Topic: Search Institute's Developmental Assets

Question: Often, we get questions about where youth courts are getting their funds. A youth court coordinator has posed the following question re: funding. 

... I would like to put out an email to Youth Courts around the country, but most especially in California as we are facing similar budget cuts all throughout the state. How are your Youth Courts funded?  What models are you using and is there funding that you might be receiving that is based on the model you are using in your county?  Are there any creative funding ideas out there that you have found that can 'save' Peer Courts from the cutting board?

Responses from Coordinators:

Placer County Peer Court
Karen Green
Peer Court Coordinator
"671 Newcastle Road. Suite 7"
Newcastle, CA 95658
916-663-9227 Ext. 2# Fax: 916-663-2965
karengreen@peercourt.com
www.peercourt.com

Placer County's Peer Court is funded by the court as a line item in their budget called Trial Court Funding. The county Probation department provides funds (our court does 55% of the county's juvenile citations), the schools (5 districts) provide funding for the week long prevention unit we do in the high schools), and the county bar association puts in dollars. In addition we apply for grants for specific activities - tobacco court and truancy court and for special events a spring day camp run by our truancy defendants as one example.

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Aurora Teen Court
Desiree Quintanilla
Coordinator
14999 E. Alameda Parkway
Aurora, CO 80012
303-739-6543 Ext. Fax: 303-739-6542
dquintan@auroragov.org

The Aurora Teen Court in Aurora Colorado is funded through a municipal surcharge of $2.00 assessed to all municipal summons. Our city council members are great supporters of the program and voted for the surcharge in 1994. This generates an average $90,000 in revenue annually. Needless to say, our program is strong and has the potential to grow because of this financial support. 

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Syracuse City School District Student Court
Judy Wolfe
Program Supervisor
Syracuse City School District
"2400 Grant Blvd., Room 187"
Syracuse, NY 13208
315-435-6345 Ext. Fax: 315-435-4916
jwolfe26@scsd.us

We share a grant with 2 other programs that is from the Department of
Education - After school Anti-violence funding 

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Cass County Youth Court
Jodi Hoyt
Youth Court Coordinator
Cass County Youth Court
c/o Lutheran Social Services
1325 11th Street So.
Fargo, ND 58107
701-235-7301 Ext. Fax: 701-235-7359
jhoyt@lssnd.org
www.lssnd.org

We currently receive our major funding from the following agencies and their respective grant programs:
Project Safe Neighborhoods/ U.S. Dept of Justice through U.S. Attorneys Office
Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants- through OJJDP
North Dakota Department of Transportation- U.S. Department of Transportation

The past two years we've had to be more creative to meet our yearly budget as our program continually grows but our funding has diminished. We have received funding from the following other sources: Cass County Bar Association (local legal association), FM Area Foundation and SVEE Foundation (2 different local foundations), several community service clubs including: Jaycees, Kiwanis, Rotary Clubs. We receive between $500-$15,000 from these sources.

Our local Outback Steakhouse does community lunches for non-profits. Although I have yet to use them, I volunteer with another youth organization who does. They make over $2,000 each year for a 2 hour lunch event. Outback donates the food the organization provides the leadership.

Our local Wal-Mart has a community giving program and they want to give to our program after hearing we serve juvenile offenders who steal from their store. They contacted us! They are willing to do cash or in-kind donations.

We've considered a golf benefit in the past but have not done it yet. You could potentially draw $10,000 from a 1 day tournament. Contact your local Bar Association for active help. Judges and attorneys love to golf; they would be your best clientele.

We also did a benefit last year and received matching funds through Thrivent Financial. They match up to $1,600 per event.

