Hello Everyone!
Well, here we are... It's early May 2007 and the WV TEEN COURT ASSOCIATION is nearly a year old. There have been lots of community groups that have expressed an interest in getting Teen Court started and I think that we're on track in a few counties across the state.
That said, I need you all to make replies and update your progress to this blog. Please, if you have not done so, send me the most up to date information that you can because I have to report it back to our funder. In addition, we now have a Teen Court Advisory Committee on the state level that is going to help move the group forward. This, in turn, should help create a bridge between Judges, Probation and community groups.
Let me know if you can't blog in and, if not, please send me your report no later than May 10th.
I need to know the following...
How has your Teen Court initiative progressed in the past six months.
Have you collected your partners?
Have you started collecting funds at the county level?
Have you started collecting funds at the local municipality level?
Have you recruited your youth?
Have you started training?
When do you expect to start Teen Court?
What have been your major hurdles in this process?
What could have helped?
What WOULD help from here on out?
What level of support do you need at this time?
What would you like from the state Association?
Best of luck to you all and I expect to hear great things in the months ahead!
Greg
2 comments:
McDowell County's initiative has been stalled due to the WEST Test and end of school preparations. Plans are being made to institute TC in the next school year. We will be getting a new Superintendant so I might be able to break him in.
As for partners, we have several (County commission, City of Welch, City of War, Sheriff's Dpt., Day Report Center, Stop the Hurt, and the HOPE Coaltion and plenty of teachers. The Board of Education is willing to partner also.
We haven't begun to collect funding yet but I will be visiting with the County Commissioner soon.
Major hurdles have been finding the proper judge for the program. Seems no one wants to take the time to volunteer for the job.
I think the state association has been a great way to network and gather information.
Hello,
Tucker County is going well. We have started to receive funds from the magistrate office from the five dollar increase. Thus far we’ve collected $185. We anticipate receiving $5,000 over the next year. Though the money isn't much we hope to be able to pay for a part-time person to help coordinate the teen court efforts. We will not be seeking a $5 increase at the municipality level due to the lack of law enforcement at that level. The Sheriff’s office and State Police dispatch take care of all law enforcement issues in the county.
Tucker County has had several training courses over the past two months and our youth attorneys are ready for their first case. Thus far we have around 15 students express interest in Teen Court Program. The Tucker County Teen Court youth traveled to Mon County to observe a “real” court. Thank you C.W.!! They were really impressed and are ready to start. All of them were able to obtain first hand experience.
We have four cases on the docket awaiting trial. I anticipate starting the meetings with the probation officer and families after Memorial Day and hopefully we can have our first case in June. Otherwise we’ll have to wait until August to try the cases when the kids are in town.
We have all of our partners lined up and the advisory board has already met a couple of times. We have three lawyers in Tucker County who are involved and have helped out in the trainings. Several members of the advisory board would like teen court to determine guilt or innocence; however, the youth prefer that the court operate similar to Mon County. The youth involved in the program have expressed their wishes to the board. We need to have another board meeting to reach a consensus prior to our first trial.
Our biggest hurdle is funding for a part-time coordinator. We are working on getting additional grant funds and will use the $5,000 as a match.
In terms of how the state association can help us – possibly educating funding agencies that not all counties can raise $20,000 by passing the five dollar increase. A lot of grants will not fund a teen court program.
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