Jacqueline Caster (center, holding the mic), with Jan Vogel (to her left), as they pose with the $1 million check, surrounded by workers from the foundation and CYS.
Story Created:
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:05 PM PST
Story Updated:
Nov 16, 2011 at 8:20 PM PST
INGLEWOOD — A host of top officials from law enforcement and youth services came together Wednesday at the Inglewood Juvenile Courthouse to announce a $1 million grant for a local youth advocacy organization.
The award was made by the Everychild Foundation to Centinela Youth Services, Inc..
The funds will be used to establish the Everychild Restorative Justice Center, which is scheduled to open next year, across the street from the Inglewood Juvenile Courthouse.
Founded in 1975, CYS serves more than 3,000 children annually throughout south Los Angeles County by providing a unique combination of family and victim/offender mediation, restitution and conflict resolution services.
The Everychild Foundation is a nonprofit group of over 200 L.A. women who each contribute dues of $5,000, which is pooled to make a single targeted annual $1 million grant to an agency serving children facing disease, abuse, neglect, poverty or disability.
According to the charity, award-winning projects must be innovative new models directly serving children with tangible goals and their goal is to launch new prototypes that can inspire replication on a national and global scale.
At Wave press time, dignitaries confirmed for the event included Judge Irma Brown, Senior Justice, Inglewood Juvenile Courts; Inglewood Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks; CYS CEO Jan Vogel; and Everychild founder and president Jacqueline Caster.
“It will make a tremendous difference, because the courts will make these referrals automatically, saving time and money,” Vogel said, adding that “this is a three-year grant and we expect to help up to 1,200 kids.”
Caster echoed his sentiments.
“We are probably the most incarcerated country on the planet and that creates huge budgetary and financial solvency problems for California and so anything you can do to reduce the incarceration level is a good thing,” Caster said.
“The pipelines to adult prisons start with juveniles. If you can get these kids early and prevent the bad behavior from escalating then it’s a good thing all round. It keeps the community safer, because once they are emeshed in the criminal justice system, recidivism rates are much higher.”
She added: “Kids will be referred to the center from schools, the police and Judge Brown’s court in Inglewood. They will be taken out of that system and walked across the street and given therapeutic services, education support and learning disability services.
“Many kids in the system have dropped out of high school and faced abuse and neglect at home. These kids will also pay restitution and meet their victims, so they learn a human side to their actions.”
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