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Elsinore Valley Youth Court
W. Young
Deputy
Elsinore Valley Youth Court
Riverside County Sheriff's Department
333 W. Limited Avenue
Lake Elsinore, CA 92530
951-245-3332 Ext. Fax: 951-245-3311
wyoung@riversidesheriff.org

Our best fundraiser has been the attached letter. The letter outlines our YC program and allows the person, company, or organization to respond by making a donation. In turn, they become a partner with us in the quest to "Give Youth a Second Chance"

Important: The letter alone is nothing without a real-live person behind it. I ask all my volunteers (adults and juveniles) to personally hand deliver the letter to those they know and tell them about the YC program. I can't think of a better way to promote the Youth Court Program! You can mail the letters out, but you should make a phone call prior to sending it.

Really Important: We respond to the person, company or organization with a “Thank You" card and a “Certificate of Appreciation" plaque. We also invite them to our YC functions. I have found that the more people you get involved with the YC program the better it is, because everyone wins!!!

NOTE: The letter is a WORD document and can be used as an example or template or altered for your program's needs. All the Best!!!

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Willcox Youth Court
Sally White
Coordinator
Willcox Against Substance Abuse
City Magistrate Court
480 North Bisbee Avenue
Willcox, AZ 85643
520-384-4777 Ext. Fax: 520-384-1141
wasa@qwest.net
http://www.wasaonline.us

Our YC has been successful in maintaining funding, due in large part to diversifying - with a couple of major exceptions we have been able to get smaller awards from several sources rather than putting all our eggs in one basket. We have received funds from our City Council, small civic donations and grants from OJJDP (you may have to go through your state government to access these funds, but they are federal so state budget cuts should not interfere). Safe & Drug Free funding also can be used to fund Youth Courts as long as you build collaboration into your application. Our YC also charges a diversion fee (a percentage of what the fine would have been if the case had been held in adult court) for applicable cases and can assess small fines from the court itself - these are maintained through the City Magistrate Court and used strictly to support the YC.

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Valdez Youth Court
Melissa McCumby
Program Director
PO Box 3572
Valdez, AK 99686
907-835-8885 Ext. Fax: 907-835-8886
vyc@cvinternet.net

I don't think we are all that creative when it comes to funding. We get some money from the state, United Way, Alyeska, Conoco Phillips, as well as local donations and fundraisers
 
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Sharon Leon
Executive Director
PO Box 1027635
Anchorage, AK 99510
907-274-5986 Ext. Fax: 907-272-0491
sleon@anchorageyouthcourt.org
www.ayc.ak.org

Funding: Anchorage Youth Court's cash budge was $365,000 in 2003. Our 360 plus student volunteers adjudicated 501 juvenile criminal early offender cases.

Model: Tribunal, no contest plea and sentencing, or not guilty and trial with jury deciding guilt, and judges determining sentence if appropriate.

Our city government supports us with 40% of the cash budget through a health and human services grant, a little less than 10% comes from the OJJDP JAIBG grant - at least through this coming July, 7% donor designations from United Way, 5% from case and class fees. Each person referred for court pays $50 toward the total case fee expense, and each volunteer who takes the basic law education class pays $25 at registration. 3% from the Anchorage Police Dept. Employees Assoc.

About 4 years ago we hired a fundraising coordinator/20 hrs. a week. She works with our board of directors' fundraising committee. As a result, about 20% comes from banks, oil companies and other businesses - several match other donations, and the rest comes from small individual donations and events. We do a gala and golf tournament each year, and an end of year letter. We also have a gaming license from the state and hold a raffle in conjunction with the gala. It raises $4,000 to $6,000. The students sell raffle tickets for donated prizes and a free pass to the gala.

In-kind donations are in the $400,000 range - but this includes all volunteer time, prizes, food for events, office and court space, etc.

You are welcome to contact us if you have questions - ayc@alaska.net
 
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Hancock County Teen Court
Susan Sewell
Coordinator
550 North Madison Street
Carthage, IL 62321
217-357-2150 Ext. Fax: 217-357-3598
sdsewell@uiuc.edu

Hancock County Teen Court (Hancock County, IL) is funded entirely by private donations and to date one grant in the amount of $5,000 from the Western IL Regional Council.
 
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