The Little Rock Board of Directors approved ordinances Tuesday authorizing the city to contract with various organizations to provide services for youths and a counseling program at a cost of $575,000.
The board unanimously approved the city entering into contracts for four after-school and out-of-school programs, three youth-intervention programs and one court-ordered domestic-violence counseling program. Ward 2 Director Ken Richardson abstained from discussion and votes because of his employment at New Futures For Youth, which works with youth program providers.
How the city's youth programs are administered and tracked has been a topic of heated discussion at board meetings for the past two decades. The city originally set aside money for youth-intervention programs in the late 1990s as a way to target the gang violence of the time.
Since then, board members have questioned how successful the programs have been in deterring negative behavior in youths and often debate whether the city is doing an adequate job of gauging the programs' outcomes. Currently, the city allocates about $5.5 million through its Community Programs Department for programs for youths, felons and other areas of prevention and intervention.
The board has been calling for a Youth Master Plan for years, which would come up with best practices and develop a way to monitor and report whether the programs are working. The city contracted with an agency to draft the plan last year and that agency will start focus groups on the topic this week.
On Tuesday, At-large Director Joan Adcock asked why some services providers' contracts were being extended when the city had problems with them before.
"Some of them had programs with us before that were canceled or stopped because of some problems. I asked to be told what those problems were, what was the outcome and what did they do to correct the problems," Adcock said.
City Manager Bruce Moore told her that the In His Image Youth Development Center previously operated two programs, but was selected to operate only one this year because the attendance of the other fell below standard for the 2014-2015 year.
The organization was the only one to submit a proposal for a program for Hispanic girls ages 13-18, Moore said. He added that the Hispanic population has been difficult to reach.
"The issue of there only being one entity that applies concerns me," Mayor Mark Stodola said. "It may mean we are not reaching out the way we ought to be reaching out. I just hope when we monitor these things, we look at them closely to really see they are doing what we intend for them to do. ... I think we need to get out of some of our conventions and look at ways to reach out to various of our constituencies -- not just the Hispanic community, but other demographics we are trying to address."
The providers recommended for $75,000 contracts to put on after-school and out-of-school programs are:
• Promiseland CDC to serve Hispanic boys ages 6 to 11.
• Promiseland CDC to serve Hispanic teens ages 12 to 17.
• Pulaski County Youth Services to serve youths ages 6 to 11 living west of John Barrow Road.
• Goodwill Industries, Inc. to serve youths ages 12 to 17 living north of Baseline Road.
The providers being considered for $75,000 contracts for programs for ages 13 through 18 are:
• Pulaski County Youth Services to serve boys living west of John Barrow Road.
• Pulaski County Youth Services to serve girls living west of John Barrow Road.
• In His Image Youth Development Center to serve Hispanic girls.
The other contract is for $50,000 to McMahan Counseling to offer court-ordered domestic-violence counseling. The city has funded a similar program just once before, in 2011. The program is for those who are ordered by a court to undergo counseling, but lack the money to pay for it.
Metro on 04/08/2015