Yecenia Casiano

She joined CHDI in 2013 and works on both the School-Based Diversion Initiative (SBDI) and the Mobile Crisis Intervention Services (formerly Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services – EMPS) – Performance Improvement Center Projects. Yecenia serves on several statewide committees related to juvenile justice. She is also a member of the Fellow Network of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University and Transforming Youth Justice Leadership Development at the Tow Youth Justice Institute, UNH. She has a BA in Psychology and a master’s degree in Non-Profit Management and Philanthropy. Yecenia has over 14 years of experience working in the human service field. She has extensive experience in child-welfare systems, including foster care, adoption services, and juvenile justice.

When Yencia participated in the Transforming Youth Justice: A Leadership Development Program, she was a Project Coordinator for the Child Health and Dev. Institute, and now she has been promoted to Senior Project Coordinator at the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut Inc.

Capstone Project: The School-Based Diversion Initiative Elementary Model Toolkit: School suspensions and expulsions have damaging implications for children, particularly in the earliest years of life. Research suggests that school suspensions and expulsion practices are associated with adverse outcomes across development, health, and education. Removing children from learning environments affect their social-emotional, development, behavior, and academic success. Also, racial and gender disparities exist in these practices, with young boys of color being suspended and expelled more frequently than other children. The school system needs to educate our youth, but they are also becoming the setting for access to a wide array of health and mental health services.