Lewisville, TX – November 12, 2007: The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission recently awarded the Denton County Juvenile Probation Department and Communities In Schools of North Texas (CISNT) two years funding for intensive case management and mentoring programming for Lewisville students serving juvenile probation. The program called TARMAC – “Take Action, Reintegrate, Make A Change”, will provide high school and middle school students support as they re-enter their school from alternative education programs.
“The juvenile probation department is pleased that we were awarded this additional funding from the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission,” said Peggy Fox, director of Denton County Juvenile Probation. “There has been a tremendous amount of community support for implementing this program through in-kind contributions and letters of support. The services that will be provided through the consortium with Communities in School of North Texas will be very beneficial for our clients, their families and the community.”
The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission invited juvenile probation programs, and their community based partners, to submit proposals that would reduce the re-offense rate for students engaging in negative behaviors that lead to participation in the juvenile justice system and place them at-risk of dropping out of school. The Denton County Juvenile Probation/CISNT project was one of two projects funded by the commission.
“We are very excited to provide this vital program to Denton County students”, says Gary Henderson, CISNT executive director. “Lewisville ISD’s support of this program, their commitment of resources at the Milliken Education Center, and their longstanding support of CISNT dropout prevention programming was critical to our success”.
TARMAC programming will operate after school Tuesdays through Fridays, and on Saturdays – participation will be a condition of the student’s probation. The program will be led by a CISNT Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) Supervisor and will create opportunity for LPC Interns to gain valuable intern supervision experience at no charge. CISNT will be recruiting volunteers to serve as mentors in the TARMAC program. Last year, over 700 CISNT volunteers donated over 12,000 hours of service working with at-risk students in CISNT’s school-based prevention programs.
“We have already begun the rigorous process of recruiting our LPC Supervisor, LPC Interns and volunteer mentors”, adds Henderson. “In fact, at a recent mentorship training session at The Village Church in Highland Village and Denton where 180 new CISNT mentors were trained for service, 20 of the volunteers specifically asked to serve as TARMAC mentors. To maximize the potential of this program, we’ll need more TARMAC mentors.”
Judge Darlene Whitten knows the value of a program of this nature. “When community leaders and families work together, kids win. The community wins. We see strong, stable adults emerge from well-guided young people. This joint effort will help guide youth.”
For information about volunteering in the TARMAC intervention program or with other CISNT dropout prevention programs, visit www.CISNT.org or call (972) 436-6377. Communities In Schools of North Texas is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. To keep up with CISNT challenges and successes visit www.CISNT.org/blog “Roads to Their Success”.
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