Agenda - 06-20-2023; 8-g - JCPC Certification and County Plan for FY 2023-2024

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25 Similar to the Community Service program, Teen Court met all goals last year as well, except for the number served. Jamila has been conducting a lot of outreach in the community, including the schools and other organizations in order to get referrals and recruit volunteers. Lateef Mitchell stated that he would connect with Susan after the meeting because he may be able to help increase their referral numbers through his role as Student Support Liaison. Dispute Settlement Center—Like Susan, our program's numbers were also down last year. Last year we served 10, but this year so far, we have already received six referrals since July so numbers seem to be picking up. Programmatically, the youth have really been engaging in the process and writing some good letters of apology where they are able to express remorse, responsibility, and accountability in written form. These letters have been really impactful for those that were harmed. Q: How are the connections with Orange County schools? A: In the last couple weeks we have talked with student support and the executive cabinet about how they can provide support. So we are hoping that referrals will be picking up. The Exchange Club—We were able to serve the number we projected but ran into problems with parental participation in the group. They were willing to bring the youth but didn't feel they needed to participate themselves. We are hoping to have more success with the group this year. With regards to the in-home component, we did have success getting families to participate and meet goals. Referrals have picked up and we currently have 13 enrolled. We are looking forward to having more participation with the group since Covid is not having as much of an impact anymore. The group space is large enough that it still allows for social distancing and so some of those barriers have decreased. Now the barrier seems to be that parents are working more and don't have time to participate in the evenings. They are receptive to the in-home component, though, and if they could drop off their kid for the group they'd be happy. Q: Why do you think parents are resistant to participating? A: The feedback from parents is that they would participate if the group was virtual. However, the youth would rather have in-person format. We are having a struggle with parents because they think that if it's virtual it will help with time management and multi-tasking, like cooking dinner in the background. We are trying to acknowledge that and be sensitive, but also recognize that they understand the value that even though it's convenient, sometimes when you're talking about real world practice and connecting with your kid it needs to be in person. The virtual format preference from parents is happening across all our programs, not just this one. Lateef mentioned that when he makes a referral to the program, he sets the expectation with the parent from the beginning, that the in-person participation is expected and required. So maybe if all referring parties can do this it may help cut down on some of the push back. David mentioned that he ran the referral sources for this program and that none were DJJ-referred. Sometimes without a judge's order, parents may not feel like they have to complete a program. Q: Not necessarily related to this particular program,but understanding the report format in general. When looking at the Measurable Objectives report format,is there a guide that explains each column and how the numbers are calculated? What does "terminations"means? What does "answered" and "met" mean? A: Every program has to have identifiable measureable objectives based on their program type. Terminations refer to youth who have been closed out. Met means that the terminated youth achieved that goal.