WASHINGTON -- A report on juvenile justice being released today touts Pennsylvania and Allegheny County as models for national standards in the use of innovative strategies for keeping young people out of the court system.

Both are part of Models for Change, a project that will receive a $60 million boost this week from the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, on top of $40 million already pledged by the foundation. The money will help state and local governments and advocacy groups across the country.

Pennsylvania so far has received about $7.5 million. Illinois, Louisiana, and Washington also are participants.

"We want to accelerate the process and hold them up as models for other states to emulate," said Laurie Garduque, an educational psychologist who directs the MacArthur Foundation's program on human and community development.

Models for Change focuses on giving juveniles better access to mental health services and addressing the high number of black and Hispanic children caught in the justice system. It also emphasizes the need for programs that keep children from repeating crimes after they've passed through the system.

Allegheny County is considered a trendsetter in all of these areas, especially "aftercare" efforts to help juvenile lawbreakers reintegrate into their communities.

"The kid coming back from a residential placement needs to be welcomed back," said Jim Rieland, director of probation for the county Common Pleas Court. "That may be a new concept for some people."

Using a three-year, $600,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the county has hired three "education specialists" who help ensure that children returning to their home schools after a pass through the juvenile court have all necessary documents in place, access to transportation and the right class schedules.

The education specialists, for instance, would coordinate the exchange of information between George Junior Republic, a Mercer County residential treatment facility that receives many Allegheny County teenagers, and Pittsburgh Public Schools.

Allegheny County also uses the Community Intensive Supervision Program, an after-school and weekend program that enables teens to complete community service work ordered by judges.

At any given time, the county's juvenile court system usually has about 400 children in out-of-home placements, Mr. Rieland said.

Last year, Mr. Rieland joined several high-ranking state officials in signing the "Joint Policy Statement on Aftercare," which calls on every county to develop comprehensive aftercare programs by 2010.

Bob Schwartz, executive director of the Juvenile Law Center, said 20 of the state's 67 counties already have volunteered to try to meet that goal. His Philadelphia-based advocacy group is overseeing the distribution of the MacArthur funds in Pennsylvania.

The MacArthur Foundation has committed about $10 million to the state over the course of the project. It has given $50,000 directly to Allegheny County to fund the hiring of a mental health specialist on juvenile justice.

A major focus is an effort to reduce the number of black and Hispanic children in treatment facilities. Black children make up 15 percent of Pennsylvania's youth population, but they are nearly half of all children in out-of-home placements, the Models for Change report says. Last year, in Allegheny County, 66 percent of all referral cases involved black children.

The MacArthur Foundation first became involved in juvenile justice issues in the mid-1990s, when many policy makers across the country were focused on treating young criminals as adults.

Pennsylvania was one of the few states that avoided a punishment-focused approach to juvenile crime, she said, making it a logical first participant when MacArthur started a selection process for its Models for Change program in 2003.

"Pennsylvania just stood head and shoulders above the rest of the state," Dr. Garduque said.

Estelle Richman, secretary of the state Department of Public Welfare, said she pushed heavily to participate in the project. She, Mr. Rieland, and other state officials will join their counterparts from other states in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the progress of Models for Change.

"I'm looking for things that I can do differently in Pennsylvania," she said.