By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS - Cass County, awarded a four-year federal grant in 2003 to administer the Building Restorative Communities (BRC) initiative, is nearing the end of its first year.
The fiscal year has been extended to Nov. 30, so that the second grant year begins Dec. 1, Coordinator Carmen Szumski and Community Service Coordinator Monica Fisher announced Wednesday at a meeting at the Law and Courts Building.
BRC (www.casscountybrc.org) is administered locally through Judge Susan Dobrich's Probate Court and Circuit Court Family Division.
BRC offices are located in the 1899 courthouse, Suite 215, 120 N. Broadway.
Other partners include the Human Services Coordinating Council, Lewis Cass Intermediate School District, Woodlands, the 2,600-member Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Cass County Board of Commissioners, Dowagiac Union Schools, Cassopolis Public Schools and the Edwardsburg and Marcellus public school systems.
Featured Sept. 28 was a discussion of St. Joseph County's (Mich.) mentoring program, since mentoring will be more of a priority as focus narrows from gathering and analyzing data regarding juvenile crime trends and risk factors for county children and families.
Cass County's 13,053 children under age 18 represent 25.5 percent of the population.
Mentors are being recruited to make a difference in a young person's life through a commitment of at least eight hours a month for three months.
During July and August, six juveniles were referred to and processed through the BRC community service program.
Szumski and Fisher brought with them copies of the new Human Services Resource Directory they compiled for BRC with assistance from Pam Swaim, Wraparound coordinator for the LCISD.
There were 171 agencies surveyed to develop the 58-page document.
They also introduced student intern Hope Pierson, a Ross Beatty High School senior planning to pursue a college degree in social work. She will be in the BRC offices Monday through Thursday for two hours each day. She first came to the BRC office in May and officially began her internship Sept. 6.
Cass was one of five Michigan counties awarded BRC grants through the Bureau of Juvenile Justice of the state Department of Human Services, formerly known as the Family Independence Agency (FIA).
The others are Kalamazoo, Ottawa, Monroe and Washtenaw.
BRC is a philosophy shifting the traditional punitive approach to juvenile crime to rehabilitation for the victim and community as well as the offender.
That is accomplished by applying BARJ (Balanced and Restorative Justice) principles, which was taught Aug. 9 and 10 at Southwestern Michigan College by Ardith Alderdyce and Sue Keagle.
Five work groups formed to implement BRC goals: data collection, resource assessment, youth, communications and juvenile justice. They reported to a steering committee.
Four goals developed for BRC include: every youth in Cass County who needs a mentor will be provided with one; all county youth will have access to a variety of social and recreational activities, events and opportunities; a system of graduated sanctions will impose immediate, restorative consequences to offenders; and restorative community service opportunities will be provided to youth offenders.
Five risk factors were identified: economic deprivation, family management problems, negative attitudes toward school, alienation and rebelliousness and teen parenthood and sexual activity.
BRC's strategic plan seeks to implement a "seamless continuum of services" by strengthening systems, building capacity of existing resources and filling gaps where resources are needed: "Five years from now, in Cass County, every voice will count."