Travis County Commissioners Court

May 1, 2012 - Item 19
Agenda

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19 b, application to the United States Department of Labor for a Youth Reentry Program in the Juvenile Probation Department; a new, three year grant program to provide individualized education plans, and post-release case management services for juveniles.

>> judge, the reason why I didn't recommend this to come on consent, I think that I wanted to expose the first-time program that this particular service will provide.
I kind of wanted to lay out because I think it's a real innovative way in -- as you know, we are dealing with a lot of reentry type of situations this is just another reentry program that address another group of persons and I'm going to let them kind of lay it out a little bit and -- and this is from the u.s.
department of labor, through a grants, it targets certainly individuals, I basically want them to lay it out, tell me what the conditions of these particular individuals, what services are offered to these particular individuals and the age criterion for these particular individuals.
and go from there.
so if you can just kind of give us a little brief overview of that, I really would appreciate that.
this is a new thing that we're doing with the reentry type of situation for persons that get in a little trouble.
and we go from there.
go ahead, please.

>> good morning, thank you, Commissioners, my name is lisa, with the Travis County juvenile probation department represented to behalf of the chief and deputy chief, with us are members of our intermediate sanctioned residential placement facility.
I will allow them to introduce themselves and then will allow allan miller from p.b.o.
to have any additional comments.

>> okay.
I am ina present, case work manager with our reentry component.

>> rick

>> [indiscernible] deputy chief.

>> nathaniel whitfield, reentry specialist.

>> kristen

>> [indiscernible] reentry specialist.

>> our reentry program through the department of labor offers opportunity for funding to -- to provide vocational services to females who are a part of a residential facility.
these are individuals who have committed an offense that may not be a sex offense.
additionally, if you have a significant number of females and there's available funding, we may provide vocational services to male ex-offenders.
these services, vocational services, must occur while a youth is still in our residential facility.
our department has a plethora of vocational services that we will lay out to you to explain what those items are and in addition to those vocational services, this grant will allow us to expand on our educational services to ensure that the youth that are in our facilities who are going to be released back to the community are on target with their education.
that will include getting them up to speed with either getting their g.e.d.
or getting them back on the proper educational level.
while they are there, we will also focus on their mental health needs.
whether that be behavioral health services or substance abuse services, to ensure when those youth are released back into the community, they are healthy individuals who know how to handle themselves in the various situations without relapsing into being angry or to utilizing substances.
the vocational services that we are asking for within this grant will expand upon the services that we currently have.
in particular, we are going to ask for services for -- for barber school, we will ask for services through our Austin community college and through our skill point services.
I will allow ms. Brandt who was the case work manager for those vocational services in the key contact to explain a little bit more about the various opportunities that the youth within our facility will have to learn.

>> yes.
since 2007, the department has made a commitment to keep youth in the community versus sending them to the state facilities.
and to keep them here with their families and to provide whatever the resources that are needed to the kids as well as the families.
in -- in our population has changed over the years.
we are seeing -- in that we're seeing more older youth.
that are age appropriate for work.
we are seeing youth that are -- that are -- more creative and are able to tap into arts programs. Over the last year, we were able to pilot some vocational programs. That included enhancing our partnership with the Austin community college and bringing in on site g.e.d.
program into the campus.
since that time, we have served 30 students in the g.e.d.
program and 11 students have left the facility or a couple are still there, but have -- have earned their g.e.d.'s while in the program.
in addition to the g.e.d.
program, we have brought vocational partnerships such as skill point alliance, we piloted a program last year, last summer in that we served nine students in the core construction program.
some of those students were females as well.
we learned through that process that we -- even in a secured setting, we are able to provide students with skill sets.
they can leave the facility with certifications in hand and become employable.
in addition to the core construction program, we've had workshops, such as mobile film school, we've done photography workshops, we have partnered with Austin classical guitar society and spring classical guitar to juvenile probation.
in addition to providing those extracurricular activities, the students are able to earn credits, school credits, as they participate in those various workshops.
our partnership with Austin community -- Austin independent school district has enhanced in that we have -- in that -- enhanced our delta credit recovery program.
so the basics are students can come in and as you -- as you are aware, most of our students are usually behind in grade level.
but once they come in and work at their own pace, in addition to our education program and they earn additional credits, we see the self-esteem rise, we see the light bulb go on, then we provide opportunities so that they can leave the facility with either core construction, food handling certification is another something that they can leave with, but what they are -- they are either getting caught up to grade level or earning their g.e.d.
so that when they return to the community they are filling -- much empowered in addition to having employability skills.

>> through these various programs we will be giving certificates that allows them to demonstrate that they have gone through the core curriculum and they are prepared to -- to enter into that workforce.

>> you mentioned barbara.
-- the barber school concept.
would you also encourage from what I understand that a person could actually become a certified barber and not only that, if they would likely run their own business, do their own thing, as far as owning their own barber shop or their own business, per se, those things are also made available, if I'm understanding that correctly.

>> that's correct.
this course will give them the self confidence, teamwork in an environment and allow them to grow as individuals in the public setting.
students will learn ho you to build the -- students will learn how to build the barber shop from the ground up, apply for small businesses, as well as earn certifications, they can earn them anywhere from hair braiding to manicures, some students can actually get their barber license.

>> aren't there still impediments by the barbering licensing board with regard to criminal history, it might not apply here because you can get your juvenile record expunged.
that remains troubling to me if that still is an impediment.

>> we will definitely research that.
to this point we have not run into any barriers in terms of applying for the permits.
we do have an instructor that is on board and already licensed.
so it would be a partnership with Austin barber college, we haven't run into any obstacles.

>> it was -- it was a silly obstacle when it existed.
I'm happy to hear it doesn't exist any longer?

>> what are the ages for these particular --

>> our current funding is -- is -- that we are hoping to expand on, we're serving 15 to 17.
however, our jurisdiction could be anywhere from 13 to 18.
so for those younger students we are providing the programs that are art based and related so that we can help them to tap into their strengths and interests as well.

>> okay.
in the course of one year, this is my last question, in the course of one year how many students can actually go through the program?
how many numbers do you target on per --

>> we're hoping to serve a minimum of 85 in the course of a year.

>> minimum of 85?
okay, that's great, that's great.
I don't know if you all have anything else to say.
I definitely would like to move approval of this.
I think it's a great program.
I think we need to be laid out so that the general public can kind of understand what we are actually doing with our youth, but also this is basically targeted on females, which is really I think really great, also.
I just wanted for you all to lay that out.
approval in 19 b, the court may have other questions, but I would like to move approval of it.

>> any other highlights that you all want to call to our attention?

>> no, sir, just this is awesome opportunity for our department to be able to apply and to add additional fields to the youth that we serve so that we may release them back into the community that are able bodies that can work and that are educated.
thank you.

>> thank you.

>> appreciate your time.

>> thank y'all.

>> any or discussion on the motion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you all very much.

>> thank you.

>> for your good work and your patience today.

>> thank you.

>> I didn't appreciate much earlier that all of y'all were here to be honest, I thought you all were just here to observe the court in action.

>> [laughter] I was proud of you.

>> that was great, great service.
thank you.

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