth involved in multiple systems of care. Second, the Fund supports technical assistance to implement the Center’s Crossover Youth Practice Model and Youth in Custody Practice Model, which promote research-based decision-making as a foundation upon which child-serving systems can reform their policies and practices. 

Future Policy Leaders

The Endowment’s Future Policy Leaders program sponsors one or more Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy students annually to serve as research assistants at the Center. This effort is designed to assist students in deepening their understanding of policy and practice reform processes, as well as offer meaningful work experiences on important issues relating to children and youth systems reform.

An Advocate for Children and Youth

Born on July 21, 1938 in Miami, Florida, Janet Reno received her A.B. degree from Cornell University and her L.L.B. from Harvard Law School where she was just one of 16 women in a class of more than 500 students. In her early career, Reno was the staff director to the Judicial Committee of Florida’s House of Representatives, led the redrafting the of state’s juvenile code as a consultant to the Florida State Senate Criminal Justice Committee and in 1978 was the first woman ever appointed to serve as the State Attorney of Miami (Dade County). Learn more about Janet Reno here!