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Big Brothers and Big Sisters of South Texas has received a grant to begin new mentoring program for juvenile offenders. More from TPR’s Terry Gildea.
September 28, 2009 ·The national program known for mentoring kids from single parent homes is embarking on a new effort to help kids being released from detention facilities within the Texas Youth Commission. Denise Barkhurst is the President and CEO of Big Brothers – Big Sisters of South Texas.
“Big Brothers Big Sisters has had a partnership with TYC for several years. So we sat down around a table and said, ‘OK, what kind of a program can we design that utilizes both resources from both agencies to help these kids as they transition from care into the community?”
Rather that draw from the general pool of volunteers, Barkhurst says they’re looking for people between the ages of 17 and 25.
“To provide them with a perspective from a peer who is not involved in the system and has a different outlook and a different take. High School students and/or college students is what we’re going to be shooting for,” Barkhurst said.
The $625,000 grant comes from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and will fund the three year pilot program. It’s scheduled to launch October 1. |